Introduction to travel concepts and terminology
Download 239.35 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- INTRODUCTION TO TRAVEL CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY Participant Guide 7 November 2007
- Travel and Tourism Industry: An Introduction
- Travel and Tourism Industry
- Overview Travel and Tourism
- Travel-Related Organizations and Associations
- Travel-Related Organizations
- Time Zones and the 24-Hour Clock
T
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ABLE OF CONTENTS|
Icon |
Notes |
|
Apply your knowledge |
Travel and Tourism Industry: An Introduction
Welcome to the world of travel. As long ago as the time of the Roman Republic, rich people used to visit popular coastal resorts such as Baiae as tourists. The terms tourist and tourism were first used as official terms in 1937 by the League of Nations. Tourism was then defined as people traveling abroad for periods of over 24 hours.
Objective
After completing this module, you will be able to:
-
Identify the guidelines of service excellence in the travel industry.
Travel and Tourism Industry
Travel is like no other industry; it is very complex and can sometimes be difficult to understand. It is, however, a happy, fun industry, and very rewarding. Beginning a career in any industry is a difficult decision. We hope that you enjoy this part of your training.
Overview Travel and Tourism
Every time a traveler spends one day or night away from home, he / she needs to purchase goods and services. He / she may be traveling for business, for vacation or leisure, or simply to visit friends or relatives in another city. What are the goods and services he needs to purchase? It may be an airline ticket, a car rental, or a night’s stay at a hotel. These goods and services may be obtained before his leaving home, en-route to his destination, or while at his destination. No mater matter why he is traveling or where he purchases these goods and services, the people who work in the travel industry provide the things he needs. Some pointers to service excellence in the travel industry:
Customer Service
|
One of the most important attributes that you can possess is a genuine desire to help people. Customers are the reason we are in business. Even if you have a job that does not have direct contact with the public, you will be supporting those who do work directly with our customers. Working with the public is often like being an actor with a very critical audience. Yet, it is very rewarding too when you can solve a customers issues.
Work Habits
Traveling is often done under pressure and at the last minute. This pressure is often transferred to the travel professional that must respond effectively and efficiently. The job can be very demanding and require you to make important decisions and offer advice to your customers.
Self-motivation
A travel professional needs the ability to see what needs to be done and to be able to decide how to accomplish it. This is an invaluable skill, especially when working without supervision.
Organization
In the travel industry, no two days are alike. There are so many different functions that you will be asked to perform. You must be able to set priorities, organize your time to accomplish your job responsibilities, and have the ability to adapt to change.
Positive Attitude
|
A positive attitude – sometimes under difficult A circumstances – is a must. Your success will depend on your ability to handle good and bad days with the same positive approach. Your customers and co-workers will appreciate this. It would be less stressful for you to maintain a positive attitude.
Flexibility
The travel industry is very fast paced, and you will need to keep up with the product changes that occur on a daily basis. The different requests of your management team and your customers will require you to be flexible.
Teamwork
|
The decisions you make and the way you handle your job responsibilities will affect many people. Working as part of a team means that you do your job in a way that enhances the company’s image.
Patience
Patience is a virtue; in the travel industry, it is also a necessity. Customers do not always make up their minds quickly. Airlines and other vendors have very strict rules and regulations. Your supervisors may make what seems to you ridiculous demands on your time; and just when you thought you knew it all, every thing changes. Patience will make your job much easier.
Module Summary
In this module, we have covered the following:
-
Service excellence tips in the travel industry
Travel-Related Organizations and Associations
Travel-related organizations and associations cooperate between airlines and air travel providers for promoting safe, reliable, secure, and economical air services for the benefit of air travel consumers. In addition, some of these associations maintain ongoing and effective representation and dialogue with the airline industry and government organizations on a wide variety of issues of concern. Tour operators, travel wholesalers and national and international travel suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and cruise and rail lines also provide valued support and input as allied members to these associations.
Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:
-
Provide a brief overview of travel-related organizations and associations.
