Lesson 1.

1 : travel trade
Historical perspective
Introduction

The business of travel agency has undergone

significant changes over the last 2 decades .
Several obstacles discourage people to people and
only a selected few travel out of curiosity ,
motivation and spending availability.many could
not make it due to lack of communication along
with facilities and accommodation.
over the century there are many changes that takes place .
1. They are connected by modes of transport and
accommodation facilities .
2. Mass travel took place ,creating demand of luxury
transport advance arrangements of stay and sightseeing .
Origin of travel agency business :

the nature of travel agency business is to provide holiday

related services ,such as : from ticket booking to doing
various activities .
The scope was small and it was risky since it depends on
external factors such as socio- political and cultural factors .
The profit is also really low and there imposed restrictions
from government as well .
Moreover , there remain various circumstances like cancel
of ticket booking at any time , not finding the desire room ,
etc , language and cultural differences .
Cox’s and Kings:

prior to Thomas Cook , Cox’s and kings introduced travel

business to Uk.
He in the second half of 18th century become expert in
providing travel logistics to British army stationed in various
locations in the world , claiming to be one of the oldest
travel agency in the world serving the leisure and business
traveller.
It was renamed as the eastern carrying company limited as
per the Indian companies act in 1913 and in 1950 got its
name back , registered as private limited company in 2001
It is a premium brand in offering all travel related services in the
Indian subcontinent.
It areas of operation include leisure and corporate holidays,
insurance and frontier formalities.
They are working for GIT and FIT as one stop travel solution
point . Other services include charter flights , foreign exchanges
and MICE.
Thomas Cook and it’s origin :

He started his career as a Cabinet Maker . A 32 year old

cabinet maker could become world’s founder professionals
travel agent
He was the first one to introduce hotel coupons , circular
notes , credit cards and advance reservations as part of his
inventions
First excursion :

the history of professional travel agency business started

with a day long excursion tour for his 570 friends in the
Temperence Society from Leicester to Loughborough in
1841.they were charged one shilling and there was lunch
oicninc , band playing along with afternoon tea
refreshments. This successful tour led by Thomas cook led
to all inclusive package tour .
Modern travel agency :

this was established due to the railway system .

The first mass tour across England with
entertainment activities began in 1845 to provide
value for money package .
Travel innovations :

Thomas cool introduced hotel coupons in 1868 to help

customers check in hotel without hassle .hotels also
accepted the cousins for providing rooms and other allied
services such as food ,entertainment transport , etc.
He introduced circular note in 1874 to help customer travel
safely .this was easily exchanged against the local currency.
Package tour for middle class :

the mass industralization in the mid 19th century made

massive impact on the increase in income and
consumption.
The middle class customers demanded for visiting
destinations in Switzerland and Italy .
negotiated with innkeepers and hoteliers to provide rooms
and meal at good prices .
Tour across intra continental:

Thomascook continued to expand his

business in Europe too .
With the cooperation of the Paris , Lyons
and Mediterranean railways he began to
issue circular train tickets ( in both
England and French)between Paris and the
alps .
Intercontinental tour :

Thomas cook conducted tour to the USA in the

North American continent, introduced ready made
package tour to London, Paris , Rome and Geneva .
The company extended its operation to Egypt and
Palestine in the year 1869 in other to cater the
demand for reasons .
Great journey :

at the age of 63, Thomas Cook set out the Round the World
tour from Leicester in 1872, it was a 222day world tour .
It was a great achievement for expansion of business to
different parts of the world . He gathered information
about the place , people , culture , political and economic
system , facilities , etc
free independent travel (FIT)started buying packages from
Cook.
Second generation Thomas cook business :

Mason cook was an able successor of the empire and was

able to manage the business during the world tour and
took control of the business after the head office got
shifted to ludgate circus .
He set up the overseas editions of the excursionist the
newspaper was renamed as “the Traveller’s Gazette” in
may 1902.and was continued to publish until 1939 .
This was used to educate customers about the places of
interest .
Jason mason cook’s remarkable
contribution :
the British government appointed him in 1884 to organise a
relief expedition up the nile to rescue general Gordon from
Khartoum.
He took the kid as part of social service , he along with his
Egyptian managers supervise the entire operation .
Despite all the efforts Khartoum fell in January 1885 and
Gordon was killed .
Merger and acquisition:

after mr cook died his three sons took over the operation and
introduced winter sports holiday , tours by motor car and
commercial air travel .
It was registered as Thomas cook and sons Ltd in 1924 , the
headquarter shifted to Berkeley Street .
The company was sold to Belgiun compagnie international in
1928. The company was a leading operator of most of Europe’s
luxury sleeping cars , including the orient express .
The wagon lit’s headquarter in Paris was seized by British forces
and the asset’s was also held by the British government and a
deal was struck to sell the company to Britain’s four mainline
railway companies in world war 2.
They struck a deal with wagon lits to hold 25% stakes in
overseas in overseas business .the nationaized British
railway company took the company in 1948.in 1972 it was
taken over by a consortium midland bank , trust house
forte and the automobile association fortunately they
survived the recession in 1970.therefore enhanced its
reputation for providing excellent service by launching a
money back quarantee scheme in 1974 .
Thomas cook began to concentrate its long haul tour
programs by acquiring Rankin Kuhn Travel in 1982, closed
the operation of short haul travel market in 1988and made
a comeback in 1986 after acquiring Sun world .
Germany’s third largest bank west deudscheLandes
Bank LTU group became the leading charter airline after
acquiring the company in 1992.it became the wholly
own subsidiary of West LB in 1995.
After the lost world war the company saw a boom and
and set up a business travel service (BTA) and
renovated the holiday camp Prestatyn
The first German travel agencies :

the first German travel agencies in the line of modern

travel agencies known as Immigration agencies .
Engaged in booking ship’s packages and group journeys .
To make travelling easy and simple for the individual , the
concept of tickets for means of transport were
introduced.
The first Indian owned travel company :
Pallonji Katgara and Jamshedji dastoor created the herbs
and company , a shilling and export company , it was
establish in 1920.and was the first Indian owned travel
company .
In 1961 the company was merged into travel corporations
India PVT Ltd and became the largest company .later in
1951,travel agents association of India (TAAL) to represent
any issue of travel agency and protect the interest of its
members , entered into outbound tours as well .the cox’s
and king’s , Thomas cook and sons and American Express
came to India for inbound and outbound tour operation .