What is hospitality?

Hospitality means extending a welcome to travelers or offering a home away from home,
and the word is derived from the Latin word “hospes” meaning visitor or stranger. The
hospitality and tourism industry is a vast sector that includes all the economic activities that
directly or indirectly contribute to, or depend upon, travel and tourism. This industry sector
includes:

 Hotels & Resorts

 Restaurants & Catering
 Night Clubs & Bars
 Travel & Transportation
 Tourism
 Spas & Wellness
 Cruise Liners & Bus tours
 Events (Private, Business, Cultural & Sports)

The History of Hospitality & Tourism 

Hospitality is one of the oldest businesses, going way back to the innkeepers and taverns of
biblical times. Tourism, on the other hand, is a more recent invention which began in
Europe, with Switzerland being one of the first countries to develop special accommodation
and services for travelers. 

In the late 1800’s, the concept of leisure tourism and hospitality spread across Europe,
bringing flocks of wealthy travelers to Switzerland. It began with visitors seeking cultural and
natural exposure on guided tours in the Swiss Alps, train rides and wellness tourism.
Palace-style hotels, thermal baths and ski resorts became icons of luxury tourism in
Switzerland.

This new generation of wealthy guests had higher expectations for comfortable
accommodations, convenient services and fine dining. The leisure travel phenomenon gave
birth to hospitality management schools: EHL was founded as the first hotel management
school in 1893 in Lausanne, and it has pioneered in hospitality education since then.
EHL: The World's First Hotel Management School
Hospitality is one of the most resilient, adaptable and dynamic industries on
the planet. It is an industry of constant change, where technology and
innovation are being integrated to improve the guest experience.
What is Hospitality and Tourism Management?
Hospitality management is a broad career field that provides many opportunities for
international career progression. In the core of the hospitality industry alone (hotels, events,
restaurants, etc.) graduates with a hospitality degree can become managers in a variety of
departments and sectors, or choose to specialize in one area.

The career paths are as diverse as the industry, and with so many new hospitality concepts
and innovation changing the industry, the career paths will continue to grow and evolve with
technology and trends of the 21st.
Learn more about Hospitality Careers
Hospitality education at EHL teaches students to love learning because it
takes a scientific approach that sparks curiosity and involves the five senses. 

What are Hospitality Management Skills?

In the field of hospitality management, customer satisfaction is key, and the primary goal is
to ensure the best customer experience possible. Therefore, hospitality management
courses teach both professionally-focused hard skills (room pricing, cost-control,
accounting, scheduling, etc. ) and soft skills which are related to how one acts, and interacts
in a professional environment.

Training for soft-skills is critical to succeed in the 21st century: critical thinking, agility and
adaptability, effective communication, imagination and curiosity: these are all skills students
develop at EHL in our hospitality management courses and degrees.

What is the definition of the hospitality industry?

Hospitality has dozens of different definitions, but it can be broken down to the act of
making someone feel welcome, usually through entertainment and comfort. So what is
the hospitality industry? It includes many businesses that fall under this large umbrella,
such as hotels, motels, resorts, restaurants, theme parks, and much more. If you’re not
sure whether or not a business is considered part of the hospitality industry, ask
yourself these questions:

 Does this establishment serve food or drink? 

 Is customer experience a top priority? 
 Does the business make money through services more than goods? 

If you’ve answered yes to one or more of these, there’s a strong chance that the
business is involved in hospitality to some degree. 
Another way to better understand hospitality is by looking at The Big Four: Food and
beverage, travel and tourism, lodging, and recreation. The food and beverage category
includes restaurants, bars, and lounges. Travel and tourism covers airlines and travel
agencies. Lodging can be anything from hotels to AirBnBs. And recreation usually
means activities such as golfing, fishing, and tennis. 

All of these industries are connected by their drive to provide an enjoyable experience
for all who participate. The atmosphere is welcoming and warm, the facilities sometimes
offer convenient amenities such as showers or complimentary valet parking, and their
revenue typically relies on whether or not people enjoy being there.

What is the goal of the hospitality industry?

The goal of the hospitality industry is to provide customers with an enjoyable

experience. Whether that enjoyment comes from eating a good meal, relaxing in a
luxurious spa, or getting a good night’s rest away from home, making sure each
individual guest is taken care of is paramount.

Tourism is a dynamic and competitive industry that requires the ability to adapt constantly to
customers’ changing needs and desires, as the customer’s satisfaction, safety and enjoyment
are particularly the focus of tourism businesses.

TOURISM ENCOMPASSES:

Outbound Tourism
Outbound tourism is what you may be most familiar with. It involves the people going
from British Columbia to other provinces, territories or countries. For example, going to
Hawaii for a holiday is considered outbound tourism.

Inbound Tourism
The tourists coming to BC from other places are called inbound tourists. BC competes
in a global market to attract tourists from the United States, Japan, Germany and many
other countries. The industry also implements marketing campaigns aimed at attracting
travellers from other parts of Canada, as well as from within British Columbia

Domestic Tourism
Approximately half of the tourists in BC each year are actually from within the province. 
BC Stats and Destination BC consider those travelling beyond their usual environment
(typically more than 80 km from home) for business or for pleasure to be tourists.

Tourism Sectors
There are different ways to measure the size of the tourism industry, as tourism does
not conform to the usual ways that industries are defined, such as manufacturing,
forestry and other industries. Tourism constitutes a wide variety of sectors that provide
diverse products and services to visitors. However, these businesses also provide
products and services to local residents.

What are the five classifications of

tourism?
There are different types/ Kinds of Tourism as listed below : Recreational Tourism -
This includes people who travel to relax, and have fun.

 Cultural tourism.
 Nature tourism.
 Pleasure tourism.
 Sports tourism.
 Religious tourism.
 Medical or health tourism.
 Adventure tourism


what are 3 types of tourism?

Types of tourism There are three basic forms of tourism: domestic tourism,

inbound tourism, and outbound tourism.

What are the 2 types of tourism?

Broadly speaking, there are four major types of tourism namely: (i)

international tourism, (ii) domestic tourism, (iii) long distance tourism, and (v) short
distance tourism.

element of tourism?
There are two elements that play a major role in Tourism industry namely direct elements and
indirect elements. Direct elements of the Tourism Industry are those areas of the tourism industry
which come into direct contact with tourists Sales, Accommodation, Transport, Activities, Attractions,
and Ancillary Services

components of tourism?
COMPONENTS OF TOURISM (4 'A's OF TOURISM) a) Natural Attraction: Attraction places made
by nature. b) Man-Made Attraction: Attraction developed by man. 2) ACCESSIBILITY: a) Surface:
Transportation in land through roadways or railways. b) Air Transportation: Transportation through
airways to travel long distance.

A travel agent is a person who has full knowledge of tourist product –

destinations, modes of travel, climate, accommodation, and other areas of the
service sector. He acts on the behalf of product providers/principles and in return
gets a commission. Technically, a travel agent is an owner or manager of an
agency, but other employees are responsible for advising tourists and selling
packages tours/individual components of travel products.
A travel agent may be an individual /firm or corporation which is commonly
known as a travel agency. An agency means the office of travel agent or
organization where all travel goods and services are assembled and coordinated
for the smooth conduct of travel agency business.

Travel agency is one of the most important organizations in the tourism private

sector which plays a significant and crucial role in the entire process of
developing and promoting tourism in the country or at a destination. It is a travel
agency which packages and processes all the attractions, accesses, amenities
and ancillary services of a country and present them to tourists. That’s why travel
agency is known as ‘image builder‘ of a country.

A prospective travel agency is one which makes arrangements of travel tickets

(air, rail, road, and sea); travel documents (passports, visa and other documents
required to travel); accommodation, entertainment, and other travel-related
services from principle suppliers. It may also secure travel insurance, foreign
currency for traveling people.

History of Travel Agency

The first Travel Agency of the world was established by Thomas Cook in
1845 in England. The use of the term travel trade dates back from the early years
of the 19th century, but this should not obscure the fact that what we today
describe as travel trade (travel agency and tour operation business) was taking
place much earlier in history.

Throughout history, there was travel middleman who helped the merchants
traveling for trade and others who traveled for religious purposes.
In 1841 a fortunate day comes in the history of travel trade when Thomas Cook,
as secretary of South Midland Temperance Association, organized a trip by a
train for 570 members for his association to the distance of 22 miles. He bought
railway tickets in bulk to sell them to people.
The experiment was successful and everybody was exultant. Mr. Cook had done
his job on a no-profit basis. But, incidentally, It gave him a new idea and turned it
into a tour business.

Four years later in 1845, he set up a ‘World’s First Travel Agency‘ to organize
excursions.  Due to this innovative approach, Mr. Thomas Cook is known as
the Father of Travel Agency Business. He co-ordinated railway and steamship
excursions throughout England, Scotland and Europe.
However, the railways only gave him a 5% commission which was not enough to
meet his overheads, so he decided to diversify this business into tour operation.

In 1855 Mr. Cook started operating package tours. He conducted the world’s

first international tour from England to Paris.

Types of Travel Agency

Travel agencies are basically categorized into two types-: Retail Travel Agency
and Wholesale Travel Agency.

Retail Travel Agency

A retail travel agency sells tourists products directly to the public on the behalf of
the products suppliers and in return get commissions. Some package tour is sold
in two ways i.e., on a commission basis and mark up the price.

When a travel agency sells a tour on the marked-up price it means that first, it
markup the cost of the tour and then sell it at a higher rate. The markup price is
the difference between retail price and wholesale cost.

Definitions of Retail Travel Agency

According to Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) a retail travel agency is
defined as ” a business that performs the following functions: quotes fares, rates,
make reservations, arrange travel tickets and accommodation, arrange travel
insurance, foreign currency, documents and accepts payments.”
According to SARC (1967), ” retail travel agency business consists of the
activities involved in selling tourism products/services directly to the tourists and
performs normal functions such as issuing air tickets, making accommodation
and transportation reservation, providing specialized services, and accepting and
making payments.”

the main source of the revenue for the travel agency is the commission received
from the vendors. However, the rate of the commission differs from organization
to organization an travel component to the travel component.

A travel agency receives appx. 95% of their revenue from the commission, and
the remaining 5% from consultancy services and others.

Wholesale Travel Agency

These agencies are specialized in organizing package tours, which are marketed
to the customers/tourists through the network of a retail travel agency or directly
to the prospective clients ( if wholesale travel agency has a retail division). A
wholesale travel agency purchases tourists’ product components in the bulk
anddesigns tour packages.

Sometimes, a wholesale travel agency buys travel components from the vendor
in bulk and resell them to other travel business originations.

Wholesale travel agencies assemble package holidays and sell them to clients
through retail travel agencies. A typical package tour includes – air tickets,
accommodation, and something other services may also be included in it such as
entertainment, sightseeing, and sports activities, etc.

These packages are referred to as ‘package tours’ most of these tours include
the services of escorts but a few are sold to people who wish to travel
independently.
Features and Importance
of the Travel Agency
Travel agency plays an important role in the travel sector business. Some most
important features and importance of the travel agency business are following
as:-

1. An important link between the clients and principal suppliers.

2. Image-Builder.
3. Ensures rapid travel services.
4. Provider of authentic and reliable travel information.
5. A social a continuous process.
6. Establishes a good relationship with clients and vendors.
These are the most important features of the Travel Agency Business.

Functions and Services of

Travel Agency
Today, Travel Agencies have been recognized as a vital component of travel and
tourism and have become an integral part of the travel and tourism industry at
globally. They account for more than 90% of international and 70% of domestic
tourist traffic
Further, more than 60%  of all travel agency revenues are derived from business
travel. Most travel agencies sell both commercial and leisure travel but there are
many travel agencies that only specialized in one sector or the other.

The operation of each travel agency is based on the scope of its activities and
organizational size. Here we discuss the functions of a large scale travel agency
that performs all types of activities such as Retail travel agency, wholesaling and
tour operations, etc. The main function of a large-scale travel agency are:

Travel Information
Whatever the size of a travel agency, it has to provide necessary travel
information to tourists. A travel agency must give up-to-date, accurate, and timely
information regarding destinations mode of travel, accommodation, sight-seeing,
shopping, immigration, passport, visa, customs clearance and procedure, health
and security rules, and various permits required to travel in particular areas, etc.

Itinerary Preparation

The term tourists itinerary is used to identify the origin, destination and all the
stopping points in a traveler’s tours. It is a composition of various elements and
designed after a detailed study of the market. Travel agencies prepare an
itinerary for tour packages.

Airline Ticketing and Reservation

A travel agency sells a variety of tourism products. Airline ticketing and

reservation is still a major source of revenue. Travel agencies perform a function
of airline ticketing and reservation on behalf of various airlines.

Tour Packaging and Costing

Travel agencies prepare a tour package and sell them to tourists. The coasting
and pricing of tour packages depend to a large extent on the ability of travel
agents as to how effectively he is able to negotiate with the principal suppliers.

Reservation

It is a very important function of all types of travel agencies. A travel agency

consistently makes linkage with the accommodation sector, transport sector and
other entertainment organizations to reserve rooms, and seats in the cultural
programs and transportation.

Travel Insurance

Some large-scale travel agencies perform additional functions to serve their

clients. Travel insurance protects travelers against the person as well as
baggage losses resulting from a wide range of travel-related happenings and
problems.
Currency Services

Approved travel agency authorized by Govt. body provides currency exchange

services to tourists.