Travel-Related Organizations
|
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the division of the Department of Transportation (DOT) that is responsible for airline traffic control, aircraft certification, passenger safety, and the licensing of pilots. |
|
American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is an organization whose members include travel agents, tour operators, and other travel industry vendors. |
|
International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a conference made up of several international airlines. It is responsible for inter-airline cooperation in promoting safe, reliable, secure and economical air services for the benefit of consumers around the world. Founded in 1945 in Havana, IATA brings together over 270 airlines, including the world's largest. Flights by these airlines comprise more than 95 percent of all international scheduled air traffic. The modern IATA is the successor to the International Air Traffic Association founded in the Hague in 1919 – the year of the world’s first international scheduled services. IATA authorizes agreements between airlines and travel agents for international ticketing. IATA sets common policy and controls data specifications for all standard traffic documents used worldwide. |
|
International Airlines Travel Agency Network (IATAN) is responsible for:
It appoints and monitors U.S. Travel agencies for the sale of international travel. It is made up of several international airlines and is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Air Transport Association (IATA). The IATAN Registration program offers several highly desirable services:
|
|
Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) is a corporation jointly owned by most U.S. Airlines. Many non-owner carriers, both domestic and foreign also participate in the ARC program. Any airline (or railroad) is eligible to use ARC’s services upon signing a Carrier Services Agreement and meeting ARC’s requirements. At the end of the second quarter of 2001, ARC had 37,317 accredited travel agency locations (travel agent retail and satellite ticket printer (STP) locations), 91 ARC accredited corporate travel departments (CTD), 134 participating air carriers, and 3 participating railroads. ARC appoints (approves) new travel agencies for the sale of domestic airlines tickets. ARC is also responsible for monitoring travel agency standards of operation. ARC supplies ticket stock, assigns ticket numbers to travel offices. The offices must comply with strict security procedures specified by ARC. ARC has the power to close a travel agency for failure to follow specified operating regulations. Money from domestic and international airline tickets, as well as from certain railroads, sold by travel agencies is collected by ARC and is then distributed to the appropriate airline or railroad, through the corporations Area Settlement program. |
|
Apply Your Knowledge | |
|
|
Settlement Processing Services (SPS) is the TRX Department that manages the relationship of TRX with ARC. This department falls under the TRANXACT Solution and is managed by Rita Anderson, Manager Settlement Processing. |
Module Summary
In this module, we have covered the following:
-
Travel-related organizations and associations
Time Zones and the 24-Hour Clock
A time zone is a longitudinal strip of the Earth's surface, stretching from pole to pole and sharing the same time of day or night. We have 24 hours in a day. Therefore it seemed logical to allow for time changes on an hourly basis. In practice, however, the zone boundary lines are drawn to accommodate political units as a number of countries differ considerably from international practice in time designation. As the time zones extend around the world, the 24th zone has to lie next to the first one.
Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:
-
Provide a brief overview of the history of time zones. -
Define twenty-four hour clock.
History of Time Zones
Before the late nineteenth century, time keeping was essentially a local phenomenon. Each town would set official time on their clocks according to the motions of the sun and the citizens would set their watches and clocks accordingly. However, because of the nature of how local time was kept, the railroad companies experienced major problems in constructing timetables for the various stops. Timetables could have only become more efficient if the towns and cities adopted some type of standard method of keeping time.
In 1878, Sir Sanford Fleming, a Canadian, suggested a system of worldwide time zones that would simplify the keeping of time across the Earth. Fleming proposed that the globe be divided into 24 time zones, each 15 degrees of longitude in width. Since the world rotates once every 24 hours on its axis and there are 360 degrees of longitude, each hour of Earth rotation represents 15 degrees of longitude.
In 1884, an International Prime Meridian Conference was held in Washington D.C. to adopt and standardize the method of time keeping and determined the location of the Prime Meridian. It was agreed that the longitude of Greenwich, England would become zero degrees longitude and the 24 time zones were established relative to the Prime Meridian. It was also proposed that the measurement of time on the Earth would be made relative to the astronomical measurements at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This time standard was called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
The Universal Time Coordinate (UTC) has replaced GMT as the standard legal reference of time all over the world in 1972. UTC is determined from six primary atomic clocks that are coordinated by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) located in France.
24-Hour Clock
Almost all airline tickets that are issued outside of the United States indicate departure times in the 24-hour clock.
Using the 24-hour clock avoids confusion and reduces errors on identifying AM and PM. The 24-hour clock is always portrayed in four digits, to include both hours and minutes. The cycle begins at one minute past midnight (0001), progressing through the day and ending at midnight (2400). Morning hours are easy to determine. For PM times, the simplest thing to do is add 1200 so they become the corresponding PM time.
To convert the 24-hour clock back to the 12-hour clock, just subtract 1200 from the PM time.
Internet Reference Site
To know more about time zone conversions discussed in the sections above, please visit:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/timezone.htm
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
|
Apply Your Knowledge | |
|
|
The TRX offices globally are in the following time zones: Americas
Asia
Europe
|
uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10
uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers
uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It?
uploads -> For want of a nail
uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models
uploads -> Police Militarization
uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016
uploads -> Township of winfield
uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014
uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now!
Share with your friends: