Module 2 - Operations ofTravel Agency Lecture Notes PDF

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MODULE 2OPERATIONS OF TRAVEL AGENCYROLE, FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRAVEL AGENT Travel agent or travel agency - Shop or office where you can go to arrange a vacation or journey  Company that handles travel logistics such as transportation, itinerary, and lodging  Private retailer or publi...

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MODULE 2 OPERATIONS OF TRAVEL AGENCY

ROLE, FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRAVEL AGENT

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Travel agent or travel agency - Shop or office where you can go to arrange a vacation or journey

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Company that handles travel logistics such as transportation, itinerary, and lodging

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Private retailer or public service that sells tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of suppliers such as airlines, car rental companies, cruise lines, hotels, railways, and package tours.

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Most travel agencies, in addition to dealing with ordinary tourists, have a separate department devoted to making travel arrangements for business travelers, and some travel agencies specialize solely in commercial and business travel.

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There are also travel agencies that act as general sales agents for foreign travel companies, allowing them to open offices in countries other than their headquarters.

Essentially, the work of a travel agent comes under two categories: 1. Front office procedures (dealing with customers): sales, advice, itinerary planning etc 2. Back office procedures (not dealing directly with customers): administration

Front office procedures

Back office procedures

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Meeting and greeting customers

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Following-up bookings

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Making reservations

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Ordering stationery and currency

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Calculating fares and charges

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Maintaining reservation records

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Producing tickets

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Ensuring brochures are racked and in

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Dealing with customer

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complaints

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Making payments

Advising clients on destinations,

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Banking

resorts, airlines and travel products 

stock

Planning itineraries

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One way a travel agent can add value over Internet purchasing is by developing an understanding of a customer's vacation aspirations and astutely matching them with products that not only meet their needs, but also their budget.

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This process is far too important to leave to chance, and it is summarized in the flow chart below.

TYPES OF TRAVEL AGENCIES

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Travel agencies, as intermediaries, provide tourism and travel-related products and services to consumers, tourists, and travelers

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With the increase in options available to consumers looking to purchase travel products, the structure of the retail travel industry has changed in recent years.

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The options are summarized in the diagram below, with details on how each serves the market provided in the table below.

TYPES OF TRAVEL AGENCIES

INDEPENDENT

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one shop in a small town

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'specialised'

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reputation for personal service

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family-owned or owned by an individual (sole-trader) Example: Gates Travel

MINIPLE

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number of branches and a head office in a particular region

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started with one shop and one owner

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over timehave grown

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knowledge of their local market

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offer less services than 'multiple' travel agencies Example: Althams Travel

Multiple

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found in many different areas of a country

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national 'chain' of branches

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offer a wide range of products and services in all their shop

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found on main high streets or in shopping centres Examples: Thomas Cook and the Flight Centre

E-AGENT

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Online travel agents

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Major tour operators

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Independents – online only – no shops

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s ell all travel and tourism products Examples: Expedia

HOLIDAY

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very large retail travel agencies

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specialised staff in particular holiday types (Special Interest

HYPERMARKET

Tourism – SIT) 

large shopping centres

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introduced by First Choice

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people working from home:

HOMEWORKER

full-time (f/t) part-time (p/t) 

Fits-in with commitments (eg children) Examples: Travel counsellors and Holidays by Phone

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specialise in particular types of holidays (Special Interest Tourism – SIT)

SPECIALIST

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generally independents or miniples Example: STA Travel which specialises in travel for students and young people

ORIGIN OF TRAVEL AGENCY 

British company Cox & Kings is sometimes referred to as the world's oldest travel agency, but this is based on the services that the original bank, founded in 1758, provided to its wealthy clients

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The modern travel agency debuted in the second half of the nineteenth century

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In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Thomas Cook, in collaboration with the Midland Railway, established a chain of agencies in addition to developing the package tour.

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They did not only sell their own tours to the general public, but they also represented other tour companies

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Dean & Dawson, the Polytechnic Touring Association, and the Co-operative Wholesale Society were also early British travel agencies

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Brownell Travel is North America's oldest travel agency; on July 4, 1887, Walter T. Brownell led ten travelers on a European tour, sailing from New York on the SS Devonia

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With the advent of commercial aviation in the 1920s, travel agencies became more

common 

Originally, travel agencies primarily catered to the middle and upper classes, but the postwar boom in mass-market package holidays resulted in travel agencies on the main streets of most British towns catering to a working-class clientele looking for a convenient way to book overseas beach vacations.

OPERATIONS OF TRAVEL AGENCY 

Primary function of a travel agency is to act as an agent, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier

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They do not keep inventory on hand

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Package holiday or a ticket is not purchased from a supplier unless a customer specifically requests it

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Given a discount on the vacation or ticket

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Profit is thus the difference between the advertised price paid by the customer and the discounted price paid by the agent

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Referred to as the commission

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In many countries, all individuals or businesses that sell tickets must be licensed as travel agents

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Airlines in some countries have stopped paying commission to travel agencies . Travel agencies must now charge a percentage premium or a standard flat fee per sale.

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Some businesses continue to pay them a set percentage for selling their product

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Major tour companies can afford to do this because selling a thousand trips at a lower price nets them more money than selling a hundred trips at a higher price . This procedure is advantageous to both parties

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Less expensive to pay travel agents commissions rather than engage in advertising and distribution campaigns without using agents

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Other commercial operations are carried out, particularly by the larger chains

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May include the sale of in-house insurance, travel guide books and timetables, car rentals, and the services of an on-site Bureau de change dealing in the most popular vacation currencies

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Majority of travel agents have felt compelled to insure themselves and their clients against the possibility of commercial failure, whether their own or that of a supplier

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They will advertise that they are surety bonded, which means that if they fail, customers are guaranteed either an equivalent holiday to that which they have lost or, if they prefer, a refund

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Many British and American travel agencies and tour operators are bonded with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for those who issue air tickets, the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) for those who order tickets in, and the

Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) or the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) for those who sell package holidays on behalf of a tour company. 

Travel agent is supposed to provide the customer with unbiased travel advice

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With the mass-market package holiday, this function almost vanished, and some agency chains appeared to develop a 'holiday supermarket' concept, in which customers choose their holiday from brochures on racks and then book it from a counter

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A wide range of social and political issues are at stake

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Economic changes have now conspired to bring this aspect to the fore once more, particularly in the United States with the emergence of numerous no-frills low-cost airlines.

REFERENCES: J. Holland and D. Leslie, (2018). Tour Operators and Operations Development, Management and Responsibility, CABI Tiwari, P. (2014). Basic of travel agency management. New Delhi, India Joseph, S. (2013). Travel Agency Management. New Delhi, India Claravall, B.G. (2013).Travel and tour operations in the Philippines. Manila BPP Learning Media (2011). Travel Agency and Tour Guide Operations 1 st edition, BPP Learning Media Ltd Gupta, S.K (2010). Travel and Tourism Management. New Delhi, India Goeldner, R & Ritchie. B (2010), Tourism, Principles, Practices and Philosophies, John Wiley & Sons, London Roday. S, Biwal. A & Joshi. V. (2009), Tourism Operations and Management, Oxford University Press, New Delhi Syratt, G. (2003). Manual of Travel Agency Practice 3RD Edition. Great Britain...