BSC TTM, Sem-3, Travel Agency Management and Tour Operations, Unit-2, Present status of travel agency, 19-05-2021

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Bsc.TTM 2 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Travel Agency Management and Tour Operations  Course Code: BTT 111 Semester: Third SLM UNITS : (write units covered in E- Unit: lesson from normal syllabus) www.cuidol.in BTT-111

TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT AND 33 TOUR OPERATIONS OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION Student will be able to :  In this unit we are going to learn about the  Understand the Present Status of Travel Agency Present Status of Travel Agency Analyze the Organizational Structure of Travel  Under this unit you will also understand the Organizational Structure of Travel Agency  Agency This Unit will also make us to understand the Analyze the working of Travel Agency  Working of Travel Agency .  www.cuidol.in BTT-111 INASlTlITrUigThEt OarFeDrIeSsTeArNvCeEdAwNitDhOCNUL-IINDEOLLEARNING

TOPICS TO BE COVERED 4 > Present Status of Travel Agency > Organizational Structure of Travel Agency > Working of Travel Agency www.cuidol.in BTT-111 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

• Space for visual (size 24) 5 Travel Agency - Present Status https://www.phocuswire.com/A-brief-history-of-travel-technology-from-its-evolution-to-looking-at-the-future www.cuidol.in BTT-111 5 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Present Status of Travel Agency 6 • Online platforms like Airbnb, Uber have transformed the way we think about domestic and international travel. Yet the travel agency model persists, and those who see its digitalisation as an opportunity not a threat are flourishing. • So it’s the responsibility of travel agencies to empower themselves with the best tools of the trade, and communicate their expertise to those considering the DIY approach. • Online hotel booking’s human-to-human value offering has challenged the personalised service that travel agents have relied on to attract business. • And it’s not only in accommodation that agents feel they’re being under-cut. Booking a flight has truly never been easier than it is today. Using online tools like Skyscanner, consumers are empowered to search for deals, gauge layovers, and book complicated itineraries from the comfort of their room. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 6 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Present Status of Travel Agency Business 7 • But, would-be DIY travellers have also recognised that organising any trip can be a headache. Like a business traveller getting stranded in Mumbai with a cancelled flight, a hotel room in a building that doesn’t seem to exist etc. • So what, then, is a travel agent’s selling point? • It is removing the inevitable human error associated with do-it-yourself bookings. • Travel agencies have always leveraged personal service as a selling point for their business. They collaborate with the traveller, in crafting a trip that is tailored to your wants and needs. • They also leverage their existing personal relationships with suppliers, like hotels and airlines, to deliver this package to you. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 7 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Travel Agencies and Technology 8 • The benefits of technology for travel agencies are no less profound. Today, travel agents know that to compete with the digitalisation of consumer travel, they need to evolve the technology they use. • It is removing the inevitable human error associated with do-it-yourself bookings. • Travel agencies have always leveraged personal service as a selling point for their business. They collaborate with the traveller, in crafting a trip that is tailored to your wants and needs. • They also leverage their existing personal relationships with suppliers, like hotels and airlines, to deliver this package to you. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 8 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Essential Tools for Travel Agencies to Improve Present 9 Status • Travel agents are under constant pressure to delight their corporate travel clients with a seamless, integrated and profitable business trip experience. • So, tools like Expense management, travel insurance, booking tools, risk assessment, communication and analytics are just some of the must-haves for travel agents. Booking Tools • Locating the right flight, accommodation and transport can be the most time- consuming element to corporate travel, and a streamlined booking tool does much of the heavy lifting for them. Risk Management Tools • Ensuring the safety of the travelling clients at all stages of their business trip is essential. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 9 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Essential Tools for Travel Agencies to Improve Present Status 10 Risk Management Tools •Ensuring the safety of the travelling clients at all stages of their business trip is essential. •Travel agents need a risk management tool to monitor the location of their clients and staff anywhere in the world, with a snapshot view of where they’ve been and where they’re going. •It is also used to automatically alert travel agents about passport expiration dates and visa requirements, so the clients can be confident that they won’t encounter issues on that front.  Communication tools •Travel agents need an effective communication tool to alert of any itinerary changes or safety guidance.  www.cuidol.in BTT-111 10 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Essential Tools for Travel Agencies to Improve Present 11 Status Communication tools •As for everyday correspondence, travel agents need a service that facilitates regular and reliable communication on trip status, approvals and support. Analytics Tools • In order to report on savings and optimise their product, travel agents need access to detailed analytics on all elements of their operations. •Clients want to maintain their strict spending control, while finding the best service at the best price. To put their minds at ease, a powerful analytics tool will visualize savings and reveal areas for improvement. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 11 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Travel eCommerce: Present and Future 12 • Tourism in India is growing rapidly and is very important economically. This sector accounts for more than 7% of the nation’s GDP and supports more than 40 Million jobs in India. • According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), this sector is growing at an average annual rate of 8%. At present, 70% of India’s eCommerce market is travel related and is doing more than  $15 Billion annually. • In the early 2000, when the Indian audience was much less tech savvy, IRCTC brought the wave of eCommerce in India by launching its first transactional website. • The second key factor was the introduction of Airline e tickets. This was the time when the market dynamics started changing from traditional offline travel agencies towards OTA’s. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 12 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Travel eCommerce: Present and Future • This was the first time when Indian Audience got the convenience of booking 13 their train tickets, airline ticket and hotels with just a few clicks. Since then there is no stopping and the online travel industry has seen many ups and downs. Where do we stand today? • Today, in a country, which now has the world’s second largest number of internet users online booking of travel plans have become more convenient now. • Many OTA’s are now observing more than 50% of their bookings through Mobile Apps and Mobile websites. The main drivers of this growth are: • Better Technology • Increase in Internet Penetration and Mobile users • Growing Credit/ Debit card penetration • Increasing disposable income of the middle class • Introduction of Mobile Wallets 13 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL www.cuidol.in BTT-111

