Company Description: Quest Specialty Travel is a tour company in San Diego, California, that organizes adventure, cultural, and educational tours. Quest travelers enjoy activities ranging from hiking to hang-gliding, while becoming familiar with the culture of the region—the food, the people, and the history.
Quest sponsors tours to five regions of the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand). Customers are usually traveling for pleasure, though Quest occasionally organizes business trips.
The Problem: Typically, the late spring and summer months are the most popular times for personal travel. For the last five years, the top sales months have been April-August. This year, however, sales did not increase during these months. For the first time in five years, Quest annual sales are declining—they now expect to make less this year than last year.
Based on what you’ve learned so far, describe the steps you would take to analyze this problem.