TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT

Introduction to Travel Agency Management

Travel agent has been defined as one who does the actual work
for another person to enable that person to make a journey. He is
supposed to be an expert or professional with good knowledge
and skills along with training and experience with up to date
information for each one of his clients in-order to advise him on
how to travel most comfortably within his limited budget and
time.
A Travel Agency is a private retailer or public service that
provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public
on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different
kinds of travelling packages for each destination. He buys the
packages from the tour operator or principle service provider and
then sells it for a commission.
Principle service provider is a person or organisation who
actually produces or offers services to the traveller.
Services in a tour package cannot be offered by one single
person/entity. It is the combined effort of Principal Service
Providers and Tour Operator/Travel Agent. Like accommodation
operators, guides, restaurant guides, airline operators and so on.
Hence we say that a travel agency is like a retail store with the
uniqueness being that it acts on behalf of both- the suppliers and
well as the clients.
Qualities of Travel Agency:
 Courteous and helpful
 Notice minute details
 Ready to work under pressure
 Good communication with proficient languages, etc.
 Good knowledge of geography like map reading and
seasonality.
 Fair knowledge on customs and practises of different
countries and destinations they deal with.
 Info on health, visa. Permits and forex.
 Good IT skills
Difference Between Travel Agent and Tour Operator

Tour Operator Travel Agent

 As a wholesaler, as it is  Works between tour
responsible for designing operator and tourist as a
the tour package. middle man to sell the
tour packages.
 Deals directly with hotels,  May deal with them
airlines, taxis and other sometimes but may buy
providers as their buyer. these services
individually for their
client.
 It designs the itinerary of  No say in design but it
event and places to be follows the standard of
visited. the operator.
 They take care of the  They sell holiday
client according to the packages purchased from
package description. different tour operators.
 Services are sold in the  Only provides single
form of packages and not services to its clients.
single individual services.
 Deals directly with all  May deal with individual
suppliers of services for provider at a time as a
conglomeration of representative of its
services. clients.
 Act as a wholesaler in the  Act as retailer in the
travel industry. travel industry.
 Receives in foreign  Receives in national
currency for the sale of currency as the business
packages. is done within a country.
  Earn huge profits since  Earn a commission based
they set the price tag. on the number of
bookings.
 They are independent.  They depend on the tour
operator.
 Normally away from its  Located in close
clients. proximity of the clients.

Linkages
Airlines:
Accommodation Companies:
Cruise Companies:
Insurance companies:
Banking Companies:
Educational Institutions:
Travel Trade Associations:
Other Organizations:

Types of travel agents

 Wholesale travel agency: he purchases tourists product
components in the bulk and designs tour packages.
Sometimes, he buys travel components from the vendor in
bulk and resell them to other travel business organisations.
This is usually for groups.
 Retail travel agency: he offers advice to the general public.
They furnish travellers with timetables and travel literature,
compute fare costs and make reservations and then sell
tours that are developed by the wholesale travel
organisation. So he directly sells it to the client as he is the
middleman. For example- Paulo, etc.
 Online travel agency: OTA is a web-based marketplace
that allows consumers to research and book travel products
 and services, including hotels, flights, cars, tours, activities,
and so on directly with the travel supplies. For example-
MakeMyTrip, Yatra.com.
 Full service agency: the agency offers convenient one-stop
shopping which saves time and money by letting you handle
every aspect of your trip from lodging to activities.
 Commercial travel agency: the agency which
commercialise their services through various methods in the
market like selling services online and offline, etc. Here they
deal with corporate companies like business tours and so
on.
 Implant travel agency: the agency which work for other
travel businesses along with their business as well like
partially owning a major brand travel company franchise. So
they basically provide facilities through the travel agency
like transport, communications, etc. which is all direct
communication.
 Special interest travel agency: they deal with the niche
markets like cruise, yoga tourism and so on. They basically
cater to the special needs of every market and custom make
their packages.
 Incentive agency: the agency which allows incentives to
the employees for their work. They help businesses boost
sales, productivity, loyalty and morale by awarding he top
performers with a luxury trip getaway as this will then
further increase their performance and improve the
company’s sales and ultimate success.

History and evolution of travel agencies

Need of Travel Agency

 Accountability:
 Knowledge:
  More for your money:
 Setting an Itinerary:
 Budgeting:
 Insurance:
 Resources:
 Exclusivity: 
 Time savings: 
 Expert Guidance:
 Convenience:
 Personalized Service:
 Pay Almost Same:
 Travel Management:
 Marketing and internal communication:

Various Services provided by the Travel Agency

1. Travel related Information:
2. Preparation of Itinerary:
3. Reservation and Issuance of Tickets:
4. Travel Insurance services:
5. Foreign Exchange:
6. Handling queries:
7. Sending Quotations:
8. Travel Documentation: Passport, Visa, Negative RTPCR,
Covid Vaccine Certificate 
9. Special Interest Tour: