The general introduction of Travel agency
1.What is a travel agency
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism related services to the public on behalf of suppliers such as activities, airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, travel insurance, and package tours. In addition to dealing with ordinary tourists, most travel agencies have a separate department devoted to making travel arrangements for business travelers; 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.
2.The Operations of a travel agency
A travel agency's main function is to act as an agent, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier. Consequently, unlike other retail businesses, they do not keep a stock in hand, unless they have pre-booked hotel rooms and/or cabins on a cruise ship for a group travel event such as a wedding, honeymoon, or a group event. 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 the agency 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. In many countries, all individuals or companies that sell tickets are required to be licensed as a travel agent.
In some countries, airlines have stopped giving commissions to travel agencies. Therefore, travel agencies are now forced to charge a percentage premium or a standard flat fee, per sale. However, some companies pay travel agencies 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 would still come out better than if they sold a hundred trips at a higher rate. This process benefits both parties. It is also cheaper to offer commissions to travel agents rather than engage in advertising and distribution campaigns without using agents.
Other commercial operations are undertaken, especially by the larger chains. These can include the sale of in-house insurance, travel guide books, and public transport timetables, car rentals, and the services of an on-site bureau de change, dealing in the most popular holiday currencies.
A travel agent is supposed to offer impartial travel advice to the customer, as well as coordinating travel details and assisting the customer in booking travel. 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.
What Travel Agents Do
Travel agents sort through vast amounts of information to find the best possible trip arrangements for travelers. They also may visit destinations to get firsthand experience so that they can make recommendations to clients or colleagues. They may visit hotels, resorts, and restaurants to evaluate the comfort, cleanliness, and quality of the establishment. However, most of their time is spent talking with clients, promoting tours, and contacting airlines and hotels to make travel accommodations.
Travel agents typically do the following:
Arrange travel for business and vacation customers
Determine customers' needs and preferences, such as schedules and costs
Plan and arrange tour packages, excursions, and day trips
Find fare and schedule information
Book reservations for travel, hotels, rental cars, and special events, such as tours and excursions
Describe trips to clients and give details on required documents, such as passports and visas
Give advice about local weather conditions, customs, and attractions
Make alternative booking arrangements if changes arise before or during the trip
Different kinds of travel agency personnel
Business unit staff
—the most important
The duties of business unit staff is to Solicit customers which is necessary for a company to survive.
So they should be skilled in communicating and making friends.
Operate（OP）
—the hardest
They have to book hotel, tickets and something else for customers. They also have to connect their own travel agency with other agencies
So they have to be patient, careful and have high EQ.
Tour guidance (see specific information in later papers)
—the most common
Being a tour guidance, you should take the license and good at communicating with people as well as dealing with emergency events
Product planner
—the most creative
They have to design low cost and competitive plans. Sometimes, they even have to do field study.
So they have to be creative and smart.
How to become a travel agency personnel
Qualifications and training required
A degree in any subject is acceptable, although travel, tourism, languages, leisure, business studies or management degree holders may be at an advantage.
A travel training company qualification or relevant travel agency, retail or sales work experience can also be helpful.
Key skills for travel agents
Commercially aware
Good interpersonal skills
Numerical ability
Verbal communication skills
Fluency in foreign languages and personal travel experience are also highly valued.
Specific introduction of Tour guidance
General information
Tour guides escort groups of tourists on bus or minibus trips and provide them with factual and interesting information about the sights they see. A group of tourists has probably previously been on several guided tours, so a guide’s presentation has to be dynamic to hold their interest.
Tour guides may be allocated half-day sight-seeing tours or longer tours, in which case the guide will be responsible for ensuring adherence to the tour itinerary. They also need to provide tourists with information regarding currency, drinking water, restaurants and tipping, and should always be able to deal with enquiries from their tour groups.
Other tasks required of tour guides may include: meeting members of a tour on arrival and making introductions; coordinating pre-arranged accommodation and transport, and make sure that tour members are comfortable; attending to such problems as booking errors and amendments, lost luggage and treating illness or providing first aid.
Being a tour guide is often physically demanding. During a tour, guides must be available at all times to answer questions and sort out problems. Manual work such as loading or unloading baggage or other equipment may be required. Tour guides are often required to spend time away from home, especially those fulfilling the role of Tour Manager.