Organization of Conference/Conventions

Large-scale travel agencies offer a complete convention/conference package

which includes registration of the participants at the venue to be picked up for
dropped to the airport/hotel, overhead projectors, slide projectors, TV, VCR,
information counter, sightseeing, etc.

Travel Agency Linkages

and Integration
Tour operator is an organization, firm, or company who buys individual travel
components, separately from their suppliers and combines them into a package
tour, which is sold with their own price tag to the public directly or through
middlemen, is called a Tour Operator.
More precise tour operators are primarily responsible for delivering and
performing the services specified in a given package tour. They can provide
these services themselves as some have their own cars and coaches, hotels,
and other travel-related services or can obtain these from the other suppliers.
That is why they are called manufacturers of tourism products.

Types of Tour Operators

Tour operators are basically categorized into four types. These are categories
on the basis of their nature of the business and its operations.

1. Inbound Tour Operators

2. Outbound Tour Operators
3. Domestic Tour Operators
4. Ground Operators
Inbound Tour Operators
These are also known as incoming tour operators. Technically, the operators
who receive guests, clients/tourists, and handle arrangements in the host country
are called inbound tour operators. For example, a group of American Tourists
is coming through TCI Ltd. to India and the company makes arrangements and
handles the group in India then TCI is called an inbound tour operator.

Outbound Tour Operators

Tour operator who promote tours for foreign destinations, maybe business tour or
leisure tour is called outbound tour operators. For example a group of
American tourists going to a trip of India and Thomas Cook handle arrangement
in America like as ticket reservation, hotel booking etc. then Thomas Cook is
called Outbound Tour operators in the context of America.
Domestic Tour Operators
Domestic tour operators are those who assemble, combine tourist components
into inclusive tours and sell it to the domestic travelers. In general, these tour
operators provide travel services within the tourist’s native country.

The domestic tour operators operate within the boundary of the home country
and offer package tour to the travelers viz. Domestic inclusive tours or
independent tours.
Ground Operators/Destination Management
Companies
These are commonly known as handling agencies and their main function is to
organize tour arrangements for incoming tourists on the behalf of overseas
operators. Let us take the case of India as a destination that – has a varied
culture.
When a tour operator himself promotes beach holidays, wildlife holidays,
adventure tours, heritage tours at the different places, the difficulty arises. It is
the ground operator then who by handling the incoming travelers in the same
season but at different places ensures that the entire operation is according to
the package tours or agreements.
Sometime when a handling agency is at a prominent tourist place i.e., Delhi and
it has to make arrangements to Goa, then it contracts (If it has no office of its
own) with a local operator (known as excursion agent) to handle the arrangement
on his behalf.

Why Ground Operators?

Obviously, the tour operation companies do not have close contact with
suppliers, governments, destinations and so on. It leaves no choice with the
companies but to appoint handling agencies at the destinations.  The main
reasons are:

 Introduction of new products or plant to promote an exotic destination.

 Lack of Government regulations.
 Lack of personal contract.
 Language problem.
 The company cannot establish its own branch.
Recognizing the very fact that the reputation, performance, and profitability of
tour company in its own market largely depends on the efficiency and
effectiveness of ground operators, it has because necessary for the company to
consider various factors before the selection of a handling agency, they are:

 Size of business
 Professional staff
 Length of business
 Area of operation/Product line
 Market share
Functions of Ground Tour Operators

Over the years of functions and activities of the destination, companies have
changed drastically to cope with the changing environment of the tourism
industry. In fact, today’s destination companies have become more professional
and are bound to provide personalized travel services to the tourists. The
following functions are performed by ground tours operators:

1. Land arrangement
2. Contract and Negotiate with other vendors
3. Handling of Arrival and departure procedure
4. Planning and organizing local package tour
5. Escorting the tourists
6. Providing market information
7. Costing and pricing package tour
Practically, if we see the working of the travel agencies and tour operators in the
industry we find that most of the organizations are performing different types of
activities like the retail travel agency, wholesale travel agency, and tour
operators.
The travel agency business is no longer an amateurism. Over the last two
decades, the pattern and structure of travel agencies have changed to meet
tough challenges in the international market. Today, small-scale agencies are
finding the travel industry increasingly complex.
Thus, the small and medium scale travel agencies are disappearing or merging
or falling instead of rising. On the other hand, a new concept has also emerged
i.e. tour operation business. The tour operation business is new but a maturing
business at the global level.