what are the three ways tourist that tourist used to travel to any direction?

Main Trunk

Affiliate 7. Travel Services

Heather Knowles and Morgan Westcott

• Describe the primal characteristics of the travel services sector
• Ascertain fundamental travel services terminology
• Differentiate betwixt types of reservation systems and booking channels
• Talk over the impacts of online travel agents on consumers and the sector
• Identify central travel services and organizations in Canada and British Columbia
• Explain the importance of boosted tourism services not covered under NAICS
• Depict key trends and issues in travel services worldwide

Overview

Figure seven.1 The homepage of HelloBC.com, a site where consumers tin can research and plan their trip to British Columbia

The travel services sector is made upwards of a complex web of relationships betwixt a diversity of suppliers, tourism products, destination marketing organizations, tour operators, and travel agents, amidst many others. Under the Northward American Industry Nomenclature System (NAICS), travel services comprises businesses and functions that assist with planning and reserving components of the visitor feel (Authorities of Canada, 2014).

Before we movement on, let's explore the term travel services a lilliputian more. Every bit detailed in Chapter 1, Canada, the United States, and Mexico all use NAICS guidelines, which define the tourism industry every bit consisting of transportation, adaptation, food and drinkable, recreation and amusement, and travel services.

For many years, however, the tourism manufacture was classified into viii sectors: accommodations, adventure and recreation, attractions, events and conferences, food and potable, tourism services, transportation, and travel trade (Yukon Department of Tourism and Culture, 2013). As yous can run into, nigh of these — from accommodations to food and beverage — remain virtually the same nether NAICS and have been covered thus far in this textbook.

Tourism services support industry development and the delivery of guest experiences, and some of these are missing from the NAICS classification. To ensure you lot accept a complete movie of the tourism industry in BC, this chapter will encompass both the NAICS travel services activities and some boosted tourism services.

First, we'll review the components of travel services as identified under NAICS, exploring the function of each area and ways they interact:

1. Travel agencies
2. Online travel agencies (OTAs)
3. Tour operators
4. Destination marketing organizations (DMOs)
5. Other organizations

Following these definitions and descriptions, nosotros'll have a look at some other back up functions that fall under tourism services. These include sector organizations, tourism and hospitality human being resource organizations, training providers, educational institutions, government branches and ministries, economic development and city planning offices, and consultants.

Finally, we'll expect at issues and trends in travel services, both at home, and away.

Components of Travel Services

While the application of travel services functions are structured somewhat differently around the earth, there are a few core types of travel services in every destination. Essentially, travel services are those processes used by guests to volume components of their trip. Let'southward explore these services in more detail.

Travel Agencies

Figure 7.2 A travel agency in the United Kingdom

A travel agency is a business that operates as the intermediary between the travel industry (supplier) and the traveller (purchaser). Part of the role of the travel bureau is to market prepackaged travel tours and holidays to potential travellers. The agency can farther function as a broker between the traveller and hotels, machine rentals, and bout companies (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2003). Travel agencies can be small-scale and privately endemic or office of a larger entity.

A travel agent is the straight betoken of contact for a traveller who is researching and intending to purchase packages and experiences through an agency. Travel agents can specialize in certain types of travel including specific destinations; outdoor adventures; and backpacking, rail, prowl, cycling, or culinary tours, to name a few. These specializations can help travellers when they require communication about their trips. Some travel agents operate at a stock-still address and others offering services both online and at a bricks-and-mortar location. Travellers are and so able to take face-to-face conversations with their agents and too reach them by telephone or past electronic mail. Travel agents normally have a specialized diploma or certificate in travel agent/travel services (go2HR, 2014).

Today, travellers have the pick of researching and booking everything they need online without the help of a travel agent. As engineering science and the cyberspace are increasingly being used to marketplace destinations, people can now cull to book tours with a detail agency or agent, or they can be fully contained travellers (FITs), creating their ain itineraries.

Online Travel Agents (OTAs)

Increasing numbers of FITs are turning to online travel agents (OTAs), companies that aggregate accommodations and transportation options and allow users to choose i or many components of their trip based on price or other incentives. Examples of OTAs include Booking.com, Expedia.ca, Hotwire.com, and Kayak.com. OTAs are gaining popularity with the travelling public; in 2012, they reported online sales of almost $100 billion (Carey, Kang, & Zea, 2012) and almost triple that effigy, upward of $278 billion, in 2013 (The Economist, 2014).

In early 2015 Expedia purchased Travelocity for $280 1000000, merging two of the world'south largest travel websites. Expedia became the possessor of Hotels.com, Hotwire, Egencia, and Travelocity brands, facing its major competition from Priceline (Alba, 2015).

