The Total Tourist Experience

The travel and tourism industry is made up of six various components, they are:

* Travel Agents

* Trip Operators

* Transportation

* Lodging and Catering

* Tourist advancement and Promo

* Traveler Attractions

Must a traveler decide to take a holiday, he/she is most likely to go to a travel agent to ask about various vacations on deal and rates offered.

Travel agents are representatives for trip operators; they sell package vacations, services and products on behalf of the tour operator and are paid a commission or charge by the trip operator.

Travel agents offer products and services such as; travel insurance coverage, flights, car-hire, ferry crossings, train tickets, recommendations etc

. There are 2 types of travel agents; they are the Retail Travel Representative and business Travel Representative. The bigger Business Travel Representatives are members of the Guild of Organisation Travel Agents (GBTA) and make up over 80% of organisation travel arrangements through travel bureau. Leading GBTA Organisation Travel Agents are, American Express Europe Ltd, Britannic Travel Ltd, Carlson Wagonlits, Hogg Robinson Travel Ltd, Portman Travel Ltd and Seaforth Travel Ltd.

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Business Travel Agents focus on the sale of travel related products to business customers and are in some cases situated in an office within the organisation, for which they provide travel arrangements (in-house). Business travel involves getting the client to the proper destination for organisation conferences and related tasks.

The Retail Travel Agents belong to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA). The function of the Retail Travel Agent is to offer a location, where travelers who are seeking information about itinerary will go.

The Retail Travel Agents sell arrange of leisure and entertainment travel services and products to outbound, incoming and domestic travelers. They function as a link in between consumers and tour operators; they remain in constant contact with airlines and cars and truck hire business.

Contact is maintained over the phone, through the post and the computer systems in place e.g. Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and World Span. Many Retail Travel Agents advise customers, suggest possible holidays, answer questions, make bookings and help customers with travel problems. They also sell ancillary products and services e.g. travel insurance, foreign currency, travellers cheques etc. There are four main leading travel agents, they are; Lunn Poly Ltd, Going Places, The Thomas Cook Group and Carlson Worldchoice. Between them, they sell over 60% of inclusive tours in the UK and account for 1/3 of the total number of high street travel agency branches in the UK.

A tourist is most likely to choose a holiday that is an inclusive deal e.g. flights and accommodation. These deals have been designed and compiled by a tour operator.

Tour operators provide a wide range of products and services for domestic, outgoing and incoming tourists. They arrange transport, accommodation and leisure activities to make up the holiday package. Holiday packages are usually sold through travel agents. Due to customer demand, tour operators offer flexible options for their customers e.g. flight only and multi-centred holidays.

Tour operators usually belong to ABTA or the Association of International Tour Operators (AITO). Tour operators can specialise e.g. selling to the mass market, which means they offer tours to the general public and cater for all their needs and outbound tour operators who organise package holidays abroad. Examples of tour operators are; Thomson Holidays Ltd and Airtours plc. There are specialist long haul operators e.g. Kuoni Travel Ltd. Travel Scene specialise in city breaks while Crystal and Ski Bound specialise in winter sports.

Tour operators publicise their products through their own direct marketing e.g. Thomson Holidays Ltd own Portland Direct and Airtours plc own Direct Holidays. Thomson Holidays Ltd also encourages direct bookings from their brochures or packages, which are advertised and sold through travel agents.

A tourist who is going on holiday can choose from a variety of different transportation methods, they include cars, trains, planes or boats.

Transportation means providing travel to and from a destination, travelling around a destination or it can be the main feature of a tourist's trip. Transport can be divided into four different categories, they are:

* Air- scheduled flights, charter flights or air taxis

* Water- ferries, cruise ships, hover crafts or river boats

* Road- cars, motorbikes, coaches or buses

* Rail- trains, tubes or trams

The transport networks are the air, water and land routes, which various forms of transport travel along. Each network has starting and ending points, which are known as termini.

Air travel has scheduled flights, which operate regularly according to published schedules or timetables e.g. Virgin Atlantic Airways fly five times a week to New York and three times a week to South Africa. Charter flights only operate when they are hired for a particular purpose. Tourists tend to take scheduled flights, as they are affordable, faster and convenient. Charter flights are expensive and need to be organised through companies.

