5. Tour operators.

Tour operators are a people or companies that organize and sell package holidays.

Package holidays, which are also known as package tours, include all of the components necessary for a complete vacation:

• transport to and from the destination;

• transfers between the airport / station / port and hotel;

• food and accommodation at the destination;

• other services at the destination such as a guide or holiday ‘rep’.

The professionals who bring these elements together to create a holiday are called tour operators. They buy in advance and in bulk from the principles: airlines, shipping lines, hoteliers, and so on. Because they buy hundreds of seats or rooms from the principle, they pay a much lower price for them than an ordinary member of the public. The tour operator then converts this bulk into individual packages known technically as inclusive tours (ITs). These are marketed to the consumer through travel agents or by other systems.

In the past tour operators sold almost entirely through travel agents, but today they also use direct selling. This strategy eliminates the travel agents from the chain of distribution, and this reduces the final cost of the holiday package because direct sell operators do not have to pay commission to a travel agent. Many smaller tour operators, for example, prefer to deal directly with their clients.

Not all tour operators sell the same type of holiday. The really big operators, the mass market operators, produce low-cost holidays traditional sea, sun, and sand destinations like Spain, Greece, or Turkey. Other operators limit their product to customers who want a very specific type of holiday. These specialist tour operators sell adventure holidays, holidays for single people, holidays for motor-racing fans, and so on. Domestic operators specialize on tours for people who want to holiday in their own country, whilst incoming tour operators are specialists in providing holiday packages to visitors coming from abroad. For example, ‘Vastravel’, an Italian incoming tour operator, sells tours of Italy to people from the rest of the world.

6. Dealing with complaints

Tourist industry is a people industry. Our main principle is: “The customer is always right”. It’s about always smiling, it’s about always listening, it’s about loving your job, not just doing it.

However we live on the Earth, in the world of people who have different tastes, viewpoints, positive and negative features of character. People can make mistakes; it’s so natural for human beings. Mistakes in any business and in tourism in particular cause complaints.

Well, how to deal with complaints in tourism business?

1. Of course, most important of all is to accept them. Complaints are a way of getting better, so be positive.

2. Secondly, most complaints are about things that are easy to do something about. And for the really difficult complaints, you’ve got a manager. So, put yourself in the situation.

You’ve got a customer complaining. What’s the first step?

1. Let the customer speak. Listen without interrupting.

2. The next step is to apologize. Apologize with care in your voice. Feel sorry.

3. The third stage is about questions. We only ask relevant questions, and we shouldn’t ask too many questions.

4. And the last thing is giving the customer a solution to the problem.

Many tourism organizations set “quality standards” or “performance standards” for their employees.

Quality standards for checking out customers at a hotel might include the following:

• to smile and to be courteous to the guest;

• to use the guest’s name when addressing him or her;

• to process a guest’s account quickly and efficiently;

• to check all items are included in the bill and to agree them with the guest;

• to check the guest was happy with the service provided and, if not, to note any problems and pass them on to the management.

Customer satisfaction is the extent to which a customer is pleased with a particular product or service. Customer satisfaction is our priority.