Skills used in this Industry

· Planning and organizational skills. Travel and information centre workers often have to plan and book visitor accommodation or activities.

· Leadership skills. Outdoor recreation guides may have to lead clients through difficult terrain or activities.

· Customer service skills. Travel agents need to be friendly and patient with their customers, and also need good sales skills.

· Local knowledge. Tour guides need to know about the area they are showing to tourists.

· Marketing. Work at a tour company can involve marketing and advertising the company's services.

Related jobs

Casino Worker

Casino workers lead and control games played at casinos, calculate winnings and losses, and pay out winning bets.

Check-in Agent

Check-in agents check passengers onto flights and ferry crossings, take their tickets and luggage, and give them boarding passes, or assist them to use self-check systems. If they work in an airport, they may also meet and dispatch aircraft.

Hunter/Trapper

Hunters and trappers find and catch or shoot animals for food, pelts (skins), fur, research, or to remove pests.

Outdoor Recreation Guide/Instructor

Outdoor recreation guides and instructors teach or guide outdoor activities such as rafting, kayaking, diving, skiing, hunting, fishing, climbing, tramping and caving.

Tour Guide

Tour guides escort people on sightseeing, educational or other tours, and describe points of interest.

Travel Agent/Adviser

Travel agents/advisers make travel arrangements and bookings for clients, and provide information about tourism attractions. They may sell airline tickets, book accommodation, tours and attractions, do ticketing, and process payments.

Related industry

Hospitality.

People in the hospitality industry provide food, drink and accommodation for customers. They work in a range of settings such as:

· restaurants, cafés, grills and bistros

· clubs, bars and pubs

· resorts, lodges, hotels, motels and hostels

· kitchens and dining rooms of public institutions and private companies.

Vocabulary Focus

1. Сhambermaid	горничная
2. Travel agent	агент бюро путешествий
3. Bar person	бармен
4. Barman/ barmaid	бармен/ бармен женщина
5. Customer	клиент
6. Flexible working hours	гибкий рабочий график
7. Appointment	установленная встреча
8. Employment agency	агентство по трудоустройству
9. Receptionist	секретарь в приемной
10. Counselor	консультант (служащий агентства, который дает советы и рекомендации)
11. Resume	резюме
12. Occupation, business, trade, profession	занятие; род занятий, профессия
13. Position	положение, должность
14. Job, work, employment	работа
15. Job qualification	профессиональные качества
16. To employ	представлять работу, нанимать
17. Responsibility	обязанность, ответственность
18. Salary	заработная плата
19. Bonus	премия
20. To apply	обращаться
21. Reference	отзыв, рекомендация
22. Skill	умение, квалификация, искусство, мастерство
23. Qualified	квалифицированный, опытный
24. Staff, personnel	штат, сотрудников

 

Speaking

Reconstruct the following situation into a dialogue:

· You work for the World Tourism Organization in London. You are giving an interview to a correspondent. The interview is devoted to tourism jobs.

 

Creative task

Creative writing: Explain why you are going to choose a career in tourism:

· What do you consider to be the special aptitudes that qualify you for this career?

· Can you see your “career ladder” already now? How do you see it?

· How do you plan to achieve success and to make career? Do you have the “success plan”?

· What are the extra knowledge, skills, education you think you need to acquire to make a successful career?

 

Unit 5. Travel Agency

Group Discussion

Discuss the following issues:

1. What is travel agency?

2. Is prior experience in tourism necessary before starting an independent travel agency? Why?

3. What are the factors necessary for the success of a travel agency?

4. How are travel agents paid?

5. Is the initial cost of setting up a travel agency high or low?

 

Reading

A travel agency is a retail business, that sells travel related products and services to customers, on behalf of suppliers, such as airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, sightseeing tours and package holidays that combine several products. In addition to dealing with ordinary tourists, most 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.

