Travel Agency &Tour

Operations

INTRODUCTION

• A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides tourism related services to the public on behalf of suppliers such as airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, and package tours.

• Travel agencies have a separate department devoted to making travel arrangements for business travelers and some travel agencies specialize in commercial and business travel only.

• There are also travel agencies that serve as general sales agents for foreign travel companies, allowing them to have offices in countries other than where their headquarters are located.

• A travel agent is a middleman between the service providers and the passenger.

Origin of Travel Agency• Thomas Cook of

Melbourne, England founded the travel agency that in 2007 became Thomas Cook Group.

HISTORY

Operations

• As the name implies, a travel agency's main function is to act as an agent, that is to say, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier.

• Unlike other retail businesses, they do not keep a stock in hand.

• A package holiday or a ticket is not purchased from a supplier unless a customer requests that purchase.

• The holiday or ticket is supplied to them at a discount. The profit is therefore the difference between the advertised price which the customer pays and the discounted price at which it is supplied to the agent. This is known as the commission

• Most travel agencies operate on a commission-basis, meaning that the compensation from the airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, sightseeing tours, tour operators etc., is expected in the form of a commission from their bookings.

Functions of Travel Agency

1. Provision of Travel Information

2. Preparation of Itineraries 3. Liaison with provider of

services4. Planning and Costing Tours5. Ticketing6. Provision of Foreign

Currency7. Insurance

TOUR OPERATOR• A tour operator formulates a tour package by

combining different travel services required by a tourist and sells directly or indirectly to the passenger.

• E.g.: Air ticket, accommodation,sightseeing,meals,guide and escort, airport transfers.

• Tour operator designs, develops, markets and operates packaged travel and tourism products and tours. Tour operators sell through Travel agents and/or directly to consumers.

• Tour operator is one who buys the individual elements in the travel product on his own account and combines them in such a way that he is selling a package travel, the tour, to his clients.

Departments in a Travel Agency

Departments in a Travel agency• Marketing & Sales• Finance & Accounting• International Counter• Domestic Travel• Documentation• Planning & Costing• Reservation Section

MARKETING AND SALES

ADVERTISINGRESEARCHPUBLIC RELATIONSPUBLICITYPROMOTIONACTIVITIESMARKETING OF DESTINATIONS

FINANACE AND

ACCOUNTING

INTERNATIONAL COUNTER

OUT BOUND TOURISM

DEPARTMENTS IN A TRAVEL AGENCY

DOMESTIC TRAVELIN –BOUND TOURISM

DOCUMENTATION

PASSPORTVISASHEALTH DOCUMENTS

PLANNING AND COSTINGFOREIGN EXCHANGE DEALING

DEPARTMENTS IN A TRAVEL AGENCY

Difference b/w Travel agent &Tour Operator• Tour operators are like wholesalers whereas Travel

agents are like retailers.

Travel Agents sell and administer packages from various tour operators to their personal clients based on what they’re looking for and what package suits each client best.

• Tour operator designs, develops, markets and operates packaged travel and tourism products and tours. Tour operators sell through Travel agents and/or directly to consumers.

• A travel agent acts like a waiter when you visit a restaurant, he will take your order and then forward the order to the chef. The food that you get in the end is prepared by the chef. So, the chef here is your tour operator while your waiter is the travel agent.

Tour operatorTravel AgentCustomer

AirSeaRail

Road

Accommodation:

Hotels/MotelsSupplementar

y

Services:Coach & Car

Hire Excursions

TOUR OPERATOR TRAVEL AGENT

CUSTOMERS

Selling of Package

Summarized Functions of Travel Agency:-• Advisory• Reservation• Planning• Computation• Corresponden

ce• Records• Travel

brochure• Complaint

handling