419. Title:	Travel agency quality assessment
     Assessor:	Put your name and contact details
     Agency:	Put the name of the agency you visited
     Date of visit:	Put the full date of your visit
     Address:	Put the contact details of your agency
     Features:	Write one or two sentences describing and evaluating the window. Do the same for the interior, the travel agent's greeting, and their manner.
     Result:	Write one or two sentences describing and evaluating the result.
     Grade:	Give each feature a mark from 0 (minimum) to 5 (maximum)
     	Window □ Interior □ Greeting □
     	Manner □ Result □

423. Texts for additional reading

424. Unit 1

425. TEXT 1 HOSPITALITY THROUGH CENTURIES

426. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

427. The word hospitality conies from "hospice", an old French word meaning "to provide care and shelter". The first institutions of this kind, taverns, had existed long before the word was coined. In Ancient Rome they were located on the main roads, to provide food and fresh horses and overnight accommodation for officials and couriers of the government with special documents. The contemporaries proclaimed these inns to be "fit for a king". That is why such documents became a symbol of status and were subject to thefts and forgeries.

428. Some wealthy landowners built their own taverns on the edges of their estates. Nearer the cities, inns and taverns were run by freemen or by retired gladiators who would invest their savings in this business in the same way that many of today's retired athletes open restaurants. Inn­keepers, as a whole, were hardly the Conrad Hiltons of their day. Inns for common folk were regarded as dens of vice and often served as houses of pleasure. The owners were required to report any customers who planned crimes in their taverns. The penalty for not doing so was death. The death penalty could be imposed merely for watering the beer!

429. After the fall of the Roman Empire, public hospitality for the ordi­nary travelers became the province of religious orders. In these days, the main purpose of traveling was pilgrimage to the holy places. The pilgrims preferred to stay in the inns located close to religious sites or even on the premises of the monasteries. Monks raised their own provisions on their own grounds, kitchens were cleaner and better organized than in private households. So the food was often of a quality superior to that found elsewhere on the road.

430. As travel increased during the Middle Ages, so did the number of wayside inns. In England, the stagecoach became the favored method of transportation. A journey from London to a city like Bath took three days with several stopovers at inns or taverns that were also called "post houses". Guests often slept on mattresses put in what would be called the lobby, ate what they had brought with them or what they could purchase from the house. The fare was usually bread, meat, and beer, varied occa­sionally with fish. Frequently, the main dish served was a long-cooked highly seasoned meat-and-vegetable stew. But the diners who were fre quenters were not choosy, neither did they often question what they were eating.

431. TEXT 2 MODERN CONCEPT OF HOSPITALITY

432. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

433. Modern concept of hospitality began to develop in the nineteenth century, which saw more innovations in hospitality than in all previous history. The famed Cesar Ritz, whose name has entered the vocabulary as a synonym for luxury, made restaurant dining at London's Savoy almost a must for the aristocracy of both sexes. He revolutionized hotel restaurants by offering a list (carte in French) of suggestions available from the kitchen. This was the beginning of the а la carte menu. The Americans used their special brand of ingenuity to create something for everyone. In 1848, a hierarchy of eateries existed in New York City. At the bottom was Sweeney's "sixpenny eating house" on Ann Street, whose owner, Daniel Sweeney, achieved questionable fame as the fa­ttier of the greasy spoon. Sweeney's less-than-appetizing fare was lite­rally thrown down to his hungry customers, who cared little for the social amenities of dining. At the top of the list was the famous Delmonico! This restaurant was known as the most expensive in the country.

434. In the nineteenth century, better methods of preserving food through canning and vacuum (lacking made out-of-season culinary delights com­monplace. There was also an enormous growth in mass feeding. In schools, until the nineteenth century, no one had ever considered lunches for schoolchildren, because there were so few children who went to school. Canteens for schoolchildren started in France in 1849. The cafeteria concept originated in the California Gold Rush, when prospectors, eager to return to their claims, preferred to stand in line to be served from big communal bowls and pots rather than wait their turn at table.

