"Leisure travel has come a long way since the packaged tours made famous by the 1969 film, 'If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.' The movie depicts an escorted tour of the mid-20th century, in which an assortment of passengers is herded onto a bus for a whirlwind tour of about 14 European countries in 10 hectic days. Today, tourists are more sophisticated and more adventurous. They want to do instead of just view - everything from rappelling down cliff faces to participating in archaeological digs, to joining the locals at a Scottish ceilidh (a Highland dance party, prounound kay-lee). And while new-millenium travelers are eager for new experiences and more willing to sample the unusual, they're also more discerning and demanding. They want first-class accommodations in five-star hotels and gourmet restaurants.

So what does all this mean to the travel and tour specialist? It means more opportunity, more money, room for growth, and plenty of scope for creative entreprenuership. Being a travel and tour specialist gives you terrific opportunities to travel, either leading tours for customers, or getting familiarized with different sites to make the best selections for your travel packages. Travel agents are often offered fam trips ("fam" is short for "familiarization"), freebie or discount trips offered by tour operators, resorts, and attractions, in the hopes that you will recommend the trips to your clients.

Future Forecast
Consumer travel expenditures are on the rise and will continue to rise for the foreseeable future, according to industry experts. If you can sell, and in the case of specialty tour operators, also design products that will fulfill the needs and spark the imagination of travelers, then you have a winning ticket to a successful business!"






(Excerpts from "Start Your Own Specialty Travel & Tour Business"
by Rob & Terry Adams)

As a travel and tour professional, you can operate in one of 2 modes:
1.) As a travel agent - Book clients on various tours, occasionally arrange (but not write) tickets to travel by plane, train, or ship.
2.) As a specialty tour operator - Design and implement tours that your travel agent colleagues will sell.

Travel Agent
To write airline tickets, you must have a license from the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), but they require the agency to be housed in a commercial office space. However, today's travel agents conduct most of their business by phone and e-mail, so most homebased travel agents affiliate themselves with a host agency with an ARC license. The homebaser acts like an independent contractor, sort of a freelance salesperson, finding and maintaining his/her own clients, selling travel products to them, and then splitting airline commissions with the host agency. There are many more products that can be sold than airline tickets, and these products will pay much higher commissions. Tour and cruise companies pay commissions of 10 % or more, and many of these products are priced much higher than airline tickets.

Specialty Tour Operator
Tour operators turn to travel agents to sell their products, or they sell directly to consumers through magazines, direct mail, and by contacting associations and organizations that will be interested in their products. Specialty travel firms today focus on a specific interest or hobby, and then organize tours designed specifically around them. Others hone in on a particular geographic region and give their clients the full falvor of the area.

Specialty tours can range from the rugged to the relaxed. Adventure travel focusses on a variety of outdoor pursuits, including hiking, rafting, or trekking to learn about the cutlure and wildlife of a particular country. In Rough Guide version of tours, the traveler sleeps in tents and eats around campfires. Sometimes specialty tours offer the best of both adventure and elegance, such as a safari during the day, and accomodations at a first-class hotel at night. The ecotour features trips to ecologically sensitive areas like the Amazon or the Antarctic. There are also tours that let guests dine with European lords and ladies, and sleep in castles. Specialty tour operators need to be, or hire, experts in their target areas. When planning tours, you will want to check out similar tours and see how you can make yours different and better, locate top-notch guides who will be willing to work as independent contractors, and locate outfitters and suppliers.