Origins

The British company, Cox &Kings, is sometimes said to be the oldest travel agency in the world, but this rests upon the services that the original bank, established in 1758, supplied to its wealthy clients. The modern travel agency first appeared in the second half of the 19th century. Thomas Cook, in addition to developing the package tour, established a chain of agencies in the last quarter of the 19th century, in association with the Midland Railway. They not only sold their own tours to the public, but in addition, represented other tour companies. Other British pioneer travel agencies were Dean and Dawson, the Polytechnic Touring Association and the Co-operative Wholesale Society. The oldest travel agency in North America is Brownell Travel; on July 4, 1887, Walter T. Brownell led ten travelers on a European tour, setting sail from New York on the SS Devonia.

Travel agencies became more commonplace with the development of commercial aviation, starting in the 1920s. Originally, travel agencies largely catered to middle and upper class customers, but the post-war 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 holidays.

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. Consequently, 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. A British travel agent would consider a 10-12% commission as a good arrangement. Most travel agencies operate on a commission-basis, meaning that the compensation from the airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, sightseeing tours and tour operators, etc., is expected in form of a commission from their bookings. Most often, the commission consists of a set percentage of the sale.

In some countries, airlines have stopped giving commission to travel agencies. Therefore, travel agencies are now forced to charge a percentage premium or a standard flat fee, per sale. However, some companies still give them a set percentage for selling their product. Major tour companies can afford to do this, because if they were to sell a thousand trips at a cheaper rate, they still come out better than if they sell a hundred trips at a higher rate. This process benefits both parties.

Other commercial operations are undertaken, especially by the larger chains. These can 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 holiday currencies.

The majority of travel agents have felt the need to protect themselves and their clients against the possibilities of commercial failure, either their own or a supplier's. They will advertise the fact that they are surety bonded, meaning in the case of a failure, the customers are guaranteed either an equivalent holiday to that which they have lost or if they prefer, a refund. Many British and American agencies and tour operators are bonded with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), for those who issue air tickets, Air Travel Organizers’ Licensing (ATOL) for those who order tickets in, 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.

A travel agent is supposed to offer impartial travel advice to the customer. However, this function almost disappeared with the mass-market package holiday and some agency chains seemed to develop a 'holiday supermarket' concept, in which customers choose their holiday from brochures on racks and then book it from a counter. Again, a variety of social and economic changes have now contrived to bring this aspect to the fore once more, particularly with the advent of multiple, no-frills, low-cost airlines.

 

Vocabulary Focus

1. Cancellation	сущ. 1) аннулирование; отмена (сделанного заказа); прекращение 2) вычёркивание 3) погашение (марок) 4) мат. сокращение
2. Car rental agency	пункт проката автомобилей
3. Commission	сущ. 1) доверенность; полномочие 2) указание, приказание действовать каким-л. образом 3) звание офицера, офицерский чин 4) обязанности офицера 5) документ, патент офицера 6) = commission of the peace звание, должность, обязанности мирового судьи 7) патент мирового судьи 8) комиссия, комитет 9) поручение 10) комиссионное вознаграждение 11) заказ 12) совершение какого-л. проступка 13) введение в строй судна 14) срок службы судна
4. Confirm	гл. 1) подтверждать, подкреплять 2) одобрять, ратифицировать (договор, решение) 3) укреплять, усиливать 4) рел. конфирмовать, проводить обряд конфирмации
5. Conglomerate	сущ. 1) смесь, соединение разнородных предметов, конгломерат 2) эк. промышленный конгломерат, многопрофильная корпорация 3) геол. конгломерат (сцементированная обломочная горная порода)
6. Discount	сущ. 1) скидка, уменьшение цены 2) фин. а) дисконт, учёт векселей б) учётная ставка, учётный процент
7. Insurance	сущ. 1) страхование 2) страховой полис, страховка 3) страховая премия; сумма страхования 4) защита, гарантия
8. Mass-market	рынок товаров массового производства
9. Package holiday	турпутёвка, включающая проезд, проживание, питание, экскурсии
10. Supply	ущ. 1) снабжение, поставка 2) а) замещение вакантной должности б) временный заместитель 3) (supplies) а) ресурсы, припасы, запас; воен. продовольствие, провиант б) довольствие, содержание (денежное) в) утверждённые парламентом ассигнования г) принадлежности, товары 4) эк. предложение 5) тех. питание, подача, подвод, приток

Speaking

Reconstruct the following situation into a dialogue:

· You want to visit your friend in England (you can choose any other country) so you go to a travel agency.

