Tourism 1

Study tourism online. Learn about accommodation, transport, catering and service facilities. Start a career in managing and marketing holidays or tourism facilities of all types.

Course Code: BTR103
Fee Code: S2
Duration (approx) Duration (approx) 100 hours
Qualification Statement of Attainment
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YOUR FIRST STEP TO A CAREER IN ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT INDUSTRIES TODAY!



The course is designed to develop your skills in Tourism Planning and Management.

The tourism industry encompasses the provision of all those services used by people when travelling away from home, including booking services, transport, accommodation, tourist retail outlets and attractions.


Worldwide millions of people are employed in the tourism industry – from coach drivers to travel agents to hotel concierges, as well as all the other hundreds of occupations that cater for tourists and travellers.

Tourists travel to almost every country in the globe, looking for adventure, recreation and entertainment. They seek both new and familiar experiences, both close to home and far abroad. Some travel independently, others in organised groups. Some look for security, others prefer their travel spiced with excitement and danger.


This course provides a foundation for further learning in any or all of these areas, whether on the job or through formal studies.

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

  1. Travel Industry Overview/Introduction
    • Holiday travel, Business travel, Resources, Components of travel (Accommodation, Transport, Food, Luggage/what to take, Health, Money, etc)
  2. Destinations
    • Local, State, Interstate, International; health before departure.
  3. Money, Insurance & Legalities
    • Credit cards, traveller's cheques, exchange rates, International driving, quarantine laws, Islamic law, political concerns, tariffs, duty free, departure taxes etc.
  4. Transport - Airline reservations
    • International Air Transport Assn, Aircraft types, Flight information, transfers, time zones, passports, visas, baggage, travelling with animals, making a reservation, etc.
  5. Transport - Car Rental
    • Types of hire cars, reading manuals, different road rules, making reservations, cost structures, etc
  6. Transport -Other, boat (ferries, cruising), bus, rail etc
  7. Accommodation
    • Camping, Caravans, Tents, B & B's & Guesthouses, Hotels, Youth Hostels, Resorts, etc
  8. Package Tours
  9. Travel Agency Systems
    • Ethics, Tourist organisations, Client records and accounts procedures, etc.
  10. Special Project -planning a trip

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

  • Describe the nature and scope of the tourism industry.
  • Recommend tourism destinations relevant to client needs.
  • Advise a client on planning for unforeseen circumstances on a trip, such as financial, legal and insurance issues.
  • Explain the operation of airlines, including booking procedures.
  • Explain the operation of car rental services, including booking procedures.
  • Explain the operation of other transport services, including shipping, bus and rail.
  • Explain the operation of accommodation options to a client
  • Advise a client on package tour options, to satisfied their specified requirements.
  • Determine appropriate operational systems for management of a tourism service.
  • Consolidate available information and resources to plan a trip.

Working in Tourism

 
The tourism industry is large and significant across a large number of countries.
In some less developed countries, hospitality and tourism accounts for more than half of the economy; and this industry can also be amongst the largest of all industry sectors in many developed countries.


Opportunities

Tourism employs people in a range of situations, including:

  • Tour Company Managers
  • Booking Agents
  • Tour Guides
  • Tour Leaders
  • Activities Officers
  • Event Managers
  • Entertainers
  • Drivers (bus, limo, etc), pilots (plane, helicopter), captains (cruise ship, sightseeing boat, dive boat, ferries, etc)
Many jobs in the tourism industry are casual and part time, with work opportunities becoming strong during the tourist season, and weak in low season.
Some people work full time in this industry, but many others do this work as a supplement to another regular job.
Remuneration for many of those who work in tourism may not be particularly high, but for owner operators of small businesses, or senior staff in larger tourism businesses, a lucrative professional salary may apply.
 


Risks and challenges

Tourism work can be competitive and poorly paid. This means that, whilst it may be fun and fulfilling for a period of time, to make a realistic career and living in it, you may need to be the owner of a tourism operation or move up to a more senior position.

Tourism work can be unstable, due to fluctuating demands. This can be stressful to not have a reliable income.
 


How to become a Tourism Worker

Because of the varied roles within tourism, your route to a job in tourism can be varied. Many people study tourism, often in combination with hospitality. Other people may study a more specialised area, such as environmental tourism, or adventure tourism. Or, people may come to tourism from a different discipline, such as management, or administration.

Like most jobs, having experience will help you to find work. You may like to try and get work experience for a company you are interested in, and this may develop into a paid position. For many seasonal tourism operations it is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Many tourist operators will employ travelers who are in the area for the season who approach them looking for work. Other industries are more permanent and you may be able to find work year around.

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT

The key to a successful tourism business is customer service.

Generally, customers develop opinions, mostly on a sub-conscious level; on retail assistants, a store manager, wait staff or whoever they are in contact with within the first 30 seconds of contact with that person. As a travel agent, you must understand this and be aware of the fact that the impression you give the consumer within those first few seconds of interaction may determine the nature of the ensuing conversation and more importantly your ability to make a booking for your client.

To build and maintain an excellent customer relationship you should be open, honest, friendly, helpful, genuine and enthusiastic. This applies to telephone conversations too, not only face to face contact with your customer. More that 25% of an employee’s time is spent talking to a customer; therefore this is the front line of customer service contact.

The travel agency’s main job is to make sure that the process of organising a customer’s travel arrangements is smooth and trouble free. Without the appropriate treatment of a customer the business would not survive in this highly competitive environment. Relating to the customer and showing a genuine interest in and concern for their needs is one of the most important tasks for an employee of the tourism industry.

Common mistakes made by travel agents during an initial enquiry include:

  • Inadequate questioning and/or a poor questioning technique which results in failing to develop a clear picture of your client’s needs, and by asking closed questions information which is relevant may not be presented to the travel agent.
  • Failure to control the conversation can result in the client going off on a tangent and talking about something which is irrelevant – this ends up being a complete waste of time for all.
  • Prejudging is a widespread fault that many people do, most often subconsciously, when first meeting someone. As a professional person, you must avoid judging people based on their appearance or your own experiences of other people of a similar age, ethnic group etc. For example, someone who drops in wearing tattered, dirty clothing doesn’t necessarily depict someone who will have a small or tight budget – that person could be a dentist who has completed some gardening work and didn’t change his/her clothing before dropping in to make an enquiry. Or someone who is wearing a smart suit and tie could be a backpacker on a very limited budget, but had just attended a job interview.
  • Expression issues are the ways in which the travel agent punctuates the discussion with the use of “you know” or “um” too often. Using these phrases does not show confidence and is subconsciously asking the client to agree with what you are saying. If during a telephone call you are unsure of something, confidently ask the client to if they don’t mind holding on the line, that gives you a chance to come back self-assured about what you are saying. If the client is in the office and you become unsure of something they ask, let them know you aren’t sure (remember be honest!) and ask for help.
 

 

Member of Study Gold Coast Education Network.
Member of Study Gold Coast Education Network.
ACS Global Partner - Affiliated with colleges in seven countries around the world.
ACS Global Partner - Affiliated with colleges in seven countries around the world.
Since 1999 ACS has been a recognised member of IARC (International Approval and Registration Centre). A non-profit quality management organisation servicing education.
Since 1999 ACS has been a recognised member of IARC (International Approval and Registration Centre). A non-profit quality management organisation servicing education.

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Course Contributors

The following academics were involved in the development and/or updating of this course.





Tutors

Meet some of the tutors that guide the students through this course.

Melissa Leistra

Melissa has a Masters Degree in Human Nutrition from Deakin University and Bachelor's degree specialising in personal development, health and physical education. She has enjoyed teaching Hospitality in the areas of commercial cookery and food and beverage. Her experience includes 16 years teaching health and nutrition and working in the hospitality industry. Melissa enjoys living a self-sustainable lifestyle on a farm and raising all types of animals. She is an experienced vegetarian/vegan cook and loves to create wholesome food using her slow combustion wood stove.

Julia Mayo-Ramsay

Dr Julia Mayo-Ramsay is a practicing environmental and agricultural lawyer. She holds a PhD in International Environmental Law, LLM, BLJS, GDLP, LLM (Environmental Law) and a Master of Applied Science (Agriculture).
Julia started out in agriculture working on various dairy farms in the 1980s before working as dairy manager / tutor at Hawkesbury Agricultural College Richmond NSW. Julia then went on to work at Riverina Artificial Breeders at Tabletop (Albury) NSW as an embryo transfer technician assisting vets with artificial breeding and embryo transfer in cattle, sheep and deer. This was followed by two years as a herd manager for a very large commercial dairy herd milking 3,000 cows over three dairies on the outskirts of Sydney before heading overseas. In 1994 Julia accepted a position in NE Thailand at the Sakhon Nakhon Institute of Technology (now a University) training farmers and students in cattle breeding and dairy farm management. On returning to Australia in late 1996 Julia completed a Master of Applied Science in Agriculture at Hawkesbury Agricultural College (UWS) as well as law degrees and maritime studies. Julia now works as a Lawyer in the area of environmental and rural law.
Currently Julia teaches a variety of maritime subjects for Marine Rescue NSW.
As well as teaching Julia is working on a number of environmental research projects.

Jenny Bragg

Jenny has experience across many different business areas including marketing, operations management and human resources, her specialty fields are events, hospitality and tourism. She has worked in a number of different service sector organisations including hotels, restaurants, bars and specialist event providers. Jenny is a trained teacher and has worked with different educational bodies in the UK, as well as providing a consultancy service to the business and events sector.

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