435. The twentieth century brought fast food industry. In 1921, Walter Anderson and Billy Ingram began the White Castle hamburger chains. These eye-catching restaurants were nothing more than a griddle and a few chairs, but people came in droves to these eye-catching restaurants, and within ten years the White Castle had expanded to 115 units. Marriott’s Hot Shoppe drive-in roadside restaurant opened in 1927, and the word "a car hopper" was coined because as an order taker approached a car, he or she would hop onto its running board. The first motel was opened in San Luis Obispo, not far from Los Angeles, in 1925.

436. After the stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression, America rebounded with the elegance and deluxe dining of the 1930. By the end of the decade, every city had a deluxe supper club or a night club. The first elegant American restaurant that was not French in style was the Four Seasons. It offered seasonal menus (summer, autumn, winter, spring) and art as a theme. Its developer understood why people go to restaurants — to be together and to connect with one another. Modern restaurant exists to create pleasure, and how well it meets this expecta­tion is a measure of its success. The exclusive restaurant of yesterday may be still exclusive restaurant of today, but the less affluent people can choose from great many cheap eating places. Nowadays people have freedom of choice, and they expect to have affordable accommodation, food, and entertainment — things of which hospitality industry is made.

437. Unit 2

438. TEXT 1 COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM

439. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

440. More recently, community based tourism has been recognized as another form of tourism. "Community based tourism occurs when decisions about tourism activity and development are driven by the host community. It usually involves some form of cultural exchange where tourists meet with local communities and witness aspects of their lifestyle. Many such remote ethnic communities may be vulnerable to outside influences and decisions about the way tourists are hosted must be owned by the community for successful and sustainable tourism".

441. Community based tourism can generate a sense of pride in the local population and make fluids available for maintaining or upgrading cultural assets e.g. archeological ruins, historic sites, traditional crafts production

442. The aims of community based ecotourism largely depend on the issues, problems and needs of the community, hi general it serves as a tool for conservation and, at the same time, a tool for improving the quality of life. It also serves as a tool to bring the community together to consult, discuss and work together in solving community problems. Further, such tourism provides opportunity for exchange of knowledge and culture between tourists and the community and helps to provide supplementary income for individual members of the community and for community development.

443. TEXT 2 CULTURAL TOURISM

444. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

445. The earliest accounts of cultural tourism can be traced back to ancient history. One such visitor was Huen Tsang from China who visited Nepal and India in the 5th Century AD. One of the important things he did during his visit was to describe the cultural sites in Kathmandu Valley. However, cultural tourism as we know it today was conceptualized by UNESCO during the 1970s. Cultural tourism is regarded as a "force for cultural preservation". It is also defined as "the absorption by tourists of features resembling the vanishing lifestyles of past societies observed through such phenomena as house styles, crafts, farming equipment, dress, utensils and other instruments and equipment that reflects the lifestyle of any particular community during a particular time". Further, Zins identified handicrafts, language, traditions, art and music, paintings and sculpture, history, work and technology, architecture, religion, educational system, dress and leisure activities as elements of cultural tourism. As cultural tourism also involves education for visitors and promotes sensitivity towards cultural environment, provides direct benefits to host communities and helps in preservation of culture, it is also closely linked with ecotourism. The resources that comprise cultural tourism (Kunwar, 1997) are categorized hereunder:

     1. Cultural landscape and distinctive cultural aspects	Settlement pattern, lifestyle, dress and jewellery, folk songs and dances, local cuisines.
     2. Local art/craft	Art and architecture, sculptures and paintings, folk dance/music and musical instruments, and local craftsmanship.
     3. Fairs / Festivals	Fairs – religious, specific local fairs, commercial/trade, popular festivals, and mode of their celebration.
     Historic/ Archaeological heritage	Monuments heritage – forts, places, temples and mosques of historical and artistic value, ancient ruins, museums, excavation sites and other places of archaeological importance and sites of important historical events.

447. Although cultural tourism is different from other forms of tourism, it often becomes an integral part of the total visit. For instance, one of the main interests for tourists to Kathmandu is to see the temples and historical monuments in Kathmandu Valley. Similarly, visitors to Ghandruk in the Annapurna Conservation Area are unlikely to miss the local cultural museum.