 

Creative task

Creative writing: Prepare a business plan of your independent enterprise:

· What documents/permissions do you need to get?

· What infrastructure do you need?

· Where do you plan to get money? How much exactly do you need?

· Who are you going to employ? Think about staff you need – how many people, with what skills and qualifications, etc.

Unit 6. Hotels

Group Discussion

Discuss the following issues:

1. What is a hotel? What does it provide for a traveler?

2. In the age of travel by horse, how were inns and taverns related to travel?

3. From what words was the word “motel” derived? What kinds of accommodations were offered?

Reading

Types of Hotels or classification of hotel by type:

Hotels are classified according to the hotel size, location, target markets, levels of service, facilities, number of rooms, ownership and affiliation etc.

Target Markets

Hotel target many markets and can be classified according to the markets they attempt to attract their guests. Common type of markets include business, airport, suites, residential, resort, timeshare, casino, convention and conference hotels.

o Business Hotels: These hotels are the largest group of hotel types and cater primarily to business travelers and usually located in downtown or business districts. Although Business hotels primarily serve business travelers, many tour groups, individual tourists and small conference groups find these hotels attractive. Guest amenities at business hotels may include complimentary newspapers, morning coffee, free local telephone calls, breakfast etc. In addition to these facilities like access to business centre, personal computer, Wi-Fi and fax machines also provided to the guest.

o Airport Hotels: These type of hotels typically target business clientele, airline passengers with overnight travel layovers or cancelled flights and airline personnel. Some hotels might give free transport between hotel and airport. Some hotels also provide meeting facilities to attract guests who travel to a meeting by air and wish to minimize ground travel. Another attraction of these hotels is instead of charging the guest on a daily basis guest can also pay for their room on an hourly basis.

o Suite Hotels: These kind of hotels are the latest trend and the fastest growing segments in the hotel industry. Main attraction of these hotels is guestrooms with a living room and a separate bedroom. In exchange for more complete living room suite hotels generally have fewer and more limited public areas and guest services than other hotels. This also helps keep suite hotel's guestroom prices competitive in the market. Professionals such as accountants, lawyers, business men and executives find suite hotels particularly attractive as they can work and also entertain in an area besides the bedroom.

o Extended Stay Hotels: Extended stay hotels is somewhat similar to the suite hotels, but usually offers kitchen amenities in the room. These kind of hotels are for travelers who want to stay more than a week and does not want to depend on the service of the hotel. Extended service hotels usually do not provide any F & B service or Laundry service etc. These kind of hotels are considered by guests as "Home away from home"

o Apartment Hotels: Apartment / Residential hotels provide long-term or permanent accommodation for Guest. Usually guest makes a lease agreement with the hotel for minimum of one month up to a year. These lease agreements are renewed on a yearly basis. Guest rooms generally include living room, bedroom, kitchen, private balcony, washing machines, kitchen utensils etc. Residential hotel also provided housekeeping, laundry, telephone and in some hotels a restaurant and lounge etc will be present on the premises.

o Resort Hotels: Resort hotels are usually located in the mountains, on an island, or in some other exotic locations away from cities. These hotels have recreational facilities, scenery, golf, tennis, sailing, skiing and swimming. Resort hotels provide enjoyable and memorable guest experiences that encourage guest to repeat to the resort.

o Bed and Breakfast Hotels: These are houses with rooms converted into overnight facilities, this can size up to 20 to 30 guest rooms. They are also known as 'Home Stay's'. The owner of the B&B usually stays on the premises and is responsible for serving breakfast to guest. Due to the limited services offered at these hotels the price for room is very less than any full service hotel.

o Timeshare and condominium Hotels: Another new type or segment of the hospitality industry is the timeshare hotels. These are sometimes referred to as "Vacation-interval" hotels. Timeshare hotels are where the guests who purchase the ownership of accommodations for a specific period. These owners may also have the unit rented out by the management company that operates the hotel. Condominium is similar to timeshare but the difference between the two lies in the type of ownership. Units in condominium hotels only have one owner instead of multiple owners, each for a limited amount of time each year. In a condominium hotel, an owner informs the management company if when he/she wants to occupy the unit.

o Casino Hotels: Hotels with gambling facilities may be categorized as a distinct group called Casino Hotels. Although the food and beverage operations in casino is luxurious their functions is secondary to and supportive of casino operations. Casino hotels attract guest by promoting the gambling and other entertainments.

o Conference Centres: These type of hotels focus on meeting and conferences and overnight accommodation for meeting attendees. They also provide High quality audiovisual equipments, business services, flexible seating arrangements, flipchart etc. These hotels mostly located outside the metropolitan areas and have facilities like golf, swimming pools, tennis courts, fitness centres, spas etc.

o Convention Centres: Convention hotels are larger in size compared to conference centres and likely to have more than 1500 rooms. These hotels are huge and have sufficient number of guest rooms to house all the attendees of most conventions, even the size of the meeting rooms, ball rooms, exhibit rooms are quite huge.They usually cater to convention market for state, regional, national, and international associations.

Levels Of service

o World class service: These are also called luxury hotels; they target top business executives, entertainment celebrities, high- ranking political figures, and wealthy clientele as their primary markets. They provide upscale restaurants and lounges, concierge services and also private dining facilities. Guestrooms are oversized, heated and plush bath towels, large soaps bars, shampoo, shower caps and all amenities. Housekeeping services are given two times a day including turn-down service. Above all luxury hotels give personalized service to the guest and have a relatively high ration of staff members to guests.

o Mid-Range Service: Hotels offering mid-range service appeal to the largest segment of the travelling public. This kind of hotels does not provide elaborate service and have an adequate staffing. They also provide uniformed service, food and beverage room service, in room entertainment's and also Wi-Fi. Property may offer a specialty restaurant, coffee shop and lounge that cater to visitors as well as hotel guests. Type of guests who like to stay at these hotels are business people, individual travelers, and families. Rates are lower than luxury hotels as they provide fewer services, smaller rooms and a smaller range of facilities and recreational activities.

o Economy / Limited Service: These hotels provide clean, comfortable, safe, inexpensive rooms and meet the basic need of guests. Economy hotels appeal primarily to budget minded travelers who wants a room with minimum services and amenities required for comfortable stay, without unnecessary paying additional cost for costly services. The cliental of these hotels include families with children, travelling business people, backpackers, vacationers, retirees etc. These type of hotels might not offer food and beverage facilities.

Ownership and Affiliations

Ownership and affiliation provide another means by which to classify hotel property. There are two types one is Individual and another is chain hotel.

o Independent Hotels: They do not have identifiable ownership or management affiliation with other properties. That means these properties don't have any relationship to another hotel regarding policies, procedures, marketing or financial obligations. Example for the same would be family owned and operated hotel that is not following any corporate policies or procedures. The advantage of an individual property is its autonomy. An independent hotel however does not get the advantage of board advertising exposure or management insight and consultancy of an affiliated property.

o Chain hotels: These kind of ownership usually imposes certain minimum standards, rules, policies and procedures to restrict affiliate activities. In general the more centralized the organization the stronger the control over the individual property. Some chain have strong control over the architecture, management and standards of affiliate properties. Others concentrate only on marketing, advertising and central purchasing.

Vocabulary Focus

1. Assistant manager -	администратор
2. Chambermaid –	горничная
3. Floor manager –	дежурный по этажу
4. Waiter –	официант
5. Bellboy –	коридорный
6. Checking-in –	регистрация в гостинице
7. Bill / account -	счёт
8. To pay the bill –	оплатить счет
9. Passport –	паспорт
10. Room –	комната, номер
11. Single room –	комната на одного
12. Double room –	комната на двоих
13. For one night -	на одну ночь
14. For two nights -	на двое суток
15. Key –	ключ
16. Luggage –	багаж
17. Suit-case –	чемодан
18. Hangers -	вешалки
19. Towel -	полотенце

 

Speaking

Reconstruct the following situation into a dialogue:

· You want to have a room reserved for a number of businessmen who come in two days and are going to stay at the hotel for a week.

