Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Be able to select, cost and provide
information for business trips
SECTION 4
(formerly Overseas Airways Guides) publishes a range
of guides for
ai
r and rail services, including the
OAG Rail
Guide
a
n
d
t
he
OAG Flight Guide
. Trade Associations,
e.
g
. ABTA, the Passenger Shipping Association (PSA),
AITO (the Association of Independent Tour Operators)
and IATA (the International Air Transport Association),
produce specifi c manuals for the travel trade.
This section of the unit will help you develop the skills
needed to select, cost and provide information for
business trips, using appropriate resources including
brochures and the internet.
Resources
Business travel agents and travel m
a
nagement
companies need to be able to acce
s
s
a
nd process a
great deal of information when
p
la
n
ning itineraries
for clients, particularly mul
t
i-s
e
ctor itineraries, i.e.
those that involve more th
an
o
ne leg of a journey. An
essential skill for a busi
n
ess travel agent is to know
where to source a wid
e
variety of information quickly
and reliably, e.g. fl ig
h
t times and costs, details of hotel
accommodation, car hire charges and surface transport
arrangements.
Weblink
Check out this website to see the full
range of OAG Guides for the travel and
tourism sector.
www.oag.com
Individual airlines, ferry operators, cruise companies,
tour operators, rail companies and coach/bus operators
produce their own timetables to help travel agents and
members of the public plan journeys. Timetables are
available in printed form and many are published on the
internet, e.g. the UK National Rail Timetable. Business
agents with clients travelling further afi eld can consult
the
Thomas Cook European Timetable
and
Thomas
Cook Overseas Timetable
to plan their journeys. Rail
Europe provides details of train journeys in Europe on
its website.
Much of
the information needed for producing business
tr
a
vel
itineraries is sourced from computer systems.
De
p
ending on the size of the business travel agency or
tr
a
vel management company, staff may have access to
sophisticated global distribution systems (GDS) such as
Galileo, Sabre and Amadeus. As well as having details
of available fl ights, these systems hold a great deal of
information on other travel products and services, such
as hotel accommodation, car hire and rail services. Many
other internet-based travel companies, for example
lastminute.com, ebookers, Expedia and Travelocity,
have websites with sophisticated search facilities
covering a wide range of business travel products and
services. In addition, airlines, rail companies, car hire
fi rms, coach companies, hotels, etc. have their own
websites that can be used by business travel agents.
Weblink
Check out these websites for planning rail
journeys using the National Rail Timetable
www.nationalrail.co.uk and the Rail
Europe website www.raileurope.co.uk
Customer brief
Manuals are aimed at people working in travel and
tourism (the 'travel trade') rather than the general public.
They provide very detailed information on, for example,
destinations, airlines, hotels and rail travel. The
World
Travel Guide
from Columbus Press has country-by-
country information, including transport to and within
areas, passport, visa and health requirements. OAG
A customer brief is a written or verbal instruction to a
business travel agent that gives him or her the details
necessary to book travel services for a client. Briefs
from business customers tend to be more detailed
than those from leisure travellers, since their travel
arrangements tie in with business events held at specifi c