Although OTAs can provide lower-price travel options to travellers and the freedom to plan and reserve when they choose, they take posed challenges for the tourism industry and travel services infrastructure. Equally evidenced by the merger of Expedia and Travelocity, the majority of pop OTA sites are owned past just a few companies, causing some business organization over lack of contest between brands. Additionally, many OTAs charge adaptation providers and operators a committee to be listed in their inventory system. Commission-based services, as applied by Kayak, Expedia, Hotwire, Hotels.com, and others, can accept an impact on smaller operators who cannot afford to pay commissions for multiple online inventories (Carey, Kang & Zea, 2012). Beingness excluded from listings can decrease the marketing reach of the product to potential travellers, which is a claiming when many service providers in the tourism industry are small or medium-sized businesses with budgets to match.

Finally, governments are stepping in equally they see OTAs as a bulwark to collecting full revenue enhancement revenues on accommodations and transportations sold in their jurisdictions. OTAs frequently charge taxes on the retail price of the component; notwithstanding, they purchase these products at a discount, remitting simply the portion collected on the lesser amount to the government. In other words, the OTA pockets the departure between taxes nerveless and taxes remitted (Associated Press, 2014).

Some believe this do shortchanges the destination that is ultimately responsible for delivering the tourism experience. These communities rely on tax revenue to pay for infrastructure related to the visitor experience. Recent lawsuits, including ane past the country of Montana against a grouping of OTAs, have highlighted this challenge. To date, the courts accept sided with OTAs, sending the message that these companies are not responsible for collecting revenue enhancement on behalf of government (Associated Press, 2014).

While the industry and communities struggle to proceed up with the changing dynamics of travel sales, travellers are adapting to this new world gild. One of these adaptations is the e'er-increasing apply of mobile devices for travel booking. The Expedia Future of Travel Written report found that 49% of travellers from the millennial generation (which includes those born betwixt 1980 and 1999) use mobile devices to book travel (Expedia Inc., 2014), and these numbers are expected to continue to increase. Travel agencies are reacting by developing personalized features for digital travellers and mobile user platforms (ETC Digital, 2014). With the number of smartphones users expected to reach 1.75 billion in 2014 (CWT Travel Management Found, 2014) these agencies must adapt equally demand dictates.

Figure 7.three This is what a computer looked like in 1996. Less than xx years later y'all can access the world from your mobile phone.

A key characteristic of travel agencies' mobile services (and to a growing extent transportation carriers) includes the power to accept up-to-date itinerary changes and information sent directly to their phone (Amadeus, 2014). By using mobile platforms that tin develop customized, up-to-date travel itineraries for clients, agencies and operators are able to provide a personal affect, ideally increasing customer satisfaction rates.

Take a Closer Look: Expedia – The Future of Travel Report

Expedia is the largest online travel agency in the world. Formed in 1996, Expedia Inc. at present oversees a variety of online travel booking companies. Together they provide travellers with the option to book flights, hotels, tours, and transportation through mobile or desktop online functions. For more than on Expedia's thoughts on the futurity of travel, read its written report at Expedia's written report on the Future of Travel: http://expediablog.co.uk/The-Future-of-Travel/

Despite the growth and need for OTAs, travel agencies are all the same in demand by leisure travellers (Hotel Marketing, 2013). The same is true for business concern travellers, peculiarly in markets such as China and Latin America. Business clients in these emerging markets place a premium on "high-bear on" services, such every bit paper tickets delivered by paw, and in-person reservations services (BTN Grouping, 2014).

Tour Operators

Figure seven.4 A group tours the Columbia ice field in Alberta

A bout operator packages all or most of the components of an offered trip and so sells them to the traveller. These packages tin can also be sold through retail outlets or travel agencies (CATO, 2014; Goeldner & Ritchie, 2003). Tour operators piece of work closely with hotels, transportation providers, and attractions in order to purchase large volumes of each component and package these at a better rate than the traveller could if purchasing individually. Tour operators by and large sell to the leisure market place.

Inbound, Outbound, and Receptive Bout Operators

Bout operators may be inbound, outbound, or receptive:

• Inbound tour operatorsbring travellers into a land every bit a group or through private tour packages (eastward.chiliad., a package from Communist china to visit Canada).
• Outbound bout operators piece of work within a country to have travellers to other countries (due east.g., a parcel from Canada to the Great britain).
• Receptive tour operators (RTOs) are not travel agents, and they do not operate the tours. They represent the various products of tourism suppliers to tour operators in other markets in a concern-to-business (B2B) relationship. Receptive tour operators are key to selling packages to overseas markets (Destination BC, 2014) and creating awareness effectually possible product.

Destination Marketing Organizations

Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) include national tourism boards, country/provincial tourism offices, and community convention and visitor bureaus around the globe. DMOs promote "the long-term development and marketing of a destination, focusing on convention sales, tourism marketing and service" (DMAI, 2014).

Spotlight On: Destination Marketing Association International

Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) is the global trade association for official DMOs. It is made up of over 600 official DMOs in 15 countries around the globe. DMAI provides its members with information, resource, research, networking opportunities, professional person development, and certification programs. For more than information, visit the Destination Marketing Association International website: www.destinationmarketing.org

With the proliferation of other planning and booking channels, including OTAs, today's DMOs are shifting away from travel services functions and placing a higher priority on destination management components.

Working Together

One way tour operators, DMOs, and travel agents work together is by participating in familiarization tours (FAMs for brusque). These are usually hosted by the local DMO and include visits to different bout operators within a region. FAM attendees can be media, travel agents, RTO representatives, and tour operator representatives. FAMs are ofttimes depression to no cost for the guests as the purpose is to orient them to the tour product or experience so they can promote or sell it to potential guests.

Other Organizations

The majority of examples in this affiliate so far have pertained to leisure travellers. At that place are, however, specialty organizations that deal specifically with business trips.

Spotlight On: Global Business Travel Association Canada

Internationally, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) represents over 7,000 business organization travel agents and corporate travel and meeting managers who collectively manage over $340 billion in business travel and meetings each year (GBTA, 2014). The Canadian chapter, headquartered in Ontario, holds annual events and shares resources on its website. For more information, visit the Global Concern Travel Association: www.gbta.org/Canada/

Concern Travel Planning and Reservations

Unlike leisure trips, which are generally planned and booked past end consumers using their option of tools, business travel oftentimes involves a travel management company, or its online tools. Travel managers negotiate with suppliers and ensure that all the trip components are cost constructive and comply with the policies of the organisation.

Many concern travel planners rely on global distribution systems (GDS) to price and programme components. GDS combine data from a group of suppliers, such as airlines. In the past, this has created a chain of information from the supplier to GDS to the travel management visitor. Today, however, there is a push from airlines (through the International Air Transport Association's Resolution 787) to dissolve the GDS model and forge direct relationships with buyers (BTN Group, 2014).

Destination Management Companies

According to the Association of Destination Management Executives (ADME), a destination management company (DMC) specializes in designing and implementing corporate programs, including "events, activities, tours, transportation and programme logistics" (ADME, 2014). The packages produced by DMCs are boggling experiences rather than general business organisation trips. These are typically used as employee incentives, corporate retreats, product launches, and loyalty programs. DMCs are the one point of contact for the client corporation, arranging for airfare, drome transfers, ground transportation, meals, special activities, and special touches such as branded signage, gifts, and decor (ADME, 2014). The stop user is only given (or awarded) the package and and so liaises with the DMC to ensure item arrangements come across his or her needs and schedule.

As you can meet, travel services range from online to personal, and from leisure to business applications. Now that y'all accept a general sense of the components of travel services, let's look at some examples in Canada and BC.

Travel Services in Canada and BC

Travel Agencies

In British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada, many agencies are members of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA). ACTA is an manufacture-led, membership-based organization that aims to ensure customers have professional person and meaningful counselling. Membership is optional, simply it does offer the do good of ensuring customers receive the required services and that the travel agencies have a membership board for reference and industry resources (ACTA, 2014).

Spotlight On: Travel CUTS Travel Agency

Travel CUTS is 100% Canadian endemic and operated. As a educatee, you may have seen its locations on or around campus. With a primary audition of postsecondary students, professors, and alumni, Travel CUTS specializes in backpack-style travel to a diversity of destinations. It is a full-service travel bureau that tin help find flights for travel, book tours with a variety of companies including GAdventures or Intrepid Travel, aid in booking hostels or hotels, and even help with the SWAP overseas VISA program. For more than information, visit Travel CUTS: www.travelcuts.com

Although travel agencies may be located in a specific community, the agencies and their representatives may operate internationally, within Canada, within BC, or across regions. In Vancouver solitary there are over 500 travel agencies available to the searching traveller (Travel Agents in BC, 2014). Examples of some of the more than recognized larger travel agencies and agents operating in BC include the British Columbia Car Association (BCAA), Marlin Travel, and Flight Centre.

Tour Operators

Many unlike types of tour operators work across BC and Canada. Tour operators tin specialize in whatsoever sector or a combination of sectors. A company may focus on ski experiences, as is the case with Destination Snow, or mayhap wine tours in the Okanagan, which is the specialty of Distinctly Kelowna Tours. These operators specialize in i expanse but at that place are others that work with many different service providers.

Spotlight On: Canadian Clan of Tour Operators

The Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO) is a membership-based organization that serves as the voice of the tour operator segment and engages in professional development and networking in the sector. For more data, visit the Canadian Association of Tour Operators: www.cato.ca

Bout operators tin vary in size, niche marketplace, and operation capacity (fourth dimension of year). An instance of a niche BC tour operator is Prince of Whales Whale Watching in Victoria. Prince of Whales offers specialty whale-watching tours twelvemonth-circular in a variety of boat sizes, working with the local DMO and other local booking agents to sell tours as part of packages or as a stand-lone service to travellers. It also works to sell its product directly to the potential traveller through its website, reservation number, and in-person sales agents (Prince of Whales, 2014).

Figure 7.5 Whales off of Victoria, BC

Examples of large RTOs representing Canada internationally include Jonview or CanTours. Operators of all kinds frequently work closely with a number of destination marketing organizations, equally evidenced during Canada'south West Market, which is a trade marketplace hosted past Destination BC and Travel Alberta. Each twelvemonth the location of the marketplace alternates between Alberta and BC (by locations have included Kelowna and Canmore). This consequence provides an opportunity for Alberta and BC sellers (bout operators, local adaptation, activities, and DMOs) to sell their products to international RTOs who in turn piece of work with international tour operators and travel agents to repackage the travel products. In a span of 10-infinitesimal sessions, sellers market and promote their products in hopes of having an RTO pick upwardly the package for future years.

On a national calibration, Rendez-vous Canada is a tourism marketplace presented past the Canadian Tourism Committee that brings together more than 1,500 tourism professionals from effectually the world for a series of 12- infinitesimal sessions where they tin learn more almost Canadian tours and related services (Canadian Tourism Committee, 2015).

Let'due south now await a piffling closer at the role of BC destination marketing organizations (DMOs) in providing travel services.

Destination Marketing Organizations

At the national level, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is responsible for strategic marketing of the country. Information technology works with industry and regime while providing resource for pocket-size and medium-sized businesses in the form of toolkits. In BC, there a variety of travel service providers bachelor to help with the planning process including Destination BC/HelloBC, regional destination marketing organizations (RDMOs), and local DMOs.

Destination BC/HelloBC

HelloBC is the official travel service platform of Destination BC, British Columbia'due south provincial DMO. HelloBC.com offers access to festival activities, accommodation, transportation options, and trip ideas. This website is complemented past a social media presence through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (HelloBC, 2014a). Although the online resources are highly detailed, visitors also have the selection of ordering a paper copy of the BC Travel Guide.

To assist with trip planning, HelloBC features a booking agent system, offering discounts and special deals created in partnership with operators. Although the site tin can process these value-added components, it does not handle adaptation bookings, instead directing the interested party to the reservation arrangement of a chosen provider.

Figure 7.half-dozen Cyclists make a cease at a Company Centre, with its distinctive blueish and yellow logo

In addition to operating HelloBC, Destination BC as well oversees a network of 136 Visitor Centres that tin exist identified by the blue and yellow logo. These are a source of itinerary data for the FIT and a purchase betoken for travellers wishing to book trip components (HelloBC, 2014b).

Regional Destination Marketing Organizations

BC is divided into five regional destination marketing organizations, or RDMOs: Vancouver Island, Thompson Okanagan, Northern British Columbia, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast and the Kootenay Rockies (HelloBC, 2014c). Forth with Destination BC, these RDMOs work to market their detail region.

Figure 7.seven A tour grouping in the Kootenay Rockies

Housed inside the HelloBC online platform, each RDMO has an online presence and travel guide specific to the region too as a regional social media presence. These guides are important equally they allow regional operators to participate in the guide and consumer website in order to encourage visitation to the expanse and build their tourism operations.

Take a Closer Look: BC's Regional DMOs

For more than data on each RMDO, visit the following consumer and industry sites:

Vancouver Island
Consumer: Vancouver Island: www.hellobc.com/vancouver-island.aspx
Manufacture: Vancouver Island: www.tourismvi.ca

Thompson Okanagan
Consumer: Okanagan: www.hellobc.com/thompson-okanagan.aspx
Manufacture: Okanagan: www.totabc.org/corporateSite/

Northern British Columbia
Consumer: Northern BC: www.hellobc.com/northern-british-columbia.aspx
Industry: Northern BC: www.travelnbc.com/

Cariboo Chilcotin Coast
Consumer: Cariboo Chilcotin Coast: world wide web.hellobc.com/cariboo-chilcotin-declension.aspx
Manufacture: Cariboo Chilcotin Coast: world wide web.landwithoutlimits.com/

Kootenay Rockies
Consumer: Kootenay Rockies: www.hellobc.com/kootenay-rockies.aspx
Industry: Kootenay Rockies: www.krtourism.ca/

Community Destination Marketing Organizations

Customs destination marketing organizations (CDMOs) are responsible for marketing a specific destination or area, such as Whistler or Kimberley. Travel services typically offered include hotel search engines, specific destination packages and offers, discounts, events and festival listings, and other information of interest to potential visitors. In the absence of a CDMO, sometimes these services are provided by the local bedchamber of commerce or economic development office.

Spotlight On: Tourism Tofino

Tourism Tofino is the local DMO for the Tofino area, located on the w side of Vancouver Island. Tofino is a destination region that attracts travellers to Pacific Rim National Park, surfing opportunities, storm watching, and the Pacific Ocean. As part of its marketing tactics, Tourism Tofino offers visitors key planning tools on the landing site. To encourage shoulder flavor visitation, storm-watching deals are highlighted, which as well allows visitors to inquire direct with the accommodation provider and/or bout operator. For more information, visit Tourism Tofino: www.tourismtofino.com

Complementing BC's Company Middle network mentioned earlier, local company centres are managed by individual communities. Visitor centres may exist housed in gateway buildings at strategic locations, in historic or cultural buildings, or at an office located in town. They are designed to provide general data to travellers and may include other services such as booking hotels, free Wi-Fi, and help from a visitor information counsellor (SGSEP, 2012).

Other Systems and Organizations

A number of customized and targeted reservation systems are used by BC DMOs and other organizations. One example is the BC campground reservation online booking systems. BC Parks, Parks Canada, and individual campground operators all use different proprietary reservation systems. Both BC Parks and Parks Canada reservation systems open on a specific date in the bound for bookings later in the twelvemonth. These systems let visitors review what a site looks like through photos or video and pick which site they would like to book in the campground. Many campgrounds also offering a kickoff-come-starting time-served system, every bit well every bit overflow sites, to arrange visitors who may not take reserved a site.

In the business market, there are several companies in BC and Canada that facilitate planning and booking. Hold is an example of a travel management visitor widely used in British Columbia and Canada by organizations including CIBC, Kellogg'southward, and Pentax. It provides services including trip planning software for apply by employees, expense and invoicing software for apply by managers, and a mobile application that ensures clients can accept the engineering on the go. Its services have contributed to client savings, such as reducing the travel expenses for one client by most one-fifth in their first twelvemonth of apply in Ontario (Concur, 2014).

BC is home to several DMCs including Cantrav, Pacific Destination Services, and Rare Indigo (Tourism Vancouver, 2014). All offering event services likewise as turnkey operations (where all logistics are handled by the DMC and invoiced to the corporation).

So far nosotros've looked at travel services equally divers by NAICS. Next let's have a closer expect at boosted services generally considered to exist part of the tourism economy.

Tourism Services

Many organizations can have a hand in tourism development. These include:

• Sector-specific associations
• Tourism and hospitality homo resources organizations
• Training providers
• Educational institutions
• Authorities branches and ministries in state use, planning, development, ecology, transportation, and other related fields
• Economic development and city planning offices
• Consultants

The residue of this section describes Canadian and BC-based examples of these.

Sector-Specific Associations

Numerous non-for-profit and arm'due south-length organizations drive the growth of specific segments of our industry. Examples of these associations tin be found throughout this textbook in the Spotlight On features, and include groups like:

• BC Hotel Clan
• Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC
• Restaurants Canada

These can serve as regulatory bodies, advocacy agencies, certification providers, and information sources.

Tourism and Hospitality Man Resource Support

The Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) is a national sector council responsible for all-time practice research, grooming, and other professional person development support on behalf of the 174,000 tourism businesses and the one.75 million people employed in tourism-related occupations beyond the country. In BC, an arrangement called go2HR serves to educate employers on alluring, training, and retaining employees, besides as hosts a tourism job board to match prospective employees with chore options in tourism effectually the province.

Training Providers

Throughout this textbook, you'll see examples of non-for-profit manufacture associations that provide preparation and certification for manufacture professionals. For example, the Clan of Canadian Travel Agents offers a full-time and distance plan to train for the occupation of certified travel counsellor. Closer to home, an system called WorldHost, a division of Destination BC, offers world-class customer service preparation.

You'll learn more about training providers and tourism human resources evolution in Chapter nine: Customer Service.

Educational Institutions

Figure 7.8 President and CEO of Tourism Vancouver, Rick Antonson, at a LinkBC networking event in early 2014

British Columbia is also home to a number of high-quality public and private colleges and universities that offer tourism-related educational options. Training options at these colleges and universities include certificates, diplomas, degrees and masters-level programs in gamble tourism, outdoor recreation, hospitality management, and tourism direction. Whether students are learning how to manage a restaurant at Camosun College, gaining mountain take chances skills at College of the Rockies, or exploring the globe of outdoor recreation and tourism management at the Academy of Northern BC, tomorrow'southward workforce is beingness prepared by skilled instructors with solid industry experience.

Spotlight On: LinkBC

LinkBC is a membership-based system that receives funding from Destination BC to support students and instructors at postsecondary institutions in connecting with the tourism industry. Information technology hosts an annual Student Instance Competition, a networking event called Student-Industry Rendezvous, and provides students with information about educational activity options at its written report tourism in BC website. For more information, visit the LinkBC website: http://linkbc.ca or Study Tourism in BC: www.studytourisminbc.ca

Government Departments

At the time this affiliate was written, there were at least viii distinct provincial government ministries that had influence on tourism and hospitality development in British Columbia. These are:

• Community, Sport and Cultural Development
• Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training
• Avant-garde Educational activity
• Transportation and Infrastructure
• Environment
• Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
• International Merchandise
• Pocket-sized Business concern and Economic Development

Ministry names and responsibilities may change over time, but the functions performed by provincial ministries are critical to tourism operators and communities, as are the functions of similar departments at the federal level.

At the community level, tourism functions are frequently performed by planning officers, economical evolution officers, and chambers of commerce.

Consultants

A terminal, subconscious layer to the travel services sector is that of contained consultants and consulting firms. These people and companies offer services to the manufacture in a business-to-business organisation format, and they vary from individuals to small-scale-scale firms to international companies. In BC, tourism-based consulting firms include:

• IntraVISTAS: specializing in aviation and transportation logistics advising
• Chemistry Consulting: specializing in homo relations and labour market development
• Tartan: a public-relations and reputation management business firm

For many people trained in specific industry fields, consulting offers the opportunity to give back to the manufacture while maintaining workload flexibility.

