Preliminary list: Please note that some terms have multiple definitions and/or listings

• Accommodation capacity: The measure of accommodation stock at a defined destination. May be given by various different measures: e.g. number of establishments; number of main units within an establishment (e.g. rooms, caravan stances); capacity in terms of residents (e.g. bedspaces).

• Accounting period: Normally one year, the period for which accounts are drawn up

• Accreditation: A procedure to establish if a tourism business meets certain standards of management and operation.

• add-on: any component of a package tour that is not included in the package price

• Advanced ecotourism: A level of accreditation consisting of all core criteria as well as some of the advanced certification criteria.

• adventure tour: a tour designed around an adventurous activity such as rafting or hiking

• Adventure tourism: A form of tourism in natural areas that incorporates an element of risk, higher levels of physical exertion, and the need for specialised skills.

• affinity group: a group sharing a common interest, usually from an organization. See also pre-formed group.

• after-departure charge: expenses such as telephone charges that do not appear on a guest’s account at check out.

• agent: one who acts or has the power to act as the representative of another. Most frequently in travel anyone other than a principal, such as a retail travel agent, receiving agent, ticket agent, local operator or wholesaler (usage uncommon in No. America)

• air sea: a cruise/travel program which includes both air/sea arrangements. Often combined with local hotel arrangements for pre/post stays

• airline classes of service: variety of terms used to express a particular type of aircraft cabin service. Classes vary with types of compartments, seating comfort, and amenities, with variation between domestic and international flights, and denoted by a fare code on the ticket.

• airline fare: price charged for an airline ticket. Some of the categories are as follows: advance purchase excursion (APEX): heavily discounted excursion fare available on many international routes. Reservations and payment will be required well in advance of departure, with varying penalizes for cancellation; excursion: individual fares that require a round-trip within time limits, discounted from coach fare, limited availability; group: discounts from regular fares for groups; and regular or normal: any unrestricted fare.

• airline reporting conference (ARC): a consortium of airline companies, who by agreement, provide a method of approving authorized agency locations for the sale of transportation and cost-effective procedures for processing records and funds to carriers. Not all airlines are ARC companies.

• All-inclusive: A form of package holiday where the majority of services offered at the destination are included in the price paid prior to departure (e.g. refreshments, excursions, amenities, gratuities, etc).

• Allocentric: Of a minority of tourists: adventurous, outgoing, self-confident, independent, needing little tourist infrastructure. Enjoys high contact with locals.

• Alternative tourism: In essence, tourism activities or development that are viewed as non-traditional. It is often defined in opposition to large-scale mass tourism to represent small-scale sustainable tourism developments. AT is also presented as an 'ideal type', that is, an improved model of tourism development that redresses the ills of traditional, mass tourism

• American plan: type of rate that includes the price of the hotel room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. AP is the common abbreviation. See also room rates.

• Antifoul: applied to ship’s hull to prevent encrusting of barnacles, seaweed, and other marine organisms.

• Artefact: An object; an item of material culture.

• Assets: Something of value that will provide future benefit or utility, can be used to generate revenue. Usually owned, so simply described as 'things we own'.

• association executive: A full-time professional administrator who is employed by an association and is responsible for planning and promoting annual conventions and association meetings.

• attraction: a place, event, building or area which tourists want to visit

• attraction: a natural or man-made facility, location, or activity which offers items of specific interest to tourists.

• Auditing: A process to measure and verify the practices of a business.

• average room rate: the total guest room revenue for a given period divided by the number of rooms occupied for the same period. Since it can be related to investment, this statistic is frequently used as a measure of economic feasibility.

• back to back: term used to describe tours operating on a consistent, continuing basis, usually without time between.

• Backpacker: A visitor, for the purpose of a holiday or special event, who stays in a backpackers lodge/hostel.

• bed and breakfast: (B & B) overnight accommodations usually in a private home or boarding house, with a full American-style or continental breakfast included in the rate, often without private bath facilities

• Benchmarking: Measuring performance against that of best in class companies, determining how the best-in-class achieve those performance levels and using this information as a basis for your own company's targets, strategies and implementation (Pryor, 1989).

• Benchmarking: Process of comparing performance and activities among similar organizations either against an agreed standard or against those that are recognized as being among the best

• Benchmarks: Points of reference or comparison, which may include standards, critical success factors, indicators, metrics.

• Best Practice: Operational standards considered the most effective and efficient means of achieving desired outcomes.

