Package Holidays, Tour Operators and Travel Agencies

If you want to work as a travel agent and be successful in what you do, it is very important for you to know exactly what your responsibilities towards your clients and partners are.

In this webquest we will learn about:

• building of a package holiday

• the difference between tour operators and travel agencies

• tasks and responsibilities of tour operators and travel agents

Your task for this webquest is to find out exactly what package holidays are and to explore the differences between tour operators and travel agencies. You are going to work in groups of three and you are going to focus on the following:

1. What are package holidays? (What do package holidays consist of?)
2. Who are tour operators and what are their responsibilities?
3. What are travel agencies and what are their responsibilities?
4. What are the differences between tour operators and travel agencies?

Using the information that you find, you will compile a booklet which will contain all the relevant information as well as the information sources that you used during your quest.

Follow the steps below for the first process in your project. Please print off the worksheets before you conduct your research as they contain directions that have to be followed:

1) In groups of three, learn about package holidays by using the link and filling out the worksheet below.

What are package holidays?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_tour

WORKSHEET

1. What are other names for a package holiday?

2. What does it comprise?

3. Who sells package holidays?

4. What other services may be provided?

5. How can transport be arranged?

6. What does product bundling mean?

7. Who sells package holiday to consumers/customers?

8. Who can travel agents work for?

9. Define the term dynamic packaging. Why are they called ‘dynamic’?

2. Two groups are then going to choose one of the following and fill out the worksheet

1) Tour operators

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_operator

WORKSHEET

1. What is the basic task of a tour operator?

2. How do they disseminate information about their packages?

3. What is included in the price of a tour operator’s product?

4. What are niche tour operators?

5. How has the internet partially replaced tour operators?

2) Travel agencies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_agency

WORKSHEET

1. What services do travel agents offer to their customers?

2. What does a separate department within a travel agency deal with?

3. What is a travel agency’s main function?

4. What is a commission?

5. How would you explain the “supermarket concept”?

3) Differences between tour operators and travel agencies

Once you have completed your assigned part, you will complete the following worksheet using the links below.

https://www.tenontours.com/the-difference-between-tour-operators-and-travel-agents/

http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-travel-agent-and-vs-tour-operator/

WORKSHEET

1. What is a tour operator responsible for?

2. What is a travel agent responsible for?

3. How do travel agents choose package holidays for their clients?

4. Is it possible to ‘cut out’ a tour operator? If yes, how?

5. Why do some people still prefer to contact a travel agency first?

6. Who earns more, a tour operator or a travel agent?

Now that you have completed all the components of process one, proceed to process two!

 

Using the knowledge that you have gained in process one, it is now your job as a group to write at least a one page double spaced conclusion to “Package Holidays, Tour Operators and Travel agencies”. The components of this response are as follows.

• give the definition of a package holiday
• name the responsibilities of a tour operator
• name the responsibilities of a travel agency
• highlight the differences between these two
• say how new technologies and customers’ preferences have partially changed the traditional roles of both tour operators and travel agencies

Great work! You are now at the last part of your project!! Below is the requirement for your booklet. Follow the directions and compiling your booklet will be a snap.

Using your worksheets that you have filled out at task two, write at least one page double spaced paper with your conclusions related to: "Package Holidays, Tour Operators and Travel Agencies”

Booklet Compilation Directions

1) Must have a cover page which includes the topic, group members, and some kind of artistic portrayal.

 

2) Table of Contents page - components must be in the following order

• What is a Package Holiday? (worksheet)
• Who are Tour Operators? (worksheet)
• What are Travel Agencies? (worksheet)
• Differences Between Tour Operators and Travel Agencies
• Conclusions on “Package Holidays, Tour Operators and Travel Agencies”

3) Compile the components in the booklet (folder or binder) in the order above.

**Take liberty in font style, colour, and design. Feel free to add pictures, maps, etc.  to show those that look through your booklets that you have gained a strong understanding in this topic.**

This webquest was created by a team of teachers, within the co-funded Erasmus plus KA2  partnership “English for hospitality” (EN4HOSTS), project number: 2017-1-RO01-KA201-037159, KA2 - Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices ,KA201 - Strategic Partnerships for school education.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.