Trends and Issues

Now that we have an understanding of the travel and tourism services providers in BC, let's review some of the current trends and issues in the sector.

Budgets

In the travel services sector, providers such every bit OTAs and business travel managers must constantly be aware of price sensitivity. Many tourism services organizations are non-for-turn a profit entities that rely on membership dues, donations, grants, and government funding to survive. As the economical climate becomes strained and budgets are tightened, all groups are increasingly forced to demonstrate return on investment to stakeholders. As some of the benefits of travel services are difficult to define, groups must innovate or face extinction.

The challenge of budget constraints came to life in late 2014 when Destination BC appear it was shutting down its Company Centres at Vancouver International Airport and reviewing five other gateway locations including Peace Curvation and Golden. While the airport locations welcomed over 180,000 visitors per year, analysis performed by Destination BC showed guests were asking non-tourism questions, and the centres' value was questioned. Closing the centres at the airport, it was determined, would save $500,000 per year — simply some in the industry were left wondering why they weren't consulted prior to the announcement (Smyth, 2014).

Technology

Figure 7.9 Tablets, laptops, and mobile phones put reservations and booking options at the traveller's fingertips.

As discussed earlier, online travel agencies have revolutionized the sector in a curt span of fourth dimension. Online travel bookings and marketing accounts for roughly one-third of all global e-commerce, and according to many these continue to rattle the sector.

Take a Closer Wait: The Trouble with Travel Distribution

This report, by McKinsey & Company, addresses the widespread impact of technological innovations on the travel services sector. To view the report online, visit The Trouble with Travel Distribution: www.mckinsey.com/insights/travel_transportation/the_trouble_with_travel_distribution

That said, OTAs and other technology providers can benefit operators and the travel services sector as a whole. Keeping in heed that travel services pertain to the planning and reserving of trip components, recent beneficial technologic improvements include the following (Orfutt, 2013):

• Existent-time and automatic inventory management, ensuring operators and travellers alike are working with accurate data when planning and booking
• A pollution and weather detection chip that would help bout operators, transportation providers, and visitors anticipate, and plan for changes in weather
• Personalized data presented to visitors to aid them narrow their choices in the trip planning process, ensuring users are not overwhelmed with information, and making the virtually of express screen size on mobile devices and tablets
• Social technologies and on-the-go information sharing, allowing users to plan at the last minute equally they travel
• Virtual assistant holograms and tablets conveying information that can replace humans during the travel experience (for instance, at drome arrivals and visitor centres)

These innovations will likely increase equally more advances are made. They also have significant implications for the marketing of travel products and experiences, which is explored more in Chapter 8.

Determination

In a time when financial resource are limited and competition for tourist dollars is strong, the travel services sector is existence forced to innovate at a startling charge per unit. With the emergence of OTAs and the rapid pace of modify, it'southward likely the travel services landscape will be radically different by the time you read this.

Just xx years ago, the travel agent was paramount for booking both leisure and business travel, while today'southward traveller can book a trip using a phone in a matter of minutes. This is ane sector with challenging and exciting times ahead.

To this point we have learned about the v sectors of tourism: transportation, adaptation, food and beverage, recreation and amusement, and travel services. With this foundation in identify, permit'due south delve deeper into the industry by learning more nigh how these sectors are promoted to customers in Chapter 8 on services marketing.

• Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA): a trade organization established in 1977 to ensure high standards of customer service, engage in advancement for the trade, behave research, and facilitate travel agent training
• Canada's West Market place: a partnership betwixt Destination BC and Travel Alberta, showcasing BC travel products in a business organisation-to-business sales surroundings
• Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO): a membership-based organization that serves as the voice of the bout operator segment and engages in professional person development and networking in the sector
• Community destination marketing organization (CDMO): a DMO that represents a metropolis or town
• Destination management company (DMC): a company that creates and executes corporate travel and event packages designed for employee rewards or special retreats
• Destination marketing organizations (DMOs):also known as destination management organizations; includes national tourism boards, state/provincial tourism offices, and community convention and visitor bureaus
• Familiarization tours (FAMs): tours provided to overseas travel agents, travel agencies, RTOs, and others to provide information about a sure product at no or minimal cost to participants — the curt form is pronounced like the beginning of the give-and-take family (not as each individual letter)
• Fully independent traveller (FIT): a traveller who makes his or her ain arrangements for accommodations, transportation, and tour components; is independent of a group
• HelloBC: online travel services platform of Destination BC providing information to the company and potential visitor for trip planning purposes
• Inbound tour operator:an operator who packages products together to bring visitors from external markets to a destination
• Online travel agent (OTA): a service that allows the traveller to enquiry, plan, and purchase travel without the assistance of a person, using the internet on sites such as Expedia.ca or Hotels.com
• Outbound tour operator: an operator who packages and sells travel products to people inside a destination who desire to travel abroad
• Receptive bout operator (RTO): someone who represents the products of tourism suppliers to tour operators in other markets in a business-to-business concern (B2B) relationship
• Regional destination marketing organisation (RDMO): in BC, one of the 5 DMOs that stand for a specific tourism region
• Tour operator: an operator who packages suppliers together (hotel + action) or specializes in one type of activeness or product
• Tourism services: other services that work to support the development of tourism and the commitment of guest experiences
• Travel agency: a business that provides a concrete location for travel planning requirements
• Travel agent: an private who helps the potential traveller with trip planning and booking services, often specializing in specific types of travel
• Travel services: under NAICS, businesses and functions that assist with the planning and reserving components of the visitor experience
• Visitor center: a edifice inside a customs commonly placed at the gateway to an area, providing information regarding the region, travel planning tools, and other services including washrooms and Wi-Fi

1. Explicate, either in words or with a diagram, the relationship between an RTO, tour operator, and travel amanuensis.
2. What blazon of services does HelloBC provide to the traveller? List regional services from your expanse that are currently offered.
3. Who operates the provincial network of Visitor Centres? Where are these centres located?
4. List the RDMOs operating within BC. How exercise each of these work to provide information to the traveller?
5. List two positives and two negatives of OTAs within the travel services industry.
6. With an increase growth in mobile engineering science, how are travel services adapting to conform the needs and/or demands of the traveller?
7. Cull an association that is representative of the sector you might like to work in (eastward.m., accommodations, food and potable, travel services). Explore the clan'south website and note three fundamental issues information technology has identified and how it is responding to them.
8. Choose a local tourism or hospitality concern and find out which associations it belongs to. List the associations and their membership benefits to answer the question, Why belong to this grouping?

In late 2014, an online travel agent and airline combined forces to sue a 22-year-old and his visitor Skiplagged.com. Skiplagged helped users find less expensive flights past uncovering "hidden metropolis" tickets. These are flights with stopovers in multiple locations, whereby the passenger gets off at one of the stopover cities rather than the concluding destination (Harris and Sasso, 2014).

Hidden metropolis tickets work when the toll to travel from point A to indicate B to point C is less expensive than a trip from point A to point B. Passengers book the entire flying but become off at the stopover. This practice is generally forbidden by airlines because of rubber concerns and challenges to logistics as it renders rider counts inaccurate, causing potential delays and fuel miscalculations. If discovered, it tin can result in a passenger having his or her ticket voided.

The lawsuit against Skiplagged founder Aktarer Zaman stated that the site "intentionally and maliciously … [promoted] prohibited forms of travel" (Harris and Sasso, 2014, ¶ 4). Orbitz (an OTA) and United Airlines claimed that Zaman'south website unfairly competed with their business, while making information technology announced these companies were partners and endorsing the activity by linking to their websites.

Based on this case summary, answer the post-obit questions:

1. What are the dangers and inconveniences of having passengers deplane partway through a voyage? In addition to those listed here, come up with two more.
2. Could this lawsuit and the ensuing publicity result in unintended negative consequences for United and Orbitz? What might these be?
3. On the other mitt, could the accommodate have unintended positive results for Skiplagged.com? Try to name at least three.
4. Should Zaman exist held responsible for facilitating this type of travel already in exercise? Or should passengers comport the responsibility? Why or why not?
5. Imagine your flight is delayed because a passenger count is inaccurate and fuel must be recalculated. What action would you have, if any?
6. Await upward the example to see what updates are available (United Airlines Inc. v. Zaman, 14-cv-9214, U.S. Commune Courtroom, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). Was the outcome what y'all predicted? Why or why non?

References

ACTA. (2014). About us. Retrieved from www.acta.ca/well-nigh-us

ADME. (2014). What is a DMC? Retrieved from www.adme.org/dmc/what-is-a-dmc.asp

Alba, Davey. (2015, January 23). Expedia buys Travelocity, merging two of the spider web's biggest travel sites. WIRED. Retrieved from www.wired.com/2015/01/expedia-buys-travelocity-merging-ii-webs-biggest-travel-sites/

Amadeus. (2014). Trending with NextGen travelers [PDF]. Retrieved from https://extranets.us.amadeus.com/whitepaper/nextgen/next_gen_travel_trends.pdf

Associated Press. (2014, March 17). Helena judge rejects state'southward lawsuit against online travel companies. The Missoulian. Retrieved from http://missoulian.com/business concern/local/helena-judge-rejects-land-due south-lawsuit-against-online-travel-companies/article_61b115d2-adfe-11e3-9b8d-0019bb2963f4.html

BTN Group. (2014). Global travel trends 2014. Business Travel News. [PDF] Retrieved from www.businesstravelnews.com/uploadedFiles/White_Papers/BTN_110113_Radius_1206_FINAL.pdf

Canadian Tourism Commission. (2015). Rendez-vous Canada 2015 – Welcome. Retrieved from http://rendezvouscanada.travel/