• bias: preferential display on a reservations computer of a host carrier flight schedule.

• biodiversity: a variety of wildlife in an area

• Biological diversity (biodiversity): The variety of life forms and genes they contain, and the ecosystems they form. Biodiversity is usually considered at four levels; genetic diversity, species diversity, community diversity, and ecosystem diversity.

• block: a number of rooms, seats, or space reserved in advance, usually by wholesalers, tour operators, or receptive operators who intend to sell them as components of tour packages.

• bonding: the guarantee of protection for a supplier or consumer. In the travel industry, certain bonding programs are mandatory. The ARC insists that travel agents be bonded to protect the airlines against defaults. Professional operators and agents buy bonds voluntarily to protect their clients.

• booking form: a document which tour purchasers must complete which gives the operator full particulars about who is buying the tour. It states exactly what is being purchased, ( including options) and must be signed as acknowledgment that the liability clause has been read and understood.

• bulk fare: fare available only to tour organizers or operators who purchase a specified block of seats from a carrier at a low, non-commissionable price and then have the responsibility of selling the seats, including a commission in their marked-up price.

• Bureaucracy: An organisation typified by formal processes, standardisation, hierarchic procedures, and written communication

• business plan: an action plan that entrepreneurs draw up for the purpose of starting a business; a guide to running one's business

• Business Travel or Business Events: Travel for commercial rather than leisure purposes. Business travel is sometimes used as a cover-all to include what are sometimes referred to as the “MICE” markets – meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions

• Business travel: Travel for a purpose and to a destination determined by a business, and where all costs are met by that business.

• Business Travel: Travel of 1: 365 days duration for the purpose of attending a convention or training, conducting official/government or private business.

• cafeteria: a food-service operation of a limited menu, in which customers carry their own trays to seating

• Capacity management: A process that seeks to ensure that their organisations operate at optimum capacity whilst maintaining customer satisfaction levels.

• Capital expenditure: The cost of long-term assets; such as computer equipment, vehicles and premises. Importantly these are bought to use over several years and not to resell.

• carrier: transportation company such as an airline, motorcoach, cruise line, or railroad which carries passengers and/or cargo carrying capacity: the amount of tourism a destination can handle.

• Carrying capacity: The amount of visitor activity that a site or destination can sustain.

• Carrying-capacity analysis: Originally a term applied in ecology referring to the maximum number of animals of a given species that a particular habitat could support. In the context of tourism, it refers to the maximum number of tourists a destination can support.

• cash flow: monies available to meet the company’s daily operating expenses, as opposed to equity, accounts receivable, or other credits not immediately accessible

• Certified Tour Professional: CTP: a designation conferred upon tour professionals who have completed a prescribed course of academic study, professional service, tour employment and evaluation requirements. It is administered by the National Tour Association.

• Certified Travel Counselor: CTC: a designation attesting to professional competence as a travel agent. It is conferred upon travel professional with five or more years of industry experience who complete a two year, graduate-level travel management program administered by the Institute of Certified Travel Agents.

• Chain of distribution: The means by which products (package holidays in this instance) are distributed from producers (principals) to consumers (tourists), often via wholesalers and retailers (tour operators and travel agents).

• charter operations: (1) term referring the transportation of pre-formed groups which have the exclusive use of the vehicle. (2) An operator authorized to arrange transportation, however, is not limited to dealing with pre-formed groups, but can itself form the tour group.

• Charter: A legal contract between an owner and an organisation for the hire of a means of transport for a particular purpose. An individual traveller will use an intermediary to arrange to be carried on the transport. Often applied to a flight which is the result of a charter.

• charter: to hire the exclusive use of any aircraft, motorcoach, or other vehicle

• circle trip: a journey with stopovers that returns to the point of departure

• city guide: a person who has a speciality of guiding in the city only

• closeout: finalization of a tour, cruise, or similar group travel project after which time no further clients are accepted. Any unsold air or hotel space is released, and final payments are sent to all suppliers.

• Coach Tour: A guided bus tour for a group of holiday makers that follows a scheduled itinerary. Visitors purchase all arrangements from the Inbound Tour Operator prior to arrival in NZ.

• Code of conduct: Guidelines advising a tourism stakeholder, including tourists, on how to behave in an environmentally responsible manner.

• Code of Ethics / Conduct / Practice: Recommended practices based on a system of self regulation intended to promote environmentally and/or socio-culturally sustainable behaviour.

