Travel and Tourism Organizations

Travel and Tourism Organizations

Key Words

  • Ancillary services: Extra support services in travel and tourism, such as tour guiding, car and cycle hire, and currency exchange.
  • Components: Parts of a package holiday or tour, like travel and accommodation.
  • Currency exchange: Changing money from one country's currency to another (e.g., US dollars to euros).
  • Guest house: Small-scale accommodation, often in a house.
  • B&B (bed and breakfast): Accommodation including a room and breakfast.
  • Hostel: Basic accommodation, often with shared sleeping areas like dormitories.
  • Serviced apartment: Self-catering accommodation with services like cleaning.
  • Package holiday: A holiday made up of components sold as one product, typically including travel and accommodation.
  • Mass market: Relating to the total market of all customer types.
  • Dynamic packages: Holiday packages with components chosen by the customer.
  • Self-catering: Accommodation where customers provide and cook their own food.
  • Occupancy rate: The percentage of accommodation space or rooms in use.
  • Coral reef: An underwater ecosystem that attracts tourists for diving and snorkeling.
  • Sustainable practices: Ways travel and tourism organizations ensure sustainability.
  • Interdependencies: Two or more travel and tourism organizations that rely on each other.
  • Interrelationship: When travel and tourism organizations choose to work together.
  • Short-haul flight: A flight lasting less than a few (between three and six) hours.
  • Cruise: A leisure journey, usually on water.
  • Water taxi: A type of urban public transport using small boats.
  • Gondola: A traditional boat used by tourists in Venice, Italy.
  • Mass rapid transit (MRT): A type of rail transport used in some cities.
  • Scheduled flight: An air flight that is timetabled.
  • Charter flight: An air flight that is specially organized.

3.1 The Role of Tourism Organizations

The travel and tourism industry includes:

  • Travel organizations (airlines, train companies, cruise operators).
  • Tourism organizations (travel agents, tour operators, accommodation providers, food and drink providers, visitor attractions, ancillary service providers).
Types of Tourism Organizations:

  • Travel Agents:

    • Sell products/services from other travel and tourism organizations.
    • Can be retail shops, online businesses, or specialists (business tourism, independent travel).
    • Sell air, ferry, and rail tickets, package holidays, cruises, and travel insurance.
    • Serve individual tourists and businesses (MICE).
    • Provide ancillary services like travel insurance, car/bicycle hire, and currency exchange.

  • Tour Operators:

    • Organize travel and tourism packages for outbound/inbound customers.
    • Packages include travel and accommodation and are sold directly or through travel agents.
    • Provide services for inbound tourists (e.g., tours in Australia).
Types of Package Holidays:
*   **All-inclusive:** Travel, accommodation, and all meals included.
*   **Mass market:** Sold to all types of customers (e.g., beach, island, theme park destinations).
*   **Special interest:** Tailored to specific interests (e.g., luxury rail journey, watersports).
*   **Dynamic packages:** Components chosen by customers.

Packages are made from component parts (travel, accommodation).

  • Accommodation Providers:
    • Provide overnight stays for tourists.
Types of Accommodation:
*   Hotels (often with restaurants).
*   Guest houses (small-scale).
*   B&Bs (bed and breakfast).
*   Hostels (basic, shared sleeping).
*   Homestays (staying in local people's homes).
*   Camping (tents or caravans).
*   Serviced apartments (self-catering with cleaning services).
*   Luxury: more expensive, luxurious accommodation
*   Budget: cheaper, more basic accommodation
*   Eco-friendly: environmentally sustainable accommodation.
Accommodation Types:
*   **Luxury:** Expensive with many services (high-quality meals).
*   **Budget:** Cheaper, more basic.
*   **Eco-friendly:** Environmentally sustainable (eco-lodges in rural areas).
Serviced Accommodation:
*   Provides overnight stays with services (food, drink, cleaning).
*   Examples: Hotels.
*   Meal plans: Full board (American plan), half board (modified American plan), bed and breakfast, room only.
Self-Catering Accommodation:
*   Customers provide/cook their own food.
*   Examples: Homesharing, holiday lets (rentals).
Occupancy Rates:
*   Percentage of accommodation space in use.
*   High occupancy = more profitable.
*   Low occupancy in low season; prices may be reduced to attract customers.
  • Food and Drink Providers:
    • Provide food and/or drinks for sale.
Types of Providers:
*   Restaurants (serve meals).
*   Cafés (drinks, snacks, meals).
*   Street food vendors (local snacks).
*   Takeaways (takeouts).
  • Visitor Attractions:
    • Places and events that appeal to tourists.
Types of Attractions:
*   Natural (beaches, waterfalls).
*   Built (museums, theme parks).
*   Events (sports competitions, arts festivals).
Natural Attractions:
*   Appeal due to the environment (scenery).
*   Examples: Waterfalls, volcanoes, mountains, lakes, coastlines, beaches, nature/wildlife, marine life.
Built Attractions:
*   Buildings and monuments that appeal to visitors.
*   Examples: Museums, art galleries, historical monuments, castles, religious buildings.
*   Managed by travel/tourism organizations; tickets, tours, gift shops, cafés provided.

  • Events:

    • Time-limited happenings that attract tourists.
    • Examples: Sports competitions (Olympic Games), arts festivals, religious celebrations.
    • Increase low-season occupancy rates.

  • Ancillary Service Providers:

    • Provide services other than travel, accommodation, food/drink, and visitor attractions.
    • Extra, additional services not usually in package holidays.
Examples:
*   **Tour agents/guided tours:**
    *   Tour operators providing guided tours.
    *   Local guides explain built attractions or scenery/wildlife.
*   **Currency exchange:**
    *   Travel agents and larger hotels provide currency exchange.
*   **Car hire/bike hire:**
    *   Local transport rental services.
    *   Travel agents may provide car and bicycle hire as ancillary services.
    *   Large hotels may host car/bicycle hire desks.

Case Study: Australian Adventures

  • Australia is a large country, a destination between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
  • Tour operators provide package holidays to explore destinations in Australia.
  • Uluru: A natural attraction (348m-high rock that changes color during the day), a World Heritage Site, sacred to indigenous people.
    *Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge: Built attractions. Sydney is Australia's largest city destination.

Adventure Package Tours in Australia

Package tour A

17-day overland tour from Melbourne to Darwin

Accommodation:

  • Camping (9 nights)
  • Budget self-catering (7 nights)

Products and service components:

  • Attraction visits
  • Includes: wildlife, such as koalas
  • Scenary, including Uluru (see Figure 3.7) and MacKenzie falls waterfall
  • Visit to mines, see art by indigineous

Ancillary Services:

  • Travel insurance
  • Trained tour guide
Package tour B

A 15-day East Coast fly-drive tour from Sydney to Brisbane

Accommodation:

  • hotels
  • room only (3 nights)
  • bed and breakfast (6 nights)
  • luxury hotel resort (2 nights)
  • All-inclusive resort (all meals included, full board, 3 nights)

Products and services components

  • Aborigine people and the world's largest cattle ranch
  • Beaches
  • Car hire
  • Coral reef
  • Famous sights such as Sydney opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge(see Figure 3.7)
  • Scenic coastal walks and cruises
  • Mountain scenery
  • Art gallery visit
  • Travel and tourism products and services are provided by different travel and tourism industry components.
  • The demand for sustainable products and services has increased and many tourism organisations have sustainable practices.
  • Understand that destination size (scale) varies. Destinations such as Australia are big because of their physical size. destinations such as orlando are big for their type.

3.2 Ways Travel and Tourism Organizations Work Together

  • Travel and tourism organizations rely on each other for success.
Interdependencies:
  • Organizations rely on each other to provide products/services.
  • Example: Airlines need airports; travel agents need tour operators.
  • Mutually dependent; cannot provide products without the other.
Examples of Interdependencies:
  • Travel agents to sell airline tickects
  • Airports to land at
    Air lines to provide flights to customers and provide transport for cargo
  • Tour operators to buy arline sets to include in their packages
    *Hotels
  • Restaurants
    *Visitor attractions
    *Guided tour
    organizations
Interrelationships:
  • Organizations choose to work together for mutual benefit.
  • Organizations can exist without the interrelationship.
  • Example: Hostel and local restaurant offering discounts to hostel guests.
  • Benefits: Hostel provides good customer service; restaurant gains more customers.

Case Study: Nature-Based Adventure Park in Jamaica

  • Located on a former sugar plantation.
  • Built sustainably, protecting the natural environment and preserving cultural/historical features.
  • Offers seaside activities, boat tours, sand-dune safaris, snorkeling, horse riding, walking routes.
  • Includes restaurants, changing facilities, historic ruins.
  • Works with Jamaican Tourist Board and Tourism Product Development Company (DMC).
  • Committed to sociocultural impact; employs over 700 people; provides education/skills development.

3.3 Different Types of Transport and Their Appeal

Air Transport:
  • Used by domestic and international tourists.
  • Often quicker than water, rail, or road travel.
  • Appeals to tourists traveling long distances (long-haul flights).
  • Budget flights are often short-haul flights of less than a few (between three and six) hours.
  • Can be expensive, but budget airlines have made some flights cheaper.
  • Air travel pollutes the atmosphere; newer aircraft cause less pollution.
  • Security checks have increased journey times.
  • Appeals to business tourists for speed, but sustainability concerns exist.
Water Transport:
  • Used for cruise holidays, river/lake cruises.
  • Ferries transport tourists and vehicles between destinations.
  • Ferries appeal to families traveling with cars.
  • Water taxis are small boats for travel within a destination.
  • Gondolas are traditional boats in Venice.
    Timetabled boat services between destinations or across water are ferry services
    *Water taxis are small boats that tourists can hire
    to travel between places within a destination.
Rail Transport:
  • Trains transport between/within urban destinations.
  • Appeals to tourists traveling between cities.
  • Long-distance journeys usually quicker by air.
  • Luxury train services are a leisure tourism product (e.g., The Blue Train in South Africa).
    *Trams, mass rapid transit (MRT) and underground
    railway services appeal to tourists visiting urban destinations.
Road Transport:
  • Used to travel to and within destinations.
  • Car travel appeals to families.
  • Luxury coach travel appeals to older people and budget travelers.
  • Inter-city coaches appeal to independent travelers.
  • Car hire, taxis, and buses (including shuttle buses) are used within destinations.
Factors Affecting the Appeal of Transport:
  • Cost: Some transport is cheaper.
  • Time: Some transport is quicker.
  • Sustainability: Some transport is more eco-friendly.
  • Comfort and Enjoyment.

Singapore Case Study

Singapore is a green city destination and has been described as 'a city in a garden'.

  • Taxis are usually
    more expensive than buses, but they are sometimes
    more comfortable and can reach places that are not
    accessible by bus or MRT.
Transport Types in Singapore:
  • Air: Changi Airport provides international flights.
  • Water: Cruise ships arrive at Singapore Cruise Centre and Marina Bay Cruise Centre.
    *Cycle routes make cycling safe by
    separate cyclists from other traffic. Separating cyclists
    from other traffic also protects cyclists from pollution.
    Tourists who have foldable bicycles can take them
    onto trains and buses in Singapore.
Public transport types in singapore

*Singapore has a large network of bus routes.
Buses allow tourists to travel to most places in the
city. Buses are popular with VFR tourists as buses
are an economical type of transport for tourists.

  • Tourists can travel around
    Singapore by rail using Singapore's mass rapid transit
    (MRT) system.