Carey, R., Kang, K., & Zea, M. (2012). The trouble with travel distribution. Retrieved from  www.mckinsey.com/insights/travel_transportation/the_trouble_with_travel_distribution

CATO. (2014). About the travel manufacture. Retrieved from www.cato.ca/industry.php

Concur. (2014). Concord instance studies – Concur Canada. Retrieved from www.agree.ca/casestudy

CWT Travel Management Institute. (2014). Who'due south equipped for mobile services.  world wide web.cwtinsights.com/demand/whos-equipped-for-mobile-services.shtml

DMAI. (2014). The value of DMOs. Retrieved from www.destinationmarketing.org/value-dmos

Economist, The. (2014, June 21). Sun, body of water and surfing. Retrieved from www.economist.com/news/business organization/21604598-market-booking-travel-online-rapidly-consolidating-dominicus-sea-and-surfing

ETC Digital. (2014). Mobile smartphones – Northward America. Retrieved from http://etc-digital.org/digital-trends/mobile-devices/mobile-smartphones/regional-overview/north-america/

Expedia, Inc. (2014). The time to come of travel report. [PDF] Retrieved from http://expediablog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Futurity-of-Travel-Report1.pdf

GBTA. (2014). Near GBTA Canada. Retrieved from www.gbta.org/Canada/about/Pages/Default.aspx

Goeldner, C. & Ritchie, B. (2003). Tourism: principles, practices, philosophies, ninth edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Government of Canada. (2014). NAICS 2007 – 5615 travel organisation and reservation services. Retrieved from http://stds.statcan.gc.ca/naics-scian/2007/cs-rc-eng.asp?criteria=5615

go2HR. (2014). Training and education. Retrieved from world wide web.go2hr.ca/training/training-directory?keys=travel+agent&location=&sector=All&region=All

Harris, A. & Sasso, M. (2014). United, Orbitz sue travel site over 'subconscious city' tickets. Bloomberg Business. Retrieved from world wide web.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-18/united-orbitz-sue-travel-site-over-hidden-city-ticketing-1-

HelloBC. (2014a). Most united states. Retrieved from world wide web.hellobc.com/british-columbia.aspx

HelloBC. (2014b). Visitor information network. Retrieved from www.hellobc.com/british-columbia/about-bc/visitor-centres.aspx

HelloBC. (2014c). Regions. Retrieved from www.hellobc.com/british-columbia.aspx

Hotel Marketing. (2013). Travel agency demand. Retrieved from http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/commodity/travel_agencies_versus_the_internet_global_booking_trends/

Offutt, B. (2013). PhoCusWright's travel innovations & technology trends: 2013 and beyond. [PDF] Retrieved from www.wtmlondon.com/files/pcwi_traveltechtrends2013_worldtravel.pdf

Prince of Whales. (2014). Most the states. Retrieved from http://princeofwhales.com

SGSEP. (2012). Trends in visitor information centres. [PDF] Urbecon, 1.Retrieved from www.sgsep.com.au/assets/Urbecon-Vol-1-2012-web.pdf

Smyth, M. (2014, November 20). Why is the BC government shutting down popular tourist info without consulting manufacture? The Vancouver Lord's day. Retrieved from www.theprovince.com/life/Smyth+regime+shutting+down+popular+tourist+info+centres+without+consulting+industry/10396500/story.html#__federated=1

Tourism Vancouver. (2014). Destination management companies . Retrieved fromwww.tourismvancouver.com/meetings/service-your-meeting/suppliers/destination-direction-companies/

Travel Agents in BC. (2014). Travel agents. Retrieved from www.yellowpages.ca/search/si/1/Travel+Agencies/Vancouver+BC

Yukon Section of Tourism and Culture. (2013). Tourism sectors. Retrieved from www.tc.gov.yk.ca/isu_sectors.html

Attributions

Figure seven.ane HelloBC Homepage by LinkBC is used nether a CC BY-NC-ND two.0 license.

Figure 7.2 Travels Amanuensis, Huddersfield past Dave Collier is used nether a CC-Past-ND two.0 license.

Figure 7.three my AT&T PC 6300 circa 1996 past Blake Patterson is used under a CC-Past 2.0 license.

Figure 7.4 Upwardly on the glacier by Paul Gorbould is used under a CC By NC ND 2.0 license.

Figure vii.5 Whales off Victoria, BC past Brian Estabrooks is used under a CC-By-SA two.0 license.

Figure 7.sixCompany Data by Heather Harvey is used nether a CC-Past-SA 2.0 license.

Effigy seven.7 Floe Lake, Kootenay National Park 037 past Adam Kahtava is used under a CC-BY 2.0 license.

Effigy 7.eight Tourism Vancouver's Rick Antonson addresses the audience at Rendezvous by LinkBC is used nether a CC-BY-NC-SA ii.0 license.

Figure 7.nine five Top Rated Tablet PCs by Siddartha Thota is used under a CC-By 2.0 license.

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Source: https://opentextbc.ca/introtourism/chapter/chapter-7-travel-services/

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