• commercial rate: a special rate agreed upon by a company and a hotel. Usually the hotel agrees to supply rooms of a specified quality or better at a flat rate to corporate clients.

• commercial recreation system: recreational products, services, and facilities created and operated by privately owned businesses or corporations as opposed to public facilities

• commission: the percentage of a selling price paid to a retailer by a supplier. In the travel industry, travel agents receive commissions for selling tour packages or other services.

• common carrier: a privately owned carrier which offers transportation for a fee

• complimentary room: a guest room for which no charge is made. Complimentary rooms with a tour group are usually occupied by the tour manager or driver.

• Computer reservation systems (CRS): Computerised Reservation Systems used for inventory management by airlines, hotels and other facilities. CRSs can allow direct access through terminals for intermediaries to check availability, make reservations and print tickets.

• concessionaire : a firm which, under contract rights, operates for another party (in many cases, a government agency) food and beverage services, lodging facilities, and other services on-site at an attraction

• concierge: a hotel employee who handles restaurant and tour reservations, travel arrangements, and other details for hotel guests

• conditions: the section or clause of a transportation/tour contract which specifies what is not included and which may spell out the circumstances under which the contract many be invalidated

• conductor, and (in Europe) courier: Tour manager/guide - both terms have roughly the same meaning and are used interchangeably. A person with this title is usually at a professional, well trained level.

• confidential tariff: a schedule of wholesale rates distributed in confidence to travel wholesalers and agents. Better known as a net rate.

• configuration: the interior arrangement of a vehicle, particularly an airplane. The same airplane, for example, may be configured for 190 coach-class passengers, or it may hold 12 first-class passengers and 170 coach passengers, Configuration is also used in conjunction with how the plane is arranged such as three seats on each side or in larger planes two seats on each side with four middle seats.

• confirmed reservation: an oral or written agreement by a supplier that he has received and will honor a reservation. Oral confirmations have no legal weight. Even written or telegraphed confirmations have specified or implied limitations. e.g.: a hotel not honoring a reservation after 6 pm., unless late arrival has been guaranteed in some manner.

• Conservation: Can be broadly interpreted as action taken to protect and preserve the natural world from harmful features of tourism, including pollution and overexploitation of resources.

• Conservation: The protection and maintenance of nature while allowing for its ecologically sustainable use.

• consolidation: cancellation by a charter tour operator of one or more tours/flights associated with a specific charter departure or departure period, with the transfer of passengers to another charter tour/flight to depart on or near the same day.

• consolidator: a person or company which forms groups to travel on air charters or at group rates on scheduled flights to increase sales, earn override commissions or reduce the possibility of tour cancellations.

• consortium: a loosely knit group of independently owned and managed companies such as travel agencies, tour operators, hotels, or other suppliers, with a joint marketing distribution process

• continental breakfast: at a minimum, a beverage (coffee, tea or milk) and rolls or toast. Fruit juice is often added.

• continental plan: a hotel rate which includes a continental breakfast with the overnight room stay.

• contract: a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties

• contractor: an operator who provides services to wholesalers, tour operators and travel agents

• convention and visitors bureau (CVB): a non-profit local organization supported by transient room taxes, government budget allocations, private memberships, or a combination of any of these funding mechanisms. A CVB typically encourages groups to hold meetings, conventions, and trade shows in its area.

• Convention or Conference Bureau: Usually a publicly funded organisation charged with the promotion of a town or region for conferences, meetings and exhibitions.

• co-op tour: a tour which is sold through a number of wholesalers, cooperatives, or other outlets in order to increase sales and reduce the possibility of tour cancellations.

• Cost-benefit analysis: Full analysis of public and private costs and benefits of project.

• costing: the process of itemizing and calculating all costs the tour operator will pay on a given tour. Costing is usually the function of the operations manager.

• Cost-plus pricing: A method of pricing where an amount, to cover profit, is added to costs to establish the selling price, this is an internally orientated pricing method.

• coupon, tour: a voucher that can be exchanged for a travel product

• courier: a European definition for tour manager/guide

• cover charge: a fee, usually a flat amount per person, charged to patrons to cover the cost of music and entertainment

• Critical incident point (CIP): A critical incident point or 'moment of truth' is any event which occurs when the customer has (or even perceives that he has) contact with a service organisation.

• Cultural Authenticity: Ensuring the appropriate dreaming stories, spiritual beliefs, history, ceremony and art is attributed to the relevant area.

• Cultural tourism: Travel for the purpose of learning about cultures or aspects of cultures.