Tourists often have a choice of transport routes when deciding how to travel to their destinations, these include; sea- (ferries and cruises), which tend to be slow but flexible as tourists can take their cars on the channel crossings. Road- (motorways, auto-bahns, major trunk roads and the channel tunnel) this is a flexible means of transport. Finally, rail- (high speed lines and scenic railways) this is a quick means of transport to a destination.

The choice of transport and type of route taken is based on four factors; cost, convenience and availability, journey time and services provided by the transport carrier.

There is a variety of accommodation available for a tourist. It can range from five star hotel accommodations through to basic bed and breakfasts. The type of accommodation chosen by a tourist is usually dependent on his/her budget.

Whilst on holiday a tourist will have a wide variety of catering facilities to choose from. He/she will choose a restaurant or takeaway that serves the food of his/her choice.

Accommodation and catering are organisations, which provide tourists with places to stay and to eat. In the UK there are many single outlets and multinational operators. Catering services operate separately from accommodation in some cases. Restaurants, pubs, fast-food outlets and cafes provide arrange of choices from quick snacks to haute cuisines. Some restaurants offer fixed priced menus or 'a la carte' menus, where customers pay for separate items. Pubs are popular as they provide cooked meals, hot snacks, salads and sandwiches with alcohol. Fast-food outlets are convenient and offer items such as hamburgers, pizzas, pasta and baked potatoes. Examples of fast-food outlets are Mc Donald's and KFC. Tourists who are travelling either by plane or train e.g. Eurostar, are often offered catering, which is prepared and packaged meals.

Accommodation can be divided into serviced or self-catering. Full serviced means it includes meals and house keeping. Examples of places that offer serviced accommodation is hotels, motels, guest houses or lodges. Serviced accommodation can be divided in a number of ways including the number of bedrooms, small- (ten rooms or less), medium- (eleven-fifty rooms) and large- (more than fifty rooms).

Serviced establishments are awarded a rating, which indicates the range of facilities provided. The National Tourist Boards (NTBs) for England, Scotland and Wales have developed the Crown Classification System for hotels, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts and farmhouses. The number of crowns awarded represents the range of facilities and services provided.

Self-catering accommodation means tourists are provided with accommodation but have to provide their own food, this type of accommodation is usually cheaper as fewer services are provided. Examples of self-catering are, apartments, camping sites, timeshare and chalets.

The tourist board inspectors' check both serviced and self-catering accommodations and each of the establishments are graded for quality e.g. Travel Lodge is for budget accommodation while grand hotels e.g. The Ritz and The Hilton are classed as five star accommodations.

Tourist development and promotion are the support services of the industry and will work together to provide a tourist with an informative and interesting holiday experience.

Tourist development and promotion comprises of tourism support, promotion services, Tourist Information Centres (TICs) and guiding services. Many local authorities have specific departments to support and develop tourism in different areas. This support includes marketing the area with the aid of brochures, distributing accommodation and entertainment guides and attending travel exhibitions to promote their areas. NTBs and Regional Tourist Boards (RTBs) work with local authorities to promote and develop local areas; this involves providing a wide range of services such as educational material, publicity guides and visitor guides. I will discuss each organisation that aids tourist development:

* The British Tourist Authority (BTA) is an official government organisation formed in 1969 in conjunction with tourists' boards for Scotland, Wales and England. Their role is to build the value of tourism to Britain by promoting tourism in Britain. The BTA advertises overseas, it also advises the government and businesses about tourism and carries out research. The BTA works with the Scottish, English, Welsh and Regional Tourist Boards to encourage inbound travel to the UK. It also works with the Department of Culture, Media and-Sport (DCMS), and liases with the British council and diplomatic staff to increase awareness as a travel destination.

* NTBs are responsible for promoting domestic tourism in their respective areas. There are four main tourist boards, they are, the English Tourism Council (ETC), Scottish Tourist Board (STB), Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) and Welsh Tourist Board (WTB). In Wales people refer to the WTB as Bwrdd Croeso Cymru. There are also separate tourist boards for the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. They have similar objectives, which include, advising the government on tourism matters, creating wealth and jobs, enhancing the image of their areas etc.

* There are three RTBs in Wales and ten in England:

* RTBs work together with NTBs to promote their areas; they have common programs under contract with the NTBs, such as information collection and networked tourist information centre systems. RTBs receive grants from the Central and National governments but they have to raise a portion of the income from commercial activities.

* Local Authorities play an important role in developing, promoting and managing tourism in their areas e.g. Poole and Dorset are local authorities that work with local businesses to provide websites that promote tourism.

Tourist attractions serve as sites of interest for a tourist. A tourist may visit different sites in connection with his or her private interests.

The ETC defines a visitor attraction as:

'A permanently established excursion destination, a primary purpose of which is to allow public access for entertainment, interest or education, rather than being a primary retail outlet or venue for sporting, theatrical or film performances. It must be open to the public, without prior booking, for published periods each year, and should be capable of attracting day visitors or tourists as well as local residents.' Outhart, T. Taylor, L. Barker, R. Marvell, A. (2000) Unit 1: Investigating travel and tourism, Structure of the travel and tourism industry. Advanced Vocational Travel and Tourism, London, Collins, p. 60.

Attractions can be further divided into natural and built. Built attractions have been built by man or women e.g. Hampton Court Palace was built by King Henry VIII as a royal residents and today it is a tourist attraction because of its link to royalty and its preserved art work. Natural attractions have occurred through nature e.g. Cheddar Gorge. Some attractions are run by the private sector for a profit e.g. Madame Tussauds, while others are run by charities, such as, the National Trust or controlled by the public sector e.g. Stonehenge.

Theme and leisure park attractions are action packed, family centred leisure and entertainment complexes, which often include technological versions of fun fair rides e.g. Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures etc. People are attracted to theme parks as it can be a family day out, as most theme parks have a variety of rides that cater for all age groups e.g. Blackpool Pleasure Beach, has a huge roller coaster, which is an attraction within itself.

Heritage and historic sites range from century old historic sites e.g. Stonehenge to castles, cathedrals and stately homes. The majority of these historic sites were erected for a specific purpose in history e.g. castles were the residents/home to royalty, cathedrals were places of worship and the Tower of London served as a jail. Many historic buildings are owned by religious organisations or government agencies e.g. the historic royal palaces.

The Museums Association defines a museum as:

'An institution which collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets material evidence and associated information for the public benefit.' Outhart, T. Taylor, L. Barker, R. Marvell, A. (2000) Unit 1: Investigating travel and tourism, Structure of the travel and tourism industry. Advanced Vocational Travel and Tourism, London, Collins, p. 63.

In other words, they are protestors of works of art. Museums are important for regional and local areas, as they protect and exhibit works of art or history from local areas e.g. Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum attracted over a million visitors in 1998, as people were interested in Scottish history. Countryside visitor attractions provide opportunities for people to enjoy leisure pastimes e.g. picnics, walks etc. Many areas have urban parks e.g. Hyde Park in London or gardens e.g. Kew Gardens.

The best-known areas of countryside attractions are the national parks. National parks are protected areas of land; they protect the fauna and flora of the local area. There are not many facilities available to the public in these areas. Some parks may offer accommodation and activities, such as; walking, abseiling or pony trekking but these activities will be limited. There are now eleven national parks in England and Wales e.g. Dartmoor, Snowdonia, Lake District etc.

All the above components of the travel and tourism industry work simultaneously to provide a total tourist experience for a tourist or visitor. It starts with a tour operator, who will plan the holiday to the travel agent, who sells the package. The airline, train or ferry will provide the transport to the hotels or campsites, where the tourist will sleep (accommodation), to whichever restaurant or take away that he/she eats from (catering). The tourist might then visit an attraction that has been promoted in some way, either by the tourist board or through the local tourist information kiosk. These components are invisibly linked but work together to make sure that the tourist enjoys his/her visit to such an extent that he/she will return or by word of mouth, to generate other visitors.