Travel eCommerce: Present and Future • While the Airline and Hotel markets are now organized with the help of GDS, 14 many OTA’s & hotel booking portals, the third and one of the most important segment which is still highly fragmented is the In Destination Tours and Activities market. • With no online established brand in India & Asia Pacific, this segment still has a vacuum with no transparency and very limited options. The travelers are now growing experimental and are ready to spend on unique experiences.  The Future of Online Travel!! • There’s still space for expansion of Smartphone & internet. The future of Online travel industry can be defined as ‘Personalization and Convenience’. The travelers are ready to pay more for their convenience and personalized experience. • This can be achieved using Data analytics and Big data. By analyzing the data one can know that where a traveler might like to travel or what the traveler might want do in the destination www.cuidol.in BTT-111 14 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Travel eCommerce: Present and Future 15 • This can be achieved using Data analytics and Big data. By analyzing the data one can know that where a traveler might like to travel or what the traveler might want do in the destination and hence offer the services more suitable to the traveler. • The technology will be playing a major and a crucial role in the advancement of the industry. • Right now, at this moment people are working on complex technologies and it is very much possible that 5 – 10 years down the line the e-commerce focus would start shifting from Smartphone to a newer technology like Google Glass or a similar tech. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 15 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Travel • Space for visual (size 24) 16 Agency - Development • Concepts of Organizational Structures • To understand the organizational structure of Make My Trip and Working of Travel Agencies . https://www.phocuswire.com/A-brief-history-of-travel-technology-from-its-evolution-to-looking-at-the-future www.cuidol.in BTT-111 16 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Concepts of Organizational Structure 17 www.cuidol.in BTT-111 17 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Key Types of Organizational Structures 18 wwhwttp.csu:/i/dfooulr.iwneekmba.com/organizational-structure/ BTT-111 18 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Organizational Structure of a Travel/ Tour Company • The organization of a travel/ tour company largely depends on the size and type of the 19 business handled by it. • Generally, in a small and medium scale travel agency/ tour operator, one will find a simple organization structure being limited in terms of operation, size, division of labor and so forth. Whereas in large scale travel companies such as Thomas Cook, TCI, SITA etc., the organization structure is more formal. • A sound organizational structure of a travel company brings following benefits to the travel business: • Develop sound and up-to-date management practices, systems and strategies. • Develop effective leadership. • Growth and diversification. • Optimum use of 'human asset’ • Stimulates creativity. • Effective coordination between various departments www.cuidol.in BTT-111 19 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Organizational Structure of a Travel/ Tour Company • The organizational structure of a travel/tour company is the formal or quasi- 20 formal network of reporting or controlling relationship and the powers and duties associated with each role in this network. • The network of reporting relationship is commonly depicted through an organization chart. But there are many travel companies, mostly young and small, in which the structure is implicit rather than explicit. • However it has been observed that a travel company will operate functions most effectively and efficiently if an explicit organization structure is designed or adopted. Practically organization charts do not exist nor does the role description. • Yet, if one views around, one can discern a hierarchy of authority, some division of work, some specialization in functions, some role specialization and so forth, which are the hallmarks of an organizational structure. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 20 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Organizational Structure of a Travel/ Tour Company • The organizational structure of a large travel/ tour company is shown in the 21 figure. • The chart depicts the visible 'super structure' of departments and the important reporting and functional relationships in the organization of a travel company. • The structure consists of managerial hierarchy from top level to junior level managers and assistants. • Normally, a large scale travel company has two parts — Head Office and number of branches within the country and abroad. It is also common that the headquarters/registered offices would have several divisions such as research and planning, travel and tour division etc. and so forth. • However in the branches, one will find a few departments according to the requirements of specialized particular areas. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 21 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Organizational Structure of a Travel/ Tour Company 22 • In designing organization structure, a travel company is free to use any means of departmentation that are appropriate to its business operation, type of customer - traveler corporation, its services and specific functions and activities to achieve a mission or goals and the core values etc. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 22 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Organizational Structure of a Travel/ Tour Company 23 whwtwtp.c:/u/iwdowl.win.pondiuni.edu.in/sites/default/files/travBeTlT-a-1g1e1 ncy-op-mgt-260214.pdf 23 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 1)Ensuring the safety of the travelling clients at all stages of their business trip is ………….. 24 A) Risk Management C)Crisis Management B) Strategic Management D)Event Management 2) Travel agents need an effective ………..tool to alert of any itinerary changes or safety guidance. A) Planning C)Controlling B) Communication D)Directing 3) In order to report on savings and optimize their product, travel agents need access to detailed ……. on all elements. A) Survey C) analytics B) Data D) Research 4) (WTTC) stands for C)World Trades And Travel Council A) World Travel and Tourism Council D)World Tour and Travel Committee B) World Travel and Trade Council 5)The Organizational structures are C)Matrix A) Functional D)All of the above B) Flat www.cuidol.in BTT-111 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