• culture: people's customs, clothing, food, houses, language, dancing, music, drama, literature and religion

• Culture: A set of shared norms and values which establish a sense of identity for those who share them. Typically applied at the level of nation and/or race.

• Culture: The sum total of ways of living by a group of human beings that is transmitted from one generation to another.

• Customer: "An organization or a person that receives a product" (ISO, 2000a: 10).

• customized tour: a tour designed to fit the specific needs of a particular target market

• customs: the common term for a government agency charged with collecting duty on specified items imported into that country. The agency also restricts the entry of persons and forbidden items without legal travel documents

• cut-off date: designated day when the buyer must release or add commitments to their event or tour

• day rate: a reduced rate granted for the use of a guest room during the daytime, not overnight occupancy. Often used when someone needs a display room, office, or is in-transit due to odd airline schedules.

• Day visitors: Visitors who arrive and leave the same day, irrespective of why they are travelling

• Decision-making unit (DMU): The combination of inputs to a purchasing decision

• Degradation: Any decline in the quality of natural or cultural resources, or the viability of ecosystems, that is caused directly or indirectly by humans.

• deluxe tour: in travel usage, presumably of the highest standard

• Demographic Profile: Characteristics used in research such as age, gender, occupation, income, marital status, place of residence, etc.

• departure tax: fee collected from the traveler by the host country at the time of departure

• Dependency theory: This theory maintains that developing countries are kept in a position of dependency and underdevelopment due to existing economic and institutional power structures sustained by leading Western nations. Dependency theorists argue that the policies and activities of multinational corporations, national bilateral and multinational aid agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tend to widen the gap between rich and poor countries and perpetuate the dependency of developing nations.

• deposit policy: a specified amount or a percentage of the total bill due on a specified date prior to arrival

• deposit: an advance payment required to obtain confirmed space

• deregulation: the act of removing regulations from the travel industry. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which amended the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, provided for the end of the Civil Aeronautics Board s regulating authority over domestic airlines on January 1, 1985, for removing travel agent exclusivity, thus paving the way for carriers to appoint and pay commissions to non-travel agents, and for the removal of antitrust immunity for travel agents. The motorcoach industry was deregulated in 1982.

• Designation: The act of conferring a legal status on a building which requires compliance with specific legislation on conservation and preservation.

• destination: the end point of a journey

• Destination Management Company (DMC): A company working in a specific destination to handle all bookings and arrangements for tours or conferences, including hotel accommodation, transfers, sightseeing, meetings and special events. Tour operators or conference planners are likely to use the services of a DMC because of their specialist local knowledge.

• destination management company: (DMC) a company that provides on-the-scene meetings assistance for corporations and associations

• destination marketing organization: (DMO) a category of membership of the National Tour Association which includes state or provincial tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus, and chambers of commerce which promote a city, region, or state as a travel destination

• destination: the place to which a traveler is going. In the travel industry, any city, area, or country which can be marketed as a single entity for tourists.

• dine-around plan: a plan that permits tourists to dine at a variety of restaurants using vouchers and coupons on a tour

• direct spending: money that goes directly from a tourist into the economy of the destination

• director, tour: a person, usually employed or subcontracted by the tour operator, who accompanies a tour from departure to return, acting as a guide and troubleshooter and performing all functions to make the tour operate. Also see tour manager or escort.

• Discretionary income: Money received from employment or other sources which can be freely spent on leisure pursuits (such as travel and tourism) after general living costs, taxation etc. are taken into consideration.

• Discrimination: Unequal treatment of persons on grounds which are not justifiable in law, e.g. in the UK, discrimination on the grounds of sex or race.

• Distribution: The process employed to provide customers access to the product. For travel products distribution focuses largely on the ways in which the customer can reserve or purchase the product.

• Disturbance: Accelerated change caused by human activity or extreme natural events.

• Diversification: The process of developing new products for new markets, in order to achieve business growth.

• diversity: variety; multiplicity; range; assortment

• domestic escorted tour: a packaged, pre-planned itinerary, including the services of a tour manager (escort) within a traveler s own country

• domestic independent tour: DIT: a custom-made tour of a part of the USA planned exclusively for a client by a travel agent

• Domestic supply of tourism commodities: Domestic supply of tourism commodities is defined as the total production in Canada of the tourism commodities which are mainly produced by tourism industries. Not all of domestic supply is purchased by visitors, so that supply exceeds tourism demand for the national tourism indicators (NTