Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Travel agents
FOCUS ON INDUSTRY
Travel agents are in business to sell holidays and other
travel products to a wide range of customers. There
are more than 5000 travel agency outlets in the UK
(2010 fi gures) that are members of ABTA - The Travel
Association (see case study in Unit 9 on page 311).
Most are leisure travel agents, catering for the needs
of people going on holidays and taking short breaks.
UKINBOUND
UKinbound was founded in 1977 as BITOA to
represent the commercial interests of British tour
operators specialising in providing tours and tourism
services to overseas visitors to Britain. The primary
aim of the association is to help its members manage
successful, profi table businesses that are part of a
vibrant and sustainable inbound tourism sector. It
does this by focusing on three key areas:
Travel agencies in the UK are either independently-
owned or part of a chain of agencies owned by a
single company (often referred to as the 'multiples').
In recent years, the number of multiple agencies has
grown at the expense of the independent agents. At
the time of writing, the 'big two' multiple agencies
(with number of branches in brackets) are:
•
Advocacy - to champion the interests of
UKinbound members with government;
•
Professionalism - to promote best practice and
encourage lifelong learning through training and
staff development;
1.
Thomas Cook UK & Ireland (800 - Thomas Cook
and Going Places);
•
Networking - to provide opportunities for its
2.
Thomson (650).
members to develop relationships with suppliers,
buyers and partners in the UK and overseas.
Each of these multiples is owned by a major tour
operator, a process known as 'vertical integration'. For
example, Going Places is part of the Thomas Cook
Group, while Thomson Travel Shops are owned by
Thomson, the UK's number one tour operator, which is
itself part of the German-controlled TUI Group. You will
learn more about vertical integration later in this unit.
Weblink
Check out this website for the latest news
on incoming tourism from UKinbound.
www.ukinbound.org
Thomas Cook travel agency in Birmingham
