Travel and Tourism
Travel and tourism is a major industry in this country and is at the top of the league of invisible earners of foreign currency.
Travel and tourism can be thought of as a manufacturing industry. Components, e.g. hotel rooms, meals, coach or airline seats, are bought and put together by a tour operator to produce holidays. These are sold to the public by retail travel agents, with representatives of the tour operator providing the after sales service to the consumer.
Carriers - seats - Hotels - rooms - Tour Operator - Holidays - Travel Agents - public Caterers - meals.
Large tour operators may own the companies that produce the component, e.g. Britannia Airways are owned by Thomson Holidays, and travel agents may also sell the components separately, e.g. air rail and theatre tickets or hotel rooms.
Another aspect of the travel and tourism industry is the work of the tourist authorities and boards, set up to promote the counties and regions of the UK.
Tour Operators
Although the holidays which are 'manufactured' by tour operators are usually sold by travel agents, some companies have their own retail outlets or sell direct to the public by telephone or post. Thus the work of a large operator may encompass all the stages in the production and sale of a holiday.
The larger the company, the more specialised each employee's role becomes, e.g. there are those concerned with negotiating the various components of a holiday with carriers and hotel owners etc., those who produce the brochure or 'label' of the product, those involved with the research and development of new ideas or marketing them, and those dealing with reservations, They also have separate finance, personnel and other administrative departments.
Several of the large companies run graduate recruitment schemes and operate 'in-house' training programmes for employees.
Representatives/couriers are employed by tour operators to look after the holidaymakers and escort parties of tourists. They work very long hours and are always on call. Besides supervising arrivals, departures, excursions and answering questions, representatives have to deal with any complaints, accidents or illnesses (even deaths) that occur within their group of tourists.
Employment is usually on a seasonal basis, e.g. from April to September. Most companies stipulate a minimum age of 20/21. Good conversational ability in one or more languages, besides native English, is needed. The work involves close personal contact with people and requires the ability to communicate effectively, patiently and tactfully; sometimes in very difficult circumstances.
A travel agency may either be one of a chain of retail outlets or a single operation. The work of the larger agencies is often divided between different divisions, e.g. counter service, business travel and foreign exchange. In smaller concerns each member of the staff will have to handle many aspects of the agency's business.
Some agencies limit their activities to arranging travel and/or holidays to a specific area, but most cater for a very much wider demand and fulfil all the functions associated with acting as intermediary between the providers of holidays, transport, accommodation etc., and the client.
Companies that deal only with business travel are called Business Travel Houses. They may also be responsible for dealing with the planning, publicity and bookings for trade fairs and conferences.
Travel agency sales clerks take bookings on behalf of tour operators, sell tickets for travel, make hotel bookings, take payments from the public and give advice, on types of holidays, methods of travel, passports, visas, travellers cheques, foreign currency etc., They need to have a good knowledge of the products and destinations offered by the tour operating and travel companies.
Managers and assistant managers are responsible for the day-to-day operation of branch offices. This includes staffing, marketing, accountancy, complaints etc. Travel managers should have professional qualifications and experience. In a small agency training will probably be on-the-job. Large companies may offer a training programme.
Tourist Boards
Tourist Boards/Authorities are public bodies which have been set up to promote the UK to the public, tour operators and travel agents, both at home and overseas, thus encouraging the development or tourism. They exist at the national level, e.g. British Tourist Authority, which has 40 overseas offices, country level, e.g. Scottish Tourist Board, and regional level, e.g. London Tourist Board and Yorkshire and Humberside Tourist Board, Their main functions are marketing of an area, research/development of new ideas to attract tourists and information provision. The development of facilities is also a role at some levels.
Careers in Travel and Tourism holidays and travel are a part of life in modern society. The annual break from work, school, college or family life is an important objective - and the very thought of holiday sustains most of us throughout our daily lives. The British alone take something in the order of 21.5 million trips abroad each year and rather more than 50 million holidays, or short breaks, are taken within the confines of the United Kingdom.
Apart from the holiday business however, the travel and tourism industry also affects our lives in many other ways. Visiting friends and relatives; attending family events: travelling for business purposes; attending conferences; winning travel prizes in advertising campaigns or on television quiz shows are all part of modern living. It is not surprising, therefore, that a vast, complicated industry exists to provide the facilities that make these journeys possible, convenient and, very enjoyable.
Recent statistics indicate that in Great Britain alone, some 1.5 million people (out of a working population of some 26 million) depend on the travel arid tourism industry for their livelihoods. The number of jobs in the industry are increasing at the rate of some 50,000 a year therefore tourism is slowly becoming one of the most important industries in the world. As far as Britain's economy is concerned, did you know that after North Sea Oil, the tourism industry earns more in foreign currencies than any other industry? As our manufacturing industries have declined, our service industries are contributing more and more to the country's prosperity. These industries contribute to the economy by means of what are called invisible exports - in addition exports - in addition to tourism; insurance, commodity dealings, shopping and financial services fall into this category.
What is meant by invisible exports? It is easy enough to define visible exports. If we export motor vehicles, machinery or textiles overseas we can actually see the goods moving out of the country carried by ships or aircraft, and payment is received in due course from the buyer who changes his own currency into sterling in order to effect payment. But it is equally true to say that if a resident of the USA decides to come to Britain on holiday, he changes his dollars into sterling in order to spend money here on hotel accommodation or entertainment, etc. If he travels from New York to London by British Airways, as far as our economy is concerned, Britain is exporting. In other words our friend from the USA is putting US dollars into the British economy. He is not receiving tangible goods in exchange - he is, in fact, receiving services and, of course, travel and tourism is a service industry.
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