448. TEXT 3 EVENTS TOURISM

449. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

450. Events tourism – this is a great chance to become a witness of the unique music, sports, cultural events. Such visits are remembered for a lifetime. You can really brag them to your friends. Your friends will not be ready to go home after the phrase “Now I will show you pictures of our trip and visited hotels, and vice versa – they will rub their hands in anticipation of the story about your adventures.

451. The main difference of the event tourism from the usual tours is that an event becomes your goal. Today, almost any travel agency is ready to offer a choice of dozens of routes. It all depends on your desire, imagination and taste.

452. We can identify several key thematic areas: national festivals and celebrations, theatrical performances, film and theater festivals, gastronomic feasts, flower shows, fashion shows, auctions, sporting events, music concerts and festivals. As you can see, there are a lot of proposals. Thoughtful travel agencies are coming to help the doubters. They will listen to all your wishes, laments, requests and threats and will pick the appropriate event.

453. According to tour operators, clients often choose well-known events. They include the Cannes Film Festival, “Oscar”, the London Festival of St. Patrick, circus festivals in Paris, Munich “Oktoberfest”, fashion shows in Milan, Tokyo and New York, the auction “Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

454. Event tourism is expensive entertainment and not everyone can afford. Great prices are caused by the services provided by travel agency. Tour operators often risk their own money – reservations for major events, accommodation of the hotels in a few months before the event otherwise they do not get tickets at all.

455. In drafting of any eventful tour they take into account such factors as the location of the hotel, its architecture, interior rooms, the availability of restaurants and canteens, and the availability of shopping, sightseeing, transfers to the venue, guide and interpreter. The cost of the tour depends on these conditions.

456. The most of travelers are increasingly looking to the other countries than in the interior of their native country. Try to recall for yourself, without the aid of the Internet, at least five decent reasons to visit your native country. All events are either local, or, at best, of regional scale.

457. The event tourism – is an important component of recreation and entertainment. In the first place, those hotels and guest houses win that instantly filling their rooms. For example, hotels in the towns where festivals of wine are hold.

458. If you do not have enough money to go to the event tour abroad, remember the sights of your native town or country. Each country has its own unique history and culture, interesting places, beautiful nature, national holidays and specific activities. Read the relevant literature, look on the Internet, and you will find beautiful and interesting events in your country.

459. Movies have become an inseparable part of our way of life and culture. Up to date there has been produced a large number of movies and it resulted in demand for movie review. Web project called ology will help you.

460. So, if you want to stay tuned to the latest buzz from the cinema world, then use this easy tip: never forget that today the online technologies give you a really unique chance to choose what you require at the best terms which are available on the market. Strange, but most of the people don’t use this chance.

461. Unfortunately, as many other industries today, movie industry is experiencing big problems due to the world crisis. Search Google or other search engines for “emo hair style“. Visit social networks and have a look on the relevant topics. Check out forums and take part in the online discussions. All this will help you get a true vision of the situation.

462. And also sign up to the RSS feed on this blog, because we will do the best to keep updating this blog with new publications about pop culture.

463. TEXT 4 BUSINESS TIPS: GETTING INTO THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

464. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

465. The hospitality industry is one of the most lucrative fields worldwide, registering more than a trillion dollars worth of profit every year. It’s no surprise that many people want a slice of the pie, but not everyone knows where to begin.

466. First it’s important to understand that the hospitality industry is a huge field covering a wide variety of businesses that base themselves on customer service. With restaurants, travel agencies, hotels, tours, airline services, boutiques, and many other areas to choose from, it can be hard to know where to get involved. When going into business for yourself, it’s important to be doing it for the right reasons. The hospitality industry has unlimited financial potential, but at the same time, it is wildly unpredictable. You want to make sure that you’re getting involved in a project you enjoy, have some knowledge of, and are not afraid to invest in.

467. No matter what area you begin in, you have to go into the project with the understanding that you really can’t cut corners when it comes to the primary financing. A lot of times business owners will get involved in the details involving design, or food, or services and start to lose sight of the fact that it’s the people who matter the most. Whatever you choose to invest in, eventually you’re going to have those first customers coming through your doors, and they will notice right away if you’ve cut corners. When it comes to making people happy, there is no halfway; it’s all or nothing. The industry as a whole is wildly unpredictable, and when it comes to the details of starting your own business, that same concept will apply. You want to make sure you’ve planned to cover all of the costs of the original establishment without cutting corners, and then have another fund set aside for unforeseen problems.

