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Roles and Responsibilities

BTEC National Travel and

Tourism

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Copyright 2004 – Biz/ed

Introduction

In the previous lesson we looked into
the structure of the travel and tourism
industry.This week’s focus is on:

•

the types of travel and tourism
organisations

•

their roles and responsibilities
But first let’s re-cap with an overview of
the industry

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Types of Organisation

•

Tour operators

•

Leisure travel
agents

•

Business travel
agents

•

Accommodation
providers

•

Airlines and
airports

•

Regulatory bodies

•

Public sector
organisations

•

QUANGOs

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Tour Operators

•

Creating tours and
travel activities

•

Offering these to
customers…

•

Through travel
agencies or

•

Directly via the Web

Four main firms

dominate:

•

TUI (Thomson)

•

Thomas Cook

•

MyTravel

•

First Choice

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Travel Agents

•

Travel agents provide the link between
tour operators and customers

•

Range from large national chains to
small independents

•

Leisure travel agents provide services to
holiday destinations

•

Business travel agents provide services
for commercial consumers

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Accommodation Providers

•

Hotel chains

•

New trends, such as budget hotels

•

Bed and breakfast

•

Youth Hostel Association

•

Villas and country houses

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Airports

•

BAA is the UK market’s leading
airport group

•

BAA owns seven UK airports

•

Manchester Airport Group is the
second largest airport owner

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Airlines

•

Charter airlines

•

Scheduled airlines

•

Budget or no-frills airlines
See Biz/ed’s easyJet business profile (

http://www.bized.ac.uk/compfact/easyje
t/easyindex.htm

)
and our At Your Leisure feature on
budget airlines for more

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Regulatory Bodies

•

Regulators exist to control an
industry to ensure that public,
business and consumers rights are
protected

•

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
is one of the travel and tourism
industry’s main regulators

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Public Sector Organisations

•

Central government creates legislation

and local government is involved in

policing the laws

•

Key travel and tourism government

departments:

•

Department for Culture, Media and

Sport (DCMS)

•

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

(FCO)

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QUANGOs

•

Quasi Autonomous Non

Governmental Organisations (see

why their name is abbreviated !)

•

Often consist of Government-

appointed people but can set

policy independent of the state

•

English Heritage is key in this

industry

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Roles & Responsibilities

Travel and tourism organisations
have responsibilities to:

•

Customers

•

Other businesses that depend on
them

•

The whole industry

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Customers

Have expectations, such as:

•

Good service

•

Quality products and services

•

Effective complaints procedures

•

Protection from improper business
practice

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Other Businesses

In the first session we saw how the

travel and tourism industry has many
examples of vertical integration:

•

Travel firms own businesses above and
below them in the ‘chain’

e.g.

Tour operator

Travel agent

Airline

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Other Businesses

They may not be owned by the
same company, though

Firms can still be inter-dependent,
even though they may compete
with each other

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Whole Industry

Organisations in travel and tourism
have a responsibility to the entire
industry because:

•

It is a highly valuable industry

•

Consumers’ confidence is vital

•

Many firms’ growth and survival
are inter-linked

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Where Next?

Go to the Activity to find out more
about how the responsibilities of
organisations in the travel and
tourism industry are met in real
life.