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• Geography


  What you sell in the travel business, not travel itself
• Clients will not test your knowledge about geography but will definitely ask you questions about the place they want to visit
• Basic concepts of a destination that you must know


  • Language
  • Food
  • Currency
  • Religion
  • Transportation
• Two broad categories of travelers


  • Business traveler
  • Leisure traveler
• Business traveler


  • Typically travels to attend convention, meet other people for business, or for other professional reasons and may add a vacation or side trip component to their trip
  • "Bleisure" is the term for this
• 12 categories of leisure travelers


  • Adventure seekers
  • History lovers
  • Culture seekers
  • Religious pilgrims
  • Ethnic travelers
  • Environmental travelers
  • Sensual travelers
  • Status seekers
  • Recreational travelers
  • Entertainment seekers
  • Shoppers
  • Interpersonal travelers
• Adventure seekers


  • They just love hard adventure travel and activities
  • They are after physical challenges, such as skydiving, bungee jumping, zip lining, white water rafting and mountain climbing
  • Some adventure seekers are more into mainstream "soft" adventure tourism
  • They will stay in the hotel rather than experience camping in a remote place, eat food in less known restaurant rather than eating the campfire meals
• History lovers


  • This group has a strong desire to learn about a destination's past
  • They view travel to experience what they have studied and read in the past
• Destinations for history lovers


  • The Parthenon and the Acropolis (Greece)
  • The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (Turkey)
  • The Forbidden Palace and the Great Wall (China)
  • The Great Pyramids (Egypt)
  • Taj Mahal (India)
  • The Palaces in St. Petersburg (Russia)
  • The Beautiful Chateaus (France)
  • Dachau and the Nazi Concentration Camps (Germany)
  • The Colosseum and the Ancient Roman Structures (Italy)
  • Chichen Itza and the Mayan Ruins (Mexico)
• Jews are believed to be the most inferior race, Lebensraum means living space, Leiminstar is a patch that is in the clothes of Jews, Holocaust is the solution to cleanse the German race through concentration camps/labor camps
• All roads lead to Rome - wonders of the world
• In Mayan ruins, sacrificing/worshiping was done for abundant blessings, the priest would open the chest of a person to get the heart and pinapagulong, which is the sign for blessings to come down
• Culture seekers


  • People who are fascinated by different ways of life
  • They are curious about how other people practice their culture and express it by means of music and dance, food, clothing, beliefs and traditions
• Cultural elements


  • Religion
  • Tradition (e.g. Thaipusam)
  • Food (e.g. Takoyaki)
  • Music and Dance (e.g. Carnivale in Rio de Janeiro celebrated before Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, after which they are not allowed to eat pork, Kuaresma - Filipino sacrificing for 40 days)
• Religious pilgrims


  • People who seek an experience tied to their spiritual beliefs
  • Each religion, be it ancient or not, have specific places to which a devout follower could visit once in their lifetime
  • To them it enriches their spiritual being and can fulfill other needs that only by visiting these places can be achieved
• Religious pilgrimage destinations


  • For Muslims - Mecca (Haaj, Kaaba)
  • For Catholics - The Vatican
  • For some Christians - Jerusalem (Israel)
  • Others include Medjugorje (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Fatima (Portugal), Ganges River (India), Aksum (Ethiopia), Lourdes (France)
• The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel is part of an ancient synagogue, and people wail there because of the presence of God, writing notes and stuffing them into the wall, which is not supposed to be tied to the Koran
• Ethnic travelers


  • They are like culture seekers but wish to explore the culture from which their ancestors came
  • They view travel as a way to learn more of their own ancestry
• Environmental travelers


  • Travelers who love nature, the beauty of scenery and places
  • Ecotourists and campers are two subsets of this type of traveler
• Sensual travelers


  • They are the ones who wish to indulge their senses via gourmet dining, sunbathing, sightseeing or simply just staying in a spa
• Destinations for specialty cuisines


  • Brussels, Belgium - Waffles and Chocolates
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina - Beef
  • Istanbul, Turkey - Shawarma/Kebabs
  • London, UK - Fish and Chips
  • Rome, Italy - Pastas
  • San Francisco, USA - Seafoods
  • Seoul, South Korea - Samgyupsal/Bulgogi
• Spa destinations


  • Baden-Baden, Germany
  • Evian, France
  • Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Lake Balaton, Hungary
  • Lake Magiorre, Italy
  • Sadanski, Bulgaria
  • Costa Del Sol, Spain
• Status seekers


  • Trendy and expensive destinations are the places these kinds of travelers normally visit
  • They sometimes bring back significant purchases and define themselves both to themselves and to others by the place they visit
  • Travelling gives them status
• Recreational travelers

  • This type of traveler is more interested in activities and participates in "mass appeal sports" such as golf, tennis, snorkelling, and skiing
• Entertainment seekers


  • Travelers who like activities such as partying, dancing, gambling, night clubbing, bar hopping and more
  • Some also love to watch theaters and concert performances
• Entertainment destinations


  • Gambling: Aruba, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Nassau, Monte Carlo, Macau
  • Music and Concerts: New Orleans (Jazz), Nashville (Country), Vienna (Classical), Beijing (Folkloric), Seoul (K-Pop)
  • Dance: Havana (Salsa), Paris (Classical Ballet), Russia (Bolshoi Ballet), Istanbul (Belly Dancing), Rio de Janeiro (Carnival/Samba), Argentina (Tango), Spain (Flamenco)
  • Theme Parks: Singapore's Universal Studio, Hong Kong's Ocean Park, Tokyo's Disneyland, Denmark's Tivoli Gardens, Orlando's EPCOT and Disney Animal Kingdom
• Shoppers


  • "Shop till you drop"
  • They love to shop in budget shopping areas in Bangkok and Hong Kong, to more classy and expensive buys in Ginza, Manhattan, Manchester, and La Fayette in Paris
• Interpersonal travelers


  • They travel to meet and socialize with other people
• Analyzing the client you are serving


  1. Ask probing questions: What? Who? Where? When?

  2. Get the client's basic info like name, possible destinations, dates and budget restrictions

  3. This will give you an idea of the kind of individual your client is
• No matter how well you give a detailed description of the destination and the information you share, some people will still be adamant to take the plunge, as fears will always be there especially for first-time travelers
• 3 general strategies that permit you to enhance a company's profit


  • Upselling
  • Cross-selling
  • Follow up
• Upselling


  A sale technique where a seller invites the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons to generate revenue
• Cross-selling


  The process of selling a different product or service to a customer to increase the value of the sale
• Follow up


  • Following up on sales is a critical step in building and maintaining long-term relationships with customers
  • It involves a simple communication effort to see how the customer is doing and whether they have any problems or questions about the product or service
• Maps come in all sizes, shapes and colors, but all of them show, to one degree or another, the world's land masses known as continents
• Depending on the map, areas of land in the northern and southern regions may appear larger than they actually are due to land mass distortion
• Flat maps


  Standard flat maps that most people are familiar with
• Route maps


  Useful reference tools especially for airlines which often distribute a map that shows all the routes they fly
• Globes


  The most accurate maps to use
• Mental maps


  Represent the way you picture geography in your mind