Tour guides may specialize in the following areas:
Adventure guide who requires guiding skills plus specialist recreational skills such as white water rafting, hiking or mountaineering
Bilingual guide who offers interpretation of language as well as guiding skills
Guide coordinator who is usually one who has worked as a guide and now supervises, coordinates and trains guides
Indigenous guide who conducts tours with a special cultural emphasis and which requires a deep understanding of their culture
Local guide who specializes in a particular city or region
Nature-based and eco-tour guide who conducts day or extended tours and requires guiding skills and specialist environmental knowledge
Site guide who may work, for example, in museums, cultural centres, theme parks and sporting facilities
Tour guides need to keep abreast of all new developments in the country; thus, constant reading and updating of knowledge is of vital importance.
Personal Requirements
have an excellent knowledge of South Africa’s places of interest, geography, its unique history, politics and flora and fauna
have good communication skills
have organizational skills
enjoy working with people
good health and stamina
be able to control groups of people and deal with unexpected situations
be neat and appropriately dressed at all times
not have a criminal record
Employment
A few large tour operators employ tour guides on a permanent basis, but the work is seasonal and the majority of tourist guides work on a freelance basis.
Getting Started
try to obtain vacation or part-time work in a tourist resort
take guided tours yourself
arrange to speak to tour guides about this type of career and ask to observe them at work
Advantages and disadvantages of being a tour guidance
Advantages:
You are an independent contractor
You get to travel a lot
You meet people from all over the world
You are very rarely in an office
Disadvantages:
There isn’t always work available for them since most of their work depends on the season
They have to research thoroughly about the destination(s), especially if they’re new to it
Not all clients are easy to get along with, some can be quite troublesome and harsh especially if they don’t find you impressive.
Salary
In Taiwan
In this picture, we can see:
① the salary appearance as an up rise trend with the time you works as a tour guidance. Longer time you works, higher salaries you will get.
② If you have a higher degree you will have higher salaries.
In China
Basic composition of income
① Monthly basic salary (most of them not have it)
② Subsidy(from 50 to 500 RMB per day in average)
③ tips/brokerages(it is predominant in their salary)
Job Outlook for tour guidance
—Looking from the trend of travel in recent years
More and more people chose to travel by themselves instead of traveling of group
Travel customers have their own personalized need. So private design become more and more popular
More and more people choose to travel abroad. So, tour guidance who can speak foreign language will have better competitiveness
In conclusion：we can see that being a tour guidance, the qualification also become higher and higher. As a foreign language major student, commanding in a foreign language may be our superiority.
Interview
(I interviewed Mr.吳冠民. He worked as a travel agency personnel for several years. I just picked some special questions and answers which didn’t be mentioned in the former content.)
1.Q: Are there any industry is closely related to travel agency?
A: There are too many industries have cooperation with travel agencies but the most common two industries are hotel and aviation. Travel agencies build cooperation with them for the sake of getting a lower price. Than they can sell by a higher price to customers so that they can make profits from it. For hotel and aviation, they can earn money by a large quantity. Especially for the airline.[We also can call it “small profits but quick turnover”(薄利多銷)]Because they have to take off their planes but the cost of a flight is very high. They have to try their best to make the aircraft full to make flights economically. Therefore the travel agency who can bring groups of customers will be their largest client.
2.Q: What are the differences between “high-end group” and “economical group”?
A: Just as we all know, the most obviously difference is the price. The high-end group is more experience than the economical group. Inevitably the high-end group will have fewer people in a group and have a higher quality which including better arrangement such as more superior hotel, services and other things in travel. Usually, a high-end group does not have the necessary shopping part. On the contrary, most economical groups have this part and this part is very important for the tour guide. Because tour guides expect to get brokerages from this part.
References
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_agency (維基百科travel agency)
2. https://collegegrad.com/careers/travel-agents (Travel Agents)
3.https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/job-descriptions/279537-travel-agent-job-description (Travel agent: job description)
4.https://www.gostudy.net/ufs/occupation/tour-guide (tour guide)
5. http://www.scuttabout.com/2017/04/10/tour-guide/ (HOW TO BE A TOUR GUIDE: PROS AND CONS OF A DREAM JOB)
6.http://www.theretirementhandbook.com/retirement-tips/working-as-a-tour-guide (Working as a Tour Guide)
7. https://www.jobsalary.com.tw/salarysummary.aspx?codeNo=270303 (1111人力銀行)
8. http://www.sohu.com/a/220792440_168029 (解密：導遊一年的工資有多少？)
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