Step 3 Reading and translation the retail travel agent

The travel agency business offers many attractions to people with experience in the tourist industry. Unlike most other retail businesses, there is no need for the storage and display of large quantities of merchandise. This means that the initial cost of setting up an agency is low in comparison with other retail businesses.

Retail travel services are similar to clothing stores, and agency offices are often found in the same shopping areas as expensive stores.

A good location is an important factor in the success of an agency, and so office space may be expensive. Another factor in success involves establishing a steady clientele. The best customer for a travel agent may be a corporation whose executives make a large number of business trips every year.

For customers who come in off the streets, so to speak, satisfying their travel needs is the best way to assure repeated business.

The retail travel agent sells all kinds of tourist products - transportation, accommodations, sightseeing and the like to the general public. The term ‘retail’ distinguishes him from the tour operator or packager, who can be considered the manufacturer or wholesaler of the tourist industry.

A typical travel agency has a rack of colourful brochures that illustrate the delights offered by a wide variety of tours. The cost of this kind of promotion is paid for almost entirely by the tour packagers. They prepare, print and distribute the brochures, and they also absorb the national, or even international, advertising costs. The retail agencies may do some local advertising, although even in this case costs may be shared with tour packagers or transportation companies.

Nowadays, the growth of the airlines has led to a corresponding growth in the number of retail travel agents.

The agent offers the customer one-stop convenience*. The traveller can make all the arrangements for his trip without having to go to separate places for his airplane seat, his hotel reservation, his rental car, and whatever else he may want for his trip. The airlines offer inducements to travel agents to handle reservations for them.

In return for the customers who are brought in by the agencies, the airlines give special care and attention to the agents. They may set aside seats on some popular flights just for the agencies. They also give assistance to the travel agents in working out fares.

Airline fares have become very complex in recent years, with a great variety of special categories - high season and low season fares, for example, or 21-day excursions, family plans and many others besides the customary price difference between first-class and economy.

The problem becomes even more complicated when the trip has several legs - different segments of the trip on different flights, often on different airlines. The routing of a particular trip also frequently makes a difference in the total fare.

Computerization has caused great changes in the travel agency business and will continue to cause additional changes in the future. Many travel agencies are equipped with computer terminals that permit access to the information stored in the computer. This makes possible the immediate confirmation of reservations for airline seats, hotel rooms, or rental cars.

A recent trend that has developed among travel agents is to operate on a chain basis, that is, with several outlets. Some of the large travel companies have operated in this way for many years. Now the smaller agencies are also branching out. Some of them have opened offices in different parts of the same city or its suburbs, while others have opened offices throughout an entire region.

There is some difference in emphasis in the kind of business handled by travel agents in the major tourist markets and those in the major tourist destinations.

In the market areas, the emphasis is on selling travel services and tours to people who are going to some other place. The agencies in the tourist destinations, on the other hand, often put a great deal of emphasis on services the traveller will need while he remains in that area. These are services including local sightseeing tours, arrangements for independent travel, currency exchange, tickets for local entertainment, and so on. Since the agencies in some tourist areas deal with many foreigners, language skills are often more important than in the market areas. It should be noted that many places are both tourist and market areas that offer the entire range of travel services.

Any retail business involves a great deal of contact with the public, with all the pleasures and pains that such contact may bring. This is doubly true for travel agents, since they are selling services and not goods. Many of their customers expect them to advise them on where they should spend their vacations, on hotels, restaurants, health problems in all parts of the world. The successful sale of services depends on pleasing the customer. The agent can serve the customer by keeping up with changing fares so that he can offer his customers the best bargains or by helping them to work out complicated fares. The agent must also keep up with changing government regulations for international travel - visa and health regulations, customs information, airport taxes - so that he can give the traveller accurate and reliable information. The agent must even be alert for possible political problems in the tourist destination countries. One of the primary necessities for recreational travellers is personal safety. The retail agent is normally paid by means of commissions percentages of sales made through the agency. The commissions vary from country to country and from time to time. There are of course many rewards other than the financial ones for the travel agent. One of them for some people simply involves dealing with the public and serving their needs. Another involves the opportunity to do a great deal of travelling themselves.

Notes: * the agent offers the customer one-stop convenience - турагент предоставляет клиенту все виды услуг в одном месте, что является большим удобством.

Task L Find in the text answers to these questions.

How does retail travel business differ from other kinds of businesses?
What factors are important for the success of a travel agency?
What kind of services does a travel agency offer?
In what way is a travel agent different from a tour operator?
What kind of promotion do travel agents offer?
What makes travel agencies very attractive to customers?
How are the relations between travel agents and airlines built up?
Why are airline fares so complicated?
In what way have computers changed travel agency business?
What other recent trends does the text mention?
How does travel business differ in the market areas and in the tourist destinations?
What does any retail business involve?
What do customers expect from travel agents?
What is one of the primary necessities for recreational travellers?
What rewards do travel agents get for their job?

Task 2. Read the text again and sum up what you’ve learned about

important factors for success in travel business;
the difference between travel agents and tour operators;
advertising policy of travel agencies;
the relations between travel agents and airline companies;
the recent trends in travel agency business;
the emphasis on selling travel services in the market areas and in the tourist destinations;
the ways to make travel agency business successful;
the rewards for travel agents.

Task 3. Comment on the following issues.

Why is travel agency business attractive to very many people?
Are there many people in this business? Why? or Why not?
What qualities are needed for those who want to work as a travel agent?
Is travel agent business in Russia similar to that in other countries?

Give examples.

Is this business well developed in Russia?
Does it have good prospects for further development? Give your reasons.
Would you like to be a travel agent? Why (not)?

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