Travel Agent

Lesson 1: People and Places: Destination Geography. More than a sale on the importance of service; marketing; market research; tourists, day-trippers and discretionary travelers; the role of technology; the changing world of travel; place names; reading maps; land and water features; measuring distances, time and population; climate and weather; local customs: politics, the arts, language, food and beverage, religion and recreation; sources of information: guidebooks, TV, radio, videos, the Internet, trade publications, tourist boards, trade shows and familiarization trips; ecotourism; adventure travel.

Lesson 2: North American Aviation and Airports. Evolution of the aviation industry; airline classification; full service, regional and supplemental carriers; rules and regulators; airline routes; product distribution; codes and jargon; automation: Apollo/Galileo, Amadeus, Sabre, Worldspan and Orbitz; domestic airline fares; yield management; airline reservations; the disappearing paper ticket; airport access and design; flight operations; airport management; airplanes; baggage handling; special requests; arrivals and departures.

Lesson 3: International Travel. Rules and regulations for international travel; passports and visas; other documentation; traveler's health and safety; travel advisories; customs regulations and procedures; declarations; duty-free exemptions; prohibited and restricted articles; airport duty-free shops; foreign currency exchange; ways to carry money; international aviation: routes and schedules, airport codes, airline fares, consolidators, reservations and ticketing; fare principles; International Air Transport Association.

Lesson 4: Road and Rail Travel. Evolution of the rail industry; domestic passenger trains and regulation; Amtrak: accommodations, routes, fares and reservations; VIA Rail Canada; international passenger trains and train stations; rail passes; great train trips of the world; reference materials; the future of rail travel; the car rental industry; domestic car rentals; motorists' organizations; international rental.

Lesson 5: Cruising. Evolution of the cruise industry; the cruise product; traditions of the sea; life aboard ship: dining, accommodations, security, food and beverage service; dress, personal services, port calls and debarkation; passenger profiles; popular cruise areas; coastal cruises; specialty expedition cruises; freighters; rules and regulations; management on ship and shore; cruise sales; cruise reference books.

Lesson 6: Travelers at Rest: The Hospitality Industry. Evolution of the modern hotel; industry pioneers; hotel classification; unique properties; corporate structure; price tiers and branding; hotel staffing; food and beverage service; rules and regulators; hotel sales and reservations.

Lesson 7: World Tours. Evolution of the tour; the grand tour; the cook's tour; the golden age; tauck tours; mass tourism; independent tours; hosted tours; escorted tours; niche marketing; touring areas and destinations; theme parks; museum villages; parks, forests, campgrounds and trailer parks; international, national and regional tour organizations; tour development; determining costs; tour sales and operations; establishing reservations and documentation procedures; operating the tour; the tour director; follow-through; tourism and the environment; nature tourism.

Lesson 8: Meetings and Marketing. Evolution of the modern meeting; meeting development: site selection, negotiating with suppliers, pricing, payments, promotion and handling reservations; operating the meeting: registration desk, meal functions, room setup and equipment; trade shows; rules and regulators; incentive travel: setting objectives, measuring performance, choosing rewards and celebrating achievement; marketing strategy; sales outlets; the travel agency; the Internet; promoting; qualifying prospects; presenting; closing the sale; trade associations and educational organizations.

Lesson 9: The Computer Reservations System. Computer basics; how travel industry computers communicate; how the CRT performs it functions; basics of the keyboard; entering computer commands; agent identification; agent assembly areas; encoding; decoding.

Lesson 10: Building the Itinerary. The fare shopper display; how to display and interpret a city pair availability screen and a return flight availability screen; selling from availability displays; the direct sell entry; how to sell a flight from the city pair availability screen; how to direct sell a flight segment.

Lesson 11: Building the Passenger Name Record. Mandatory PNR fields; creating a passenger name record (PNR); adding optional data fields and multiple name fields; modifying existing PNR data; how to retrieve an existing PNR and display all or part of the PNR; how to price, ticket and end a PNR; automated ticketing; format review.