Tourism and Travel Concepts Notes

What is NAIC?

  • The North American Industry Classification System (NAIC) allows Canada, the USA, and Mexico to produce common statistics.
  • Facilitates:
    • Uniform terminology and sector information
    • Assessment of each country's economic health and projected growth rate
    • Creation of comparable figures between countries

NAIC Industry Groups

  • There are five key industry groups classified under NAIC:
    1. Transportation
    2. Food & Beverage
    3. Travel Services
    4. Recreation & Entertainment
    5. Accommodations

SWOT Analysis

  • SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
  • A strategic planning tool used to identify internal (strengths, weaknesses) and external (opportunities, threats) factors influencing an organization.

PEST/STEP Analysis

  • PEST/STEP: Environmental scan method focusing on:
    • Political factors
    • Economic factors
    • Sociocultural factors
    • Technological factors

Types of Tourism

  • Sports Tourism:
    • Involves travel to engage in or watch sporting activities/events.
  • Underwater Tourism:
    • Allows travel to view marine environments, can include scuba diving or eco-friendly underwater vehicles.
    • Considered a form of environmental tourism.

How is Tourism Sold?

  • Different strategies are used to market and promote tourism services.

Inbound vs Outbound Tourism

  • Inbound Tourism:
    • Foreign guests visiting Canada.
    • Generates jobs and revenue.
  • Outbound Tourism:
    • Canadians traveling abroad, spending tourism dollars in foreign countries, resulting in a travel deficit.

Tourism Development Categories

  • Independent Tours:
    • Custom tours created by individuals/groups.
  • Packaged Tours:
    • Pre-set itineraries, sold to individuals/groups.

Group Tour Categories

  1. Ground/Land Package:
    • Includes accommodation, attractions, possibly meals and land transport (e.g., Expedia).
  2. All-Inclusive:
    • Covers transportation, accommodation, meals, attractions, special events (fully, partially, or unescorted).

Travel Agency Types

  • Categorized by:
    • Size
    • Service
    • Ownership
  • Types:
    • Small: 1-3 travel counselors
    • Medium: 8-10 travel counselors
    • Large: Highly diversified with specialized departments
    • Full-Service: Vacation and corporate clients
    • Corporate: Business only
    • Specialty: Focused on specific products (e.g., cruises, special needs).

Incentive Travel

  • Initially designed as a reward for employee performance.
  • Involves incentive purchase cards (e.g., Air Miles).
  • Motivates employees towards productivity and sales.
  • Benefits both company (through increased productivity) and destination host (attracting visitors).

Challenges in Travel/Tourism

  • Various challenges for individuals to purchase travel:
    • Discretionary time
    • Discretionary money
    • Location accessibility
    • Transportation options
    • Need for companions (minimum/maximum group sizes)
    • Operating hours/seasons.

What is a DMO? (Destination Marketing Organization)

  • A tourism organization responsible for creating and promoting a marketing plan for a destination.
  • A strong DMO can enhance tourist volume and revenue.

Canadian Tourism Structure

  • Tourism's intangible aspects
  • Perishability of tourism services

Tourism Characteristics

  1. Intangibility
    • Services cannot be touched; experienced (e.g., a handshake).
  2. Perishability
    • Limited time items lose value or usability (e.g., food spoiling, airline seats going empty).

Tourism Trends

  1. Consumer behavior changes
  2. Time poverty impacts
  3. Developments in transportation
  4. Shifts in accommodation
  5. Food and beverage innovations
  6. Recreation and entertainment preferences
  7. Growth in adventure tourism
  8. Trends in travel services and related sectors

The Ripple Effect of Travel

  • Travellers inject money into the economy:
    • Payments made to:
    • Cruise lines
    • Banks
    • Motorcoach operations
    • General services
    • Accommodations
    • Restaurants
    • Meeting conventions
    • These payments fund wages, salaries, profits, and taxes, leading to broader economic growth.
  • The subsequent economic effects include:
    • Investments in communication, transportation, technologies, and infrastructure.