Thomas Cook Company is the oldest travel company in the world. As à matter of fact, Thomas Cook from England opened the age of organized tourism. It started in 1841 when Thomas Cook arranged the first trip for 570 Englishmen by railway. Iï 1843 Thomas Cook organized the first group tour by train. This time he provided tourists with meals and tickets for the races. So it was the first package tour. Later on Thomas Cook made arrangements for organized visits to the First International Industrial Exhibition. The Exhibition opened in London in 1851. The tourists came from different parts of Eng- land. All those were domestic tours. However, Thomas Cook decided not to stick to domestic tourism within his country only. Four years later, in 1855 he arranged the first overseas trip. It was à tour to the Exhibition in Paris. After that regular tourist trips started to other countries of Europe. Thomas Cook continued expanding his travel business. Iï 1866 he arranged the first trip of two groups of Englishmen ñî the USA. Thomas Cook set up the first travel agency. Âó the end of the 19th century the company had its offices all over the world including Australia and New Zealand, selling millions of tickets and excursions. In the 20th century the company changed its owners many times.
The present-day ïàòå of the company is Thomas Cook Group ÐI.Ñ. It is still very active on the travel market. It is both à tour operator and à travel agency. Iï 2007 it became the second largest travel company in Europe, after TUI.
ÒÍÅ WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION
Tourism is global nowadays. Tourist boom started ø the 1960s. In 1963 the United Nations conference on international travel àïé tourism took place ø Rome. The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 1967 as the Year of International Tourism. In 1975 the United Nations established the World Tourism Or- ganization (WTO). It emerged on the basis of the International Union of Official Tourist Organizations. The World Tourism Organization is à specialized agency of the United Nations. Iï 2005 the WTO General Assembly adopted the initials UNWTO in English and ÞÍÂÒÎ in Russian. Before that there used to be à mix-up over WTO as the World Tourism Organization and WTO as the World Trade Organization. UNWTO is the international intergovernmental organization. Ac- tually, it is à worldwide group of government travel organizations. It deals with promoting tourism throughout the world. It assists coun- tries in the development of national tourism. The supreme body of UNWTO is the General Assembly. It holds its sessions every two years. The General Assembly elects the Gen- eral Secretary for the period of four years. The World Tourism Organization cooperates with many United Nations agencies as well as government and non-government organi- zation s.
LEISURE TOURISM
1.eisure tourism is also ñàíåé pleasure tourism or holiday tourism. It is à type of tourism when à person goes on holiday and does not travel on business. Thus, the purpose of tourism in this case is recrea- tion. Leisure travellers look for sun, sea and sand. They want ñî go sunbathing, swimming and diving. So this kind of travellers go to sea resorts or holiday camps and stay at resort hotels. Leisure travellers enjoy organized entertainment and sport. In à resort hotel there are always swimming-pools, fitting-centres, ten- nis courts, discos. À resort hotel offers its customers contests, con- cepts, shows, animation programmes for children. Usually it offers tours and visits to different tourist attractions: local sights, amuse- ment or theme parks. Holiday-makers normally travel with their families and children. There are other ways to travel for pleasure: cruising and coaching, motoring and hiking. More and more working people will have longer paid holidays and long weekends in future. More and more people will retire at an earlier age. 1t means that more and more people will travel for leisure in future.
SPORTS TOURISM
Sports tourism is à type of active holiday. The purpose of à sport- ing tour is to exercise and ñî keep physically fit. At the same time travellers enjoy natural surroundings, fresh air and clean water. Travellers combine action and relaxation during à sporting holiday. Tourist companies offer hiking, cycling, boating, rafting and other kinds of sporting tours. Very often sporting tours require preparation and special training. First the tour instructors will plan the itinerary. Then they will train tourists how to use the sporting equipment. They will explain all the details of the route. They will define means of transportation, preci- sion bf meals and overnight accommodation. During some tours travellers cany their luggage and sporting equipment themselves. During some other tours special carriers transfer the luggage for them. It depends on the difficulty of the tour, the tourist destination and local practice. Within sports tourism there is water tourism, mountain tourism, mountaineering, downhill skiing, horse riding and many more types. Sports tourism is popular with travellers all year round.
BUSINESS TOURISM
Business tourism is à travel for business purposes.
Business travellers are businessmen and government officials. They travel on different missions. They often travel to attend à ñînversion. Convention tourism is à part of business tourism. It involves taking part in à conference or à seminar. Business travellers often travel ñî attend an international exhibi- tion or à trade fair. There are tourist companies that provide business services. Those are fax, telex and telephone communications, secretarial services, answering service, business meeting arrangements. There are busi- ness facilities for business travellers at hotels, airports, on airplanes, ships and trains.
Business travel will develop faster than other types of tourism in ò future. There will be more business tourists and more tourist com- panies which will deal with business tourism. They will provide òîrå services in future. They will collect information on markets and trade partners, provide economic data on monitors, arrange negotia- tions, offer pre-convention and post-convention tours.
ÒÍÅ RECEPTIONIST
The receptionist works in the front office of à hotel. The receptionist is in charge of the check-in. She meets and greets guests, registers guests and assigns rooms ñî thern. The receptionist must ensure that the check-in procedure is brief and convenient. The receptionist must help guests do the hotel formalities. She takes the guest's ïàòå. If the guest is à foreign visitor, the reception- ist must take the guest's passport number. Then she asks the guest ñî sign the hotel register. Iï larger hotels the receptionist asks the guest to fill in à registraflon card and to sign it. She must explain how to dî it correctly. The receptionist must send the signed registration card to the cashier's office. The receptionist answers the phone. She answers questions of visitors who have come ñî see the hotel guests. She can help the visi- tors find the hotel guests. She may take messages for the hotel guests when they are not in.
Iï smaller hotels the receptionist is in charge of the room keys.
ÒÍÅ CONCIERGE
The concierge works at à hotel' information desk.
The concierge must speak à few languages because she has to help guests from other countries. Usually thå concierge speaks major world languages: English, French, German and Spanish. Sometimes she speaks other languages, too. It depends on the lan- guage of the customers whom the hotel receives. Thå concierge must help guests in àll ways. She can give orienta- tions in the city, arrange taxis and sightseeing tours. She can offer entertainment. She can make theatre bookings. She can recommend shops, restaurants or nightclubs. Actually the concierge in à hotel can act as à travel agent: Üîok, fl ights, tours, visits. She may find à guide or à guide-interpreter for the guest. The concierge can find à babysitter. Òhe concierge must help guests mail letters and packages. She may even provide paper and à pen for writing letters. In some hotels the concierge is ø charge of messages. In some hotels the concierge may be in charge of the room keys.
ÒÍÅ HOTEL MANAGER
The hotel manager is the head of à hotel. Íå may have the name of the general manager or the managing director. The hotel manager màó hold à management position in an indi- vidual hotel. Or he may work in à hotel chain. In à small hotel the manager may be the owner of the hotel. But ø à large hotel he is just à professional hotelier. For the hotel guests the hotel manager is the host who must offer hospitality to his guests. For the hotel staff the hotel manager is the person who must es- tablish the policy of the hotel and its operations. The hotel manager has to plan and control the hotel business. Íå has to check up how different hotel departments carry out their functions. Often he has ñî deal with the hotel guests in person. Íå has to handle their problems and complaints. There may be different management positions in à hotel: the as- sistant manager, the resident manager, the night manager. The assistant manager helps the manager and manages the hotel when the manager is not present. The resident manager is the manager who permanently lives in the hotel. The night manager is on duty during the night.
ÒÍÅ CHEF
The chef works in à restaurant or ø the food and beverage de- partment of à hotel. À restaurant màó have different chess. At the head of them is the head chef. The head chef is the kitchen supervisor. Íå manages the kitchen of à restaurant. Íå has to select menus and ñî plan the meals. Íå has to taste the dishes. Íå also manages the kitchen staff: the chess, the cooks and the helpers. In à big restaurant there may be different specialist chess: the soup chef, the sauce chef, the vegetable chef, the pastry chef and others. The soup chef is in charge of making soups. The sauce chef is in charge of preparing sauces. The vegetable chef is ø charge of pre- paring vegetables and pasta. The pastry chef is in charge of preparing pastries and sweet dishes. The chef may have the ñüåÃs special. It is à special dish which goes apart from others on the menu. It may be the dish for which the chef or the restaurant is famous. The good name of à restaurant or à hotel' kitchen may depend on its chef. The reputation of the chef may increase its business.
ÒÍÅ FRONT OFFICE
When hotel guests arrive, they expect the front office clerks to of- fer them à nice welcome. They will want someone to help them in checking-in. The front office is in the lobby of à hotel. It consists of the reser- vation department and the reception desk or the front desk. The reservation department provides booking of the hotel rooms. The front desk provides sales of rooms, guest registration, key service, message and mail service, guest accounts. Each employee in the front office has got à specific task. The booking clerk will help the guest to arrange à booking. The receptionist or the room clerk will help the guest tî check in. When the receptionist watches the guest arrive, he meets and greets him. The receptionist asks the guest to fill in à registration form and assigns à room to him. Before the receptionist assigns à room, he or she will check the guest's booking and the available accommoda- tions. Most hotels offer single, double and twin-bedded rooms. There are also some fine suites. À guest may ask the receptionist to provide an extra bed in à double room for his family member. À hotel guest often wants someone to deliver messages and mail for him. The front desk performs this duty. There is always à rack with message boxes behind the counter. À hotel guest always wants someone tî take ñàãå of his room key. The front desk will do it. There is often à key drop at the desk. When the guest checks out, he wants someone to help him with accounts. The cashier at the front desk will do it. Every hotel manager relies on his front office to provide brief and convenient checking-in and checking-out.
ÒÍÅ HOUSEKEEPING
When guests stay at the hotel they expect somebody to clean their rooms. The housekeeping department does it. At the head of the housekeeping service is the housekeeper. Íå supervises the chambermaids. Chambermaids prepare the rooms before the guests check in. The housekeeper tells the maids ñî general clean the rooms or ñî make up the rooms. Íå may ask the maids to scrub down the bath- rooms or just change the bed linen and the towels. Generally the maids air the rooms, make the beds, dust the furniture, vacuum clean the floor, wash the bathroom, empty the waste baskets. Chambermaids use carts to cany supplies of toiletries; shampoos, soaps, tissues, shower caps as well as bed and bath linens. There are containers for dirty linen and rubbish on those carts. Chambermaids use master keys ñî provide security for the hotel rooms. If the guests need extra bedding or rollaways, the housekeeping service will do it. The housekeeping service provides hair-dryers and irons if the guests need them. When guests check out, the housekeeper inspects the rooms. The housekeeper informs the front desk if everything is ø order. Íå also informs which rooms are occupied and which rooms are vacant.