SUMMARY Summary 25 •This lecture of Travel Agency and Tour Operations Management course lecture covered the topics: Present status of Travel Agencies Travel e Commerce: Present and Future Status Working of Travel Agencies This will provide the answer for Present status of Travel Agencies and Travel eCommerce: Present and Future Status. It will contribute to your knowledge about the concepts of travel agencies and their importance which are linked to growth of tourism and travel agencies. The objective of this lecture was to provide the basic information and brief discussion on Present status of Travel Agency. With the end of this lecture I hope you will learn the concepts of travel agencies and their importance which are linked to growth of tourism and travel agencies as it provides a basic foundation for studying the future topics i.e., travel agency management, tour operations etc. www.cuidol.in BTT-111 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION 26 Q:1 Describe the Organizational Structure of Travel Agency ? Ans The organization of a travel/ tour company largely depends on the size and type of the business handled by it. Generally, in a small and medium scale travel agency/ tour operator, one will find a simple organization structure being limited in terms of operation, size, division of labor and so forth. Whereas in large scale travel companies such as Thomas Cook, TCI, SITA etc., the organization structure is more formal. “For Further details please refer to the SLM” www.cuidol.in BTT-111 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

REFRENCES 27 References Books: 1. Travel Agency and Tour Operation, Concepts and Principles – J.M.S. Negi. 2. Travel Agency Management - Mohinder Chand. 3. Travel Agency Management – Sampad Kr. Swain Video link for Impact of Covid-19 on Travel & Tourism Industry | Changes in travel and tourism industry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ahuRLpv7ng E Book: Travel Agency Management Other important link https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey_Wall2/publication/ 222487388_History_and_tourism/links/59fc4881a6fdcca1f2933cc5/History-and- tourism.pdf www.cuidol.in BTT-111 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

28 THANK YOU For queries Email: [email protected] www.cuidol.in BTT-111 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL