Getting involved in the travel tourism industry

What is Tourism?

The travel and tourism industry involves almost every sector in a country in some way or another. Over the years, tourism has developed into a thriving business. Tourism includes many sectors, all of which work towards making a visitor’s experience positive and memorable.

So what is a Tourist?

There has been debate around the definition of a “tourist” and exactly which businesses deal with tourists. A tourist is a person who is traveling and staying outside of his usual environment for a period of time

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The travel and tourism industry includes:

• Transport Sector – Deals with transporting tourists e.g. airlines, shuttles, trains, buses, ships, taxis, etc.

• Travel Agents – Main function is to sell the temporary use of transport (air, rail, road and water), accommodation, tours and other associated services

• Tour Operator – A person that owns a business which transports paying tourists on scheduled itineraries and makes arrangements for their clients in terms of accommodation, transport and excursions

• Tour Guide – Any qualified person who, for monetary or other reward, accompanies people who are traveling through or visiting any place within the country and furnishes those people with information or comments regarding the places or objects visited

• Hospitality (accommodation) – Deals with provision of accommodation, e.g. bed and breakfast, guesthouse, self-catering, youth backpacker hostels, motel, hotel, etc.

• Hospitality (food and beverages) – Establishments that primarily provides food services to domestic and international guests e.g. restaurants, pubs and taverns, fast food outlets, etc.

• MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Events) – A sector whose primary objective is arranging and/or hosting meetings and other events such as exhibitions and often arranges tea and lunch to delegates attending the meeting

• Tourist attractions – places or objects that tourists visit.

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How does the travel tourism industry work together?

One of the challenges of the tourism industry is that often the sale of a product or service is not made directly between the supplier and the consumer, but through one or more intermediaries.

It is, therefore, important for you to get a clear understanding of not only who will be the end-user of your product or service, but also who you need to deal with in the channel to promote your business.
If a consumer wants to travel to a destination, he or she will approach a travel agent, who will put together a package using prepackaged tours offered by a wholesale tour operator. The wholesale tour operator would approach an inbound tour broker or operator to arrange or propose a tour. The inbound tour operator would make reservations directly with products. These all work on a commission basis.

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