· You want to have a room reserved for a friend of yours who wants to live in a single room with a bath.

· You are going to visit London. Make a room reservation in a hotel with the help of Hotel Accomodation Service by phone.

· You are going to leave the hotel.

Creative task

Project is a creative method of work on a particular subject that can be done individually, in pairs or in groups. It combines art activities with research. Students learn to organize their thoughts and to communicate in a visual way their knowledge and feelings.

Make a tourist booklet of accommodations in any European capital. Prepare a list of hotels (at least 7) and description of their accommodation.

 

Unit 7. Business Travel

Group Discussion

Discuss the following issues:

1. What is business travel?

2. What business facilities do many hotels offer?

3. Why is it advisable to get insurance in case of a trip abroad?

Reading

Business Trip

A business trip or official trip is a travel/journey caused by business necessities. The place of employment is left temporarily, e.g.:

· to visit customers, suppliers or a trade fair;

· to participate in congresses or seminars;

· for further education;

· for excursions for research, scientific campaigns;

· for teachers to participate in study trips, school or exploratory trips;

· for work in civil engineering, construction, geology, etc.

Business trips have to be approved by the employer, who usually meets the costs. The traveling expenses can be calculated in detail or by a lump sum, depending on the average expense of the travel country.

For activities away, the correspondent term in military is duty travel, in politics facility trip.

Business Travel

Business travel, or travel management as it is often referred to, is on the rise especially with foreign business markets opening up. Business travel is generally accepted as being a corporation's 3rd or 4th biggest expense after staffing, rent and rates and possibly IT and communications.

Many airlines began to concentrate on providing premium service on long haul flights especially for the first and business class business traveler with the development of more sophisticated business traveler needs over the last 15 years.

Airlines have also been working on tools that benefit the business travelers such as: improved and competitive mileage programs, quick check in and online check in, lounges with broadband connection, etc. Hotels are not far behind. They are also on the competition for the business travelers by offering flexible points programs, broadband connection in all rooms and fast check in and check out services.

While Internet booking engines have become the first destination for around 60% of leisure travelers, business travelers, especially with the need for itineraries that may include more than one destination, have still found that a knowledgeable travel agent may be their best resource for better ticket pricing, less hassle and better air and land travel planning. For larger business travel accounts these travel agents take on a travel management role, and are referred to as Travel Management Companies (TMCs), providing services such as consultancy, traveler tracking, data and negotiation assistance and policy advice.

Recent trends in this market have extended to the implementation of Self Booking Tools (SBTs) which allow automated booking of trips within company policy, an increase in the inclusion of Duty of care practices in the booking and monitoring process and more consideration for the environmental impact of business travel.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is insurance that is intended to cover medical expenses and financial (such as money invested in nonrefundable pre-payments) and other losses incurred while traveling, either within one's own country, or internationally.

Temporary travel insurance can usually be arranged at the time of the booking of a trip to cover exactly the duration of that trip, or a more extensive, continuous insurance can be purchased from travel insurance companies, travel agents or directly from travel suppliers such as cruiselines or tour operators.

Travel insurance often offers coverage for a variety of travelers. Student travel, business travel, leisure travel, adventure travel, cruise travel, and international travel are all various options that can be insured.

The most common risks that are covered by travel insurance are:

· medical expenses;

· emergency evacuation/repatriation;

· overseas funeral expenses;

· accidental death, injury or disablement benefit;

· cancellation;

· curtailment (cutting short a trip);

· delayed departure;

· loss, theft or damage to personal possessions and money (including travel documents);

· delayed baggage (and emergency replacement of essential items);

· legal assistance;

· personal liability and rental car damage excess.

In addition, often separate insurance can be purchased for specific costs such as:

· pre-existing medical conditions (e.g. asthma, diabetes);

· sports with an element of risk (e.g. skiing, scuba-diving);

· travel to high risk countries (e.g. due to war or natural disasters or acts of terrorism).

Typically travel insurance for the duration of a journey costs approximately 5-7% of the cost of the trip.