468. In any hospitality business, there are three very important words to consider . . . location, location, location. Cliché or not, it’s still one of the most important aspects of business. You don’t want to open a restaurant in an area choked with restaurants, nor do you want to open one out in the middle of nowhere. You wouldn’t want to build a hotel in an area without traffic, and you wouldn’t want to start a shuttle service without an airport. Decide what general area you’d like to base your business in and then get a feel for what the area needs. You want your business to meld well with the local environment and still be attractive to visitors. This concept is trickiest in the hotel industry.

469. No matter the size of a hotel, everything should be designed to optimize comfort. Whether vacationing or traveling for business purposes, everyone who comes through the lobby doors is looking for some leisure relaxation. Muted colors and eye pleasing patterns should be used for lobby and hall carpeting. Rooms should have an earthy decor, and be uniform throughout. Hotel personnel should be overly accommodating and openly friendly. If the hotel doesn’t have a kitchen, then you should contract a nearby food establishment to assist in providing meals for guests.

470. A bar/restaurant relies just as much on location, if not more, than a hotel. Your business must be appealing and offer a little something for everyone. Many bars/restaurants have found a lot of success in choosing an overall theme and carrying that theme throughout every aspect of the business. For example, if you choose an Italian theme, then your decor, menu, lounge, and designs should all work together to complete that theme. Perhaps you want to start a business that has less to do with food and is more of a bar with entertainment. Then your decor, personnel, and entertainment increase exponentially in importance. People have to eat to survive; with a restaurant you can be assured of at least some business, based on this premise alone. Bars have no such human compulsion to fall back on. The bar primarily must rely on marketing and advertising in order to draw business in. No matter which style you choose for your establishment, the most important aspect of your business has to be the service. Your managers, servers, and bartenders are going to be interacting on a semi-personal level with all patrons and you want people in those positions who know what they are doing. Your staff should know everything on the menu. They should be fast on their feet and even quicker of wit. They need to be knowledgeable and courteous. Once again, everything depends on the customer.

471. These are just a few tips on general hospitality, but no matter what area of the industry you choose to invest in, remember to advertise. There will always be some sort of competition, and you shouldn’t underestimate the draw of a coupon advertisement. You can put ads in your local newspaper, in travel brochures, and in radio and television commercials. Word of mouth, however, is the most important advertising tool of all. Experts in the industry will always agree that word of mouth is the most dependable form of advertising you can get. You make your patrons happy, and they’ll do your advertising for you.

472. The hospitality industry is probably the world’s largest employer in the world, employing one in ten people worldwide. However, the industry is growing faster than it can supply qualified people at managerial levels. There are at present too few students taking college and university courses in hospitality to maintain the needed requirement. From this high demand there is an almost unlimited choice of opportunities for those that wish to study in the hospitality industry, plus a variety of careers in the wide range of subsectors. If you would like to manage a hotel, run a restaurant, start your own business or utilise your interest in more administrative positions the hospitality industry provides occupation whatever your talents.

473. Unit 3

474. TEXT 1 INTERNET MAKES TRAVELLING CHEAPER AND EASIER THAN EVER

475. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

476. London: Over the last 10 years the way we travel has been revolutionised by the web. Many of us waved goodbye to high-street travel agents, newspaper classifieds and hours spent staring at endless Teletext pages, and logged on to new hi-tech services.

477. As the web began taking hold of the public's imagination, the burst of sites and services began shifting the way we thought about travelling, making the idea of grabbing a bag and jetting off cheaper and easier than ever.

478. In fact, the swell of activity in the travel industry seemed so lucrative that it was one of the cornerstones of the dotcom boom.

479. The boom itself may have ended ignominiously, with many of the individual names crashing spectacularly, but our approach to travel itself remained irrevocably altered.

480. Britain's travel revolution circled around a pair of innovations that had the web at their heart.

481. First was the ability to search for what you wanted. In the days before Google, web search was a limited business that was finding its feet. In the mid to late 1990s, a number of sites realised that they could offer a clear way to cut through the jumble, underpinned by vast amounts of information going through computerised reservation systems such as Amadeus and Worldspan.

482. Joining up those dots may seem obvious in retrospect, but it was a revelation at the time.

483. LOW-COST AIRLINES

484. Second was the ability to buy low-cost plane tickets online. The low-cost airline model itself wasn't new — it had already been pioneered by American operator Southwest in the 1970s and then closer to home by Ryanair in the early 1990s.

485. But combined with the deregulation of the European airline industry, the idea went stellar once the web began to find a firm footing with customers. The easy-to-use self-service websites cut out every middleman and let people explore in a way they hadn't done before.

486. How many of us spent hours weighing up the options of a two-week break in far-flung destinations in corners of Europe we'd never heard of, let alone visited?

487. In both cases, the benefits were not only clear to customers, but they made sense to businesses too — whether it was a package tour company shifting the last few spaces, an airline making sure it got bums on seats, or a hotel selling off empty rooms on the cheap.

488. Dynamic pricing

489. The internet opened the door to dynamic pricing — customising prices to individual consumers or fluctuating demand in the market. "I think it was a combination of exciting new pure play web startups like us and traditional players like easyJet offering unbeatable deals online," said Martha Lane Fox, who started Lastminute.com in 1998 with Brent Hoberman and continued as its managing director until 2003.

490. She said the way the internet increased competition and helped push prices down was pivotal in the travel revolution — when holidaymakers realised that using the web to book a trip directly could prove significantly cheaper, it then became difficult to ignore the idea.

491. "This then forced all the big players online and the pricing advantage to buying online meant customers had to look," she added.

492. It's easy to think that the pressure to push prices downward was the only impulse that drove the success of travel on the web — but there have been other factors at work.

493. People also discovered that (with access to the right tools) it was often better to do the job of finding a flight and hotel themselves.

494. TEXT 2 STEPS TO SUCCESS

495. Read and translate the text. Divide it into parts, headline them and make a short summery of the text.

496. To be successful in today’s highly competitive tourism industry you must develop skills in each of the following areas:

497. 1. Planning

498. 2. Research

499. 3. Customer Service

500. 4. Find Your Competitive Edge

501. 5. Financial Management

502. 6. Understand the tourism seasons highs and lows

503. 7. Networking

504. 8. Pricing

505. 9. Distribution and Marketing

506. 10. Product Development

507. 11. Training

508. 12. Technology

509. 1. Planning

510. The market leaders in tourism take the time to plan. Planning enables you to determine your vision for your business, to anticipate problems, identify opportunities and react quickly to market changes. Before buying or starting a business, and for each year you operate, you need to:

• prepare a detailed feasibility study that includes all areas of your business

• prepare a detailed and realistic business plan that covers the areas of management, marketing, finance and human resource management

• monitor your plan regularly and adapt it as required to meet unexpected market changes.

• Planning also involves developing excellent time management skills and identifying who is best suited to perform the different tasks involved in running your business. Don’t waste time and energy (or lose potential income) on tasks that would be better outsourced. For example, many small accommodation operators recognise that it is more profitable to spend their time on marketing and development rather than cleaning. They may employ cleaners or outsource to a professional cleaning contractor, enabling them to concentrate on building their tourism business.

548. 2. Research

549. Research enables you to understand your market’s needs, attitudes and buyer behaviour, and change your business plan accordingly. You need to understand:

1. the tourism industry in Australia

2. the tourism industry in New South Wales

3. the tourism industry in your region and destination

4. your own business by determining:

• Who will be your customers?

• How will your customers hear about you?

• What will their needs be?

• Where will they come from?

• When will they come?

• Why will they come to your business?

• Why will (or won’t) they come back?

551. Note: Organisations listed in this ‘Getting Started’ section can provide general statistics about the market. Using simple customer surveys or asking questions when taking bookings can collect information about your own customers.

552. 3. Customer Service

553. To succeed, you must ensure your business is recognised for its excellent customer service. You will need to:

• understand key customer service concepts

• plan and implement a customer service strategy

• become a totally customer driven business

• use qualified customer service trainers to assist in developing your service skills

• consider gaining accreditation in customer service skills through TAFE or industry training programs.