2018-02-13
1484
TEXT 1
Read the article and find the answers.
1. Package holidays are created by tour operators and then sold though the chain of distribution:
a) What are the components of a typical package holiday?
b) Who else forms part of the chain of distribution?
c) How many different types of tour operator are there?
2. What are two other terms that mean the same as package holiday?
3. To buy ‘in bulk’ means to buy something:
a) on the Internet;
b) in large quantities;
c) in secret;
d) a long time before you need to use it.
4. Why is it important to buy in bulk in tour operation?
5. Why do you think specialist tour operators prefer to sell direct to their clients?
6. If you could work for one of the four types of tour operator, which would you choose?
PUTTING A PACKAGE TOGETHER
Package holidays, which are also known as package tours, include all of the components necessary for a complete vacation:
- transport to and from the destination
- transfers between the airport / station / port and hotel
- food and accommodation at the destination
- other services such as guide or holiday ‘rep’.
The professionals who bring these elements together to create a holiday are called tour operators. They buy in advance and in bulk from the principles: airlines, shipping lines, hoteliers, and so on. Because they buy hundreds of seats or rooms from the principle, they pay a much lower price for them than an ordinary member of the public. The tour operator then converts this bulk into individual packages known technically as inclusive tours (Its). These are marketed to the consumer through travel agents or by other systems.
In the past tour operators sold almost entirely through travel agents, but today they also use direct selling. This strategy eliminates the travel agents from the chain of distribution, and this reduces the final cost of the holiday package because direct sell operators do not have to pay commission to travel agent. Many smaller tour operators, for example, prefer to deal directly with their clients.
Not all tour operators sell the same type of holiday. The really big operators, the mass market operators, produce low-cost holidays to traditional sea, sun, and sand destinations like Spain, Greece, or Turkey. Other operators limit their product to customers who want a very specific type of holiday. These special operators sell adventure holidays, holidays for single people, holidays for motor-racing fans, and so on. Domestic operators specialize in tours for people who want to have a holiday in their own country, whilst incoming tour operators are specialists in providing holiday packages to visitors coming from abroad. For example, “Vastravel”, an Italian incoming tour operator, sells tours to Italy to people from the rest of the world.
2. Match the words in italics from the text to their synonyms below:
a) change;
b) common;
c) overseas;
d) buyer;
e) beforehand;
f) not married;
g) cheap;
h) fee.
TEXT 2
1. Read the text and define what is meant by ‘old’ and ‘new’ tourism. Relate the following words to ‘old’ or ‘new’ tourism:
high-rise
concrete
package
authentic
long-haul
fly-drive
independent
ecotourism
OLD AND NEW TOURISM
In the 1980s and early 1990s, when Africans first realized that tourism could be a way out of their poverty, they built very large concrete hotels on the beaches of Kenya, South Africa, and other countries. For a time the charter flights poured in from Germany and Italy. The tourists hoped to see lions, but also wanted to lie by the pool and to eat food from their own country and enjoy the other comforts of home. The revenue from tourism rose sharply, but most of it went to international tour operators.
That was then. Fortunately, a new kind of travel is now in fashion. Today’s tourists are leaving the high-rise hotels and European comforts. Instead they are looking for more authentic experiences. On the wild coast of South Africa, young tourists ride horses on unspoilt beaches and make their way through hills of subtropical vegetation. In the evening they sit round the fire and eat a traditional Xhosa meal of meat and vegetables; they listen to the local Xhosa people tell folk stories before going to bed in simple tents and lodges. The experience is not offered by an international tour operator but by the Xhosa themselves. The Xhosa tour guides are paid two and a half times the average rate of pay.
The change from old tourism to new tourism did not happen suddenly. Interest in the traditional two-week sun and sea package holiday fell gradually towards the end of the last century. Individual tailor-made or independent holidays – such as fly-drive – have steadily become more popular. Nowadays people are taking shorter yet more diverse holidays. Long-haul flights are increasing and are making faraway places easier to get to. More and more tourists are looking for adventure, activity, and authenticity. Adventure travel, ecotourism, cultural tours, and sports vacations are taking people to more exotic destinations: China, the Maldives, Botswana, Vanuatu.
2. C omplete the tables below.
| In Africa | Old tourism | New tourism |
| 1. What do tourists want to do? | ||
| 2. What do tourists want to eat? | ||
| 3. Where do tourists stay? | ||
| 4. Who are tourism employees? |
| In general | Old tourism | New tourism |
| 1. Types of holiday | ||
| 2. Length of holiday | ||
| 3. Types of activities on holiday | ||
| 4. Destinations |
TEXT 3
Read the article and answer the questions.
1. In which stage does a sales consultant do most of the talking?
2. In which stage does a sales consultant have to listen most carefully?
3. What are possible ways of raising customer’s awareness?
4. How can a tour manager establish rapport with a customer?
5. What does after-sales service include? Why is it important?
