Report Three: SWOT Analysis of VSA

Voyager Study Abroad (VSA) is a budding student travel company that was started three years ago by a long time serving accounting professor; Dr. Michael Tyler. It is a provider of multicity, multi-country, summer study abroad programs. VSA specializes in study-abroad programs that concentrate more on education and development and focus less on unstructured fun. VSA has enjoyed its share in the student travel industry with its pillars being its strengths over competition and available opportunities that can be seized for the better. However, it has also experienced multiple weaknesses and threats in the past two years of operation. This report will provide a comparative analysis of VSA against its competitors, including its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

For the last two summers, 2015 and 2016, Voyager Study Abroad has operated a single program – Voyager Europe (VE) that runs for one month starting June. Participants traveled to Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, and Paris among other noteworthy cities.

·         Quality and unique high-end service offering is considered to be VSA’s greatest strength. The unparalleled treatment is meant to induce satisfaction and loyalty among participants who will also promote the company by word of mouth. Other strengths include the following;

·         Participants traveled between cities by high-speed train or by plane and the accommodations used were either four or five-star city-center hotels that were highly-rated.

·          VE also included a full daily itinerary of professional and cultural activities, unlike competitors.

·         The people running the program are also professionals with much experience in the industry. Moreover, this program offers much more than competitors at a rock-bottom price.

VSA’s major weaknesses include;

·         It has not been operating for long, something that might give some competitors an upper hand.

·         Finding more professional employees who possess a client-centric attitude and necessary skills might also be a challenge. Other than Mike, VSA relies on a marketing professor; Dr. Reccia Charles for management and a part-time graphic designer who resides in Madrid.

·          The struggle to constantly provide new trips which are exciting while maintaining the quality already established can also prove to be quite a daunting task.

 Main opportunities include;

·         Exploiting potential to the fullest in the 2017 summer that will include more to offer in the two programs; Voyager Europe (VE) and Voyager Spain (VS).

·         The unique learning experience that inculcates cultural immersion activities that enhance the curriculum and excellent professors who travel with the program is also a niche.

·          VSA is a growing company with potential clients and participants that need to be addressed.

·          VSA also enjoys numerous partnerships and sponsorships that can help it go mainstream.

Threats to VSA include;

·         Terrorist attacks i.e. the November 2015 Paris attacks remain a huge threat to anything related to travel.

·         A slump in the economy also adversely affects the industry.

·         Competitors who have stayed long in this sector are also intimidating

Nevertheless, VSA can exploit the opportunities at hand and their strengths to counter competition by working towards being the best there is and achieving set objectives and goals that are clearly defined, specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic yet time-bound (SMART).

Work cited

"Travel Agency Sample Marketing Plan - Situation Analysis - Mplans". Mplans.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Oct. 2016.