Tourism

Tourism terms

1. Accreditation If a Marketplace health plan is approved, this is the “seal of approval” given to the plan by an independent organization to show that the plan meets…
2. Attraction Any visitor service or product which tourists would enjoy visiting or using. An attraction may not be an “attractor” but can still be an attraction.
3. Attractor A significant tourist attraction, which compels visitation. The primary “must sees” in an area.
4. Back to back A term used to describe tours operating on a consistent, continuing basis. For instance, a motorcoach arriving in a city from a cross-country tour may…
5. Bed and breakfast (B&B) Overnight accommodations usually in a private home or boarding house, often with a full American-style or Continental breakfast included in one rate.
6. Bell captain The person in charge of luggage at a hotel.
7. Benchmarking To measure a process or practice according to specified standards or references
8. Best practice(s) Used to designate highest quality, excellence, or superior practices in a particular field by a tourism operator.
9. block A repetition/replication of the Early, Mid and Late Seral Treatment plots and a Control plot. See Repetition/replication.
10. Booking form A document which purchasers of tours must complete to give the operator full particulars about who is buying the tour.
11. BPA - Bonneville Power Administration, blanket purchase agreement.
12. Break-even point (BEP) The point at which revenues and expenses are the same. For example, the BEP is the number of products (or seats, cabins, tickets, etc.
13. Break-even pricing Pricing a product based on a forecast of the break-even point and the cost of achieving the break-even point.
14. Breakage Expenses budgeted for a tour but not used or expended, thus resulting in additional profit to the tour operator.
15. Budgeted balance sheet A budget that measures total assets and liabilities.
16. Budgeted income statement A budget that tracks revenues and expenses. Also called the profit and loss statement.
17. carrier A heterozygous individual bearing a recessive mutant allele for a defective condition that is "masked" by the presence of the dominant normal allele; the…
18. Carrying capacity The theoretical maximum weight of fish that can be maintained in a pond without depleting the food supply.
19. Certification Certification means the approval by a certifying official that a labor condition application is complete and does not contain obvious inaccuracies.
20. Chain-ratio method A method for forecasting market demand by multiplying a base market figure by a series of consumption constraints.
21. Chamber of commerce A DMO that operates at the local level and is comprised of businesses that are not necessarily associated with the tourism industry.
22. Charter To hire the exclusive use of any aircraft, motorcoach, or other vehicle.
23. Community A political entity that has the authority to adopt and enforce floodplain ordinances for the area under its jurisdiction.
24. Confidential tariff A schedule of wholesale rates distributed in confidence to travel wholesalers and travel agents.
25. Consolidator A firm which groups together shipments from different companies into a single shipment.
26. Consumer show A product showcase for the general public. Differs from a “trade show” as a trade show generally targets industry professionals.
27. Conversion The ability, in some states, to switch your job-based coverage to an individual policy when you lose eligibility for job-based coverage.
28. Cooperative Agreement Formal document that states the obligations of Reclamation to one or more other parties.
29. Cultural tourism Travel for the purpose of learning about cultures or aspects of cultures (NEAP, 2000).
30. Culture (KUL-chur) The beliefs, values, and behaviors that are shared within a group, such as a religious group or a nation.
31. Day rate Also called a day room. A reduced rate granted for the use of a guest room during the daytime, not overnight occupancy.
32. Day tour An escorted or unescorted tour that lasts less than 24 hours and usually departs and returns on the same day. See sightseeing tour.
33. Deadheading Making a trip or a segment of a trip without passengers, such as driving an empty motorcoach somewhere.
34. Degradation Process wherein the elevation of streambeds, sandbars, and flood plains is lowered by erosion. The opposite of aggradation.
35. Demand generators Strategies and programs developed by DMOs and suppliers to generate destination demand.
36. Demands A consumer’s wants backed by the ability to purchase.
37. Demographics Relating to the statistical study of human populations.
38. Departure point The location or destination from which a tour officially begins.
39. Departure tax Fee collected from a traveler by the host country at the time of departure.
40. Deposit An amount of money paid to the court. Hennepin County Housing Court can only accept cash and certified checks; personal checks, third-party checks, and…
41. Deposit policy A specified amount or a percentage of the total bill due on a specified date prior to arrival.
42. Descriptive research A form of marketing research that is used to provide detailed answers about customer markets.
43. destination In spatial interaction, the location of the end of a trip. For example, a shop or an office where a consumer or a worker is going.
44. Destination alliance A DMO that operates as a for-profit association of select suppliers who form a paid membership network to promote their services to travelers.
45. Destination management company (DMC) A for-profit company that operates similar to a CVB by providing planning and execution services for the convention and meeting market.
46. Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) A company or other entity involved in the business of increasing tourism to a destination or improving its public image.
47. Direct flight A flight that stops one or more times on the way to a destination, but does not require travelers to change planes.
48. Direct marketing Sales and marketing communication that feature direct interaction between a company and its customers without any distribution intermediaries.
49. Directors An industry council of the Travel Industry Association of America www.tourstates.com
50. Distance Learning Synonym teletraining.
51. DMC (Destination Management Company) A local company that handles arrangements for tours, meetings, transportation, etc. for groups originating elsewhere.
52. DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) A company or other entity involved in the business of increasing tourism to a destination or improving its public image(such as a convention and visitor…
53. Docent A tour guide who works free of charge at a museum.
54. Double double A room with two double beds.
55. Double-occupancy rate The price per person for a room to be shared with another person; the rate most frequently quoted in tour brochures.
56. Double-room rate The full price of a room for two people (twice the double-occupancy rate.)
57. Downgrade 1. Change the security class of an object to one which does not dominate the original [CESG]. 2.
58. Driver-guide A tour guide who does double duty by driving a vehicle while narrating.
59. Duty-free imports Item amounts and categories specified by a government that are fee of tax or duty charges when brought into the country.
60. Economic impact study Research into the dollars generated by an industry and how these dollars impact the economy through direct spending and the indirect impact of additional…
61. Ecotour A tour designed to focus on preserving the environment, or to environmentally sensitive areas.
62. Ecotourism Tourism “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people,” according to The International…
63. Ecotourism certification Programs that cover businesses, services, and products that describe themselves as involved in ecotourism.
64. Educational programming Activities conducted in partnership with formal education institutions and which seek to meet both the institution’s specific education outcomes and the…
65. Educational tour A tour designed around an educational activity, such as studying art.
66. Educational/interpretive signage Simple sign or label that provides basic information to aid visitor in orientation to or understanding of the location.
67. Errors and omissions insurance Insurance coverage equivalent to malpractice insurance, protecting an agent’s or operator’s staff if an act of negligence, an error, or an omission…
68. Escort A person, usually employed by a tour operator, who accompanies a tour from departure to return as guide or trouble-shooter, or a person who performs such…
69. Escorted group tour A group tour that features a tour director who travels with the group throughout the trip to provide sightseeing commentary and coordinate all group…
70. Escorted service A prearranged travel program, usually for a group, with escort service. Fully escorted tours may also use local guide services.
71. Escrow accounts Funds placed in the custody of licensed financial institutions for safekeeping.
72. ESSTO Educational Seminar for State Travel Officials.
73. extension The short single-stranded stretch of nucleotides remaining on a double-stranded DNA molecule, following treatment with a restriction endonuclease which…
74. familiarization (FAM) tour (FAM) A free or reduced-rate trip offered to travel professionals to acquaint them with what a destination, attraction, or supplier has to offer.
75. Familiarization Trip A complimentary or reduced-rate travel program for travel agents, airline or rail employees or other travel buyers, designed to acquaint participants with…
76. FIT Acronym with multiple meanings. RTM has seen it used to mean the following: -Foreign individual traveler -Frequent individual traveler -Fully independent…
77. Fixed Costs Costs that do not vary with the volume of business, such as property taxes, insurance, depreciation, security, and minimum water and utility fees.
78. Fly/drive tour A F.I.T. package that always includes air travel and a rental car and sometimes other travel components.
79. Folio An itemized record of a guest’s charges and credits which is maintained in the front office until departure.
80. Foreign Independent Travel or Foreign Individual Travel - FIT An international pre-paid unescorted tour that includes several travel elements such as accommodations, rental cars and sightseeing.
81. Frequent Independent Travel (F.I.T.) A custom-designed, prepaid travel package with many individualized arrangements. F.I.T. are unescorted and usually have no formal itinerary.
82. Fulfillment piece Promotional literature, video, or other material that is sent in response to an inquiry. Usually contains full trip planning information.
83. Full house a hand of three cards of the same value and two cards of another same value, irrespective of suit, e.g. 2, 2, 2, 5, 5; i.e. a three of a kind and a pair
84. Function room A special room that is used primarily for private parties, banquets, and meetings. Also called banquet rooms.
85. gateway An element that contained a node on the SDS backbone network as well as on some other network(s) and would have performed protocol and format conversions…
86. Gateway city City with an international airport.
87. Geotourism (1998) Tourism that sustains or enhances the geographic character of the place being visited--its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being…
88. Global Positioning System (GPS) (GPS) A navigation system which uses a constellation of artificial earth satellites to make precise determinations of the latitude and longitude of locations on…
89. Ground operator A company that provides local travel services, including transportation or guide services.
90. Group leader An individual who has been given the responsibility of coordinating tour and travel arrangements for a group.
91. Group rate A special discounted rate charged by suppliers to groups. Also called tour rate.
92. Group tour A travel package for an assembly of travelers that has a common itinerary, travel date, and transportation.
93. Group tour and group leader Group Tour: A travel agent type company which plans motorcoach trips. Group Leader: A small, informal group, such as a church group, scout troop, or…
94. Hospitality A general term used in travel & tourism describing the “hospitality industry”; refers to the general greeting, welcoming, food service, etc.
95. Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) (HSMAI) www.hsmai.org , www.abt-travel.com
96. Hotel Package A package offered by a hotel, sometimes consisting of no more than a room and breakfast; sometimes, especially at resort hotels, consisting of (ground)…
97. Incentive tour A trip offered as a prize, usually by a company to stimulate employee sales or productivity.
98. Inquiry A request for a copy of your credit report. An inquiry occurs every time you fill out a credit application and/or request more credit.
99. International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus (IACVB) Worldwide association of convention and visitors bureaus, based in Washington, DC. www.iacvb.org
100. Interpretation Print materials, signage, narration, guided tours, and anything that “interprets” the site for the visitor.