Travel

Travel terms

1. Accompanying A type of visa in which family members travel with the principal applicant, (in immigrant visa cases, within six months of issuance of an immigrant visa…
2. 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…
3. Adjust Status 1) to change from a nonimmigrant visa status or other status; or, 2) to adjust the status of a permanent resident (green card holder).
4. Adjustment of Status An alien in the United States with a non-immigrant visa may adjust status to become a Legal Permanent Resident by filing a Form I-864.
5. Administrative processing Some visa applications require further administrative processing, which takes additional time after the visa applicant’s interview by a consular officer.
6. Admission Entry into the United States is authorized by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer.
7. Adopted Child An unmarried child under age 21, who was adopted while under the age of sixteen, and who has been in legal custody and lived with the adopting parent(s)…
8. Advance Parole Permission to return to the United States after travel abroad. Advance parole must be granted by DHS prior to leaving the United States.
9. Advisory Opinion An opinion regarding a point of law from the Office of Visa Services in the Department of State, Washington, D.C.
10. Advisory Opinion (“J” Visa) Waiver of Foreign Residence Requirement, INA 212(e) A J-1 visa holder's DS 2019 or IAP 66 form will have a statement in the bottom left hand corner of the form, as follows: “Bearer (is or is not) subject…
11. Affidavit of Support (AOS) (AOS) A document promising that the person who completes it will support an applicant financially in the United States.
12. Affidavit of Support (AoS; I-864) This form is absolutely essential to a complete application, and is filled out by the petitioner and, in some cases, joint sponsors.
13. Affiliated Associated or controlled by the same owner or authority.
14. Age Out A child must be unmarried and under the age of 21, as defined in U.S. immigration law.
15. Agent Agent means any individual, other than a broker-dealer, who represents a broker-dealer or issuer in effecting or attempting to effect purchases or sales…
16. Alien A foreign-born person who has not qualified as a citizen of the country.
17. Allotment An area of land where one or more livestock operators graze their livestock. Allotments generally consist of BLM lands but may also include other…
18. AOS OBSOLETE. Airborne Optical Sensor.
19. Applicant (Visa) A foreign citizen who is applying for a nonimmigrant or immigrant U.S. visa. The visa applicant may also be referred as a beneficiary for petition based…
20. Applying for a Visa for CSPA purposes, applying for a visa generally means that the applicant submitted the completed DS-230 (Part I).
21. Appointment Package The letter and documents that tell an applicant of the date of the immigrant visa interview.
22. Approval Date The date when the petition was approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly INS, BCIS).
23. Approval Notice Notice of Action, Form I-797, issued by DHS, USCIS that says that USCIS has approved a petition, or request for extension of stay or change of status.
24. Arrival/Departure Card Also known as Form I-94, Arrival-Departure Record. Effective May 25, 2013, a new electronic I-94 process was fully implemented at air and sea…
25. Assets What a firm or individual owns.
26. Asylee A person who cannot return to his home country because of a well-founded fear of persecution.
27. Attorney of Record The principal attorney in a lawsuit who signs all formal documents relating to the suit. In pro se cases, the party signs such documents.
28. 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.
29. Attractor A significant tourist attraction, which compels visitation. The primary “must sees” in an area.
30. 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…
31. 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.
32. Bell captain The person in charge of luggage at a hotel.
33. Benchmarking To measure a process or practice according to specified standards or references
34. Beneficiary A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract.
35. Best practice(s) Used to designate highest quality, excellence, or superior practices in a particular field by a tourism operator.
36. Biometrics (BY-oh-MEH-triks) The science of collecting and analyzing biologic or health data using statistical methods.
37. block A repetition/replication of the Early, Mid and Late Seral Treatment plots and a Control plot. See Repetition/replication.
38. Booking form A document which purchasers of tours must complete to give the operator full particulars about who is buying the tour.
39. BPA - Bonneville Power Administration, blanket purchase agreement.
40. 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.
41. Break-even pricing Pricing a product based on a forecast of the break-even point and the cost of achieving the break-even point.
42. Breakage Expenses budgeted for a tour but not used or expended, thus resulting in additional profit to the tour operator.
43. Budgeted balance sheet A budget that measures total assets and liabilities.
44. Budgeted income statement A budget that tracks revenues and expenses. Also called the profit and loss statement.
45. Cancelled Without Prejudice A stamp a U.S. Embassy or Consulate puts on a visa when there is a mistake in the visa or the visa is a duplicate visa (two of the same kind).
46. 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…
47. Carrying capacity The theoretical maximum weight of fish that can be maintained in a pond without depleting the food supply.
48. Case Number The National Visa Center (NVC) gives each immigrant petition a case number. This number has three letters followed by ten digits (numbers).
49. Certificate of Citizenship A document issued by DHS as proof that the person is a U.S. citizen by birth (when born abroad) or derivation (not from naturalization).
50. Certificate of Naturalization A document issued by DHS as proof that the person has become a U.S. citizen (naturalized) after immigration to the United States.
51. Certification Certification means the approval by a certifying official that a labor condition application is complete and does not contain obvious inaccuracies.
52. Chain-ratio method A method for forecasting market demand by multiplying a base market figure by a series of consumption constraints.
53. 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.
54. Change Status Changing from one nonimmigrant visa status to another nonimmigrant visa status while a person is in the United Staets is permitted for some nonimmigrant…
55. Charge/Chargeable There are numerical limits on the number of immigrant visas that can be granted to aliens from any one foreign country.
56. Charter To hire the exclusive use of any aircraft, motorcoach, or other vehicle.
57. Child Offspring of parentage; progeny, "issue."
58. Code of Federal Regulations The Code of Federal Regulations contains useful information on the laws regulating U.S. visa policy.
59. Cohabit To live together without a legal marriage ceremony.
60. Common-law marriage An agreement between a man and woman to enter into marriage without a civil or religious ceremony.
61. Community A political entity that has the authority to adopt and enforce floodplain ordinances for the area under its jurisdiction.
62. Conditional Residence (CR) Visa (CR) If you have been married for less than two years when your husband or wife (spouse) gets lawful permanent resident status (gets a green card), then your…
63. Confidential tariff A schedule of wholesale rates distributed in confidence to travel wholesalers and travel agents.
64. Consolidator A firm which groups together shipments from different companies into a single shipment.
65. Consumer show A product showcase for the general public. Differs from a “trade show” as a trade show generally targets industry professionals.
66. Conversion The ability, in some states, to switch your job-based coverage to an individual policy when you lose eligibility for job-based coverage.
67. Cooperative Agreement Formal document that states the obligations of Reclamation to one or more other parties.
68. Cultural tourism Travel for the purpose of learning about cultures or aspects of cultures (NEAP, 2000).
69. Culture (KUL-chur) The beliefs, values, and behaviors that are shared within a group, such as a religious group or a nation.
70. Current/non-current There are numerical limits on the number of immigrant visas that can be granted to aliens from any one foreign country.
71. Cut-off Date The date that determines whether a preference immigrant visa applicant can be scheduled for an immigrant visa interview in any given month.
72. Day rate Also called a day room. A reduced rate granted for the use of a guest room during the daytime, not overnight occupancy.
73. 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.
74. Deadheading Making a trip or a segment of a trip without passengers, such as driving an empty motorcoach somewhere.
75. Degradation Process wherein the elevation of streambeds, sandbars, and flood plains is lowered by erosion. The opposite of aggradation.
76. Demand generators Strategies and programs developed by DMOs and suppliers to generate destination demand.
77. Demands A consumer’s wants backed by the ability to purchase.
78. Demographics Relating to the statistical study of human populations.
79. Denomination/Sect A religious group or community.
80. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (DHS) DHS is comprised of three main organizations responsible for immigration policies, procedures, implementation and enforcement of U.S. laws, and more.
81. Department of Labor (DOL) (DOL) A cabinet level unit/ministry of the U.S. government that has responsibility for labor issues.
82. Departure point The location or destination from which a tour officially begins.
83. Departure tax Fee collected from a traveler by the host country at the time of departure.
84. Dependent children Children are considered dependent if they are both under the age of 21 and unmarried by the date of immigration.
85. 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…
86. Deposit policy A specified amount or a percentage of the total bill due on a specified date prior to arrival.
87. Derivative Derivatives are financial products, such as futures contracts, options, and mortgage-backed securities.
88. Derivative Status Getting a status (visa) through another applicant, as provided under immigration law for certain visa categories.
89. Descriptive research A form of marketing research that is used to provide detailed answers about customer markets.
90. 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.
91. 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.
92. 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.
93. Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) A company or other entity involved in the business of increasing tourism to a destination or improving its public image.
94. Direct flight A flight that stops one or more times on the way to a destination, but does not require travelers to change planes.
95. Direct marketing Sales and marketing communication that feature direct interaction between a company and its customers without any distribution intermediaries.
96. Directors An industry council of the Travel Industry Association of America www.tourstates.com
97. Distance Learning Synonym teletraining.
98. Diversity Visa Visas based on a lottery system rather than a previously filed petition. Applicants enter themselves only once annually.
99. Diversity Visa (DV) Program (DV) The Department of State has an annual lottery for immigration to the United States.
100. DMC (Destination Management Company) A local company that handles arrangements for tours, meetings, transportation, etc. for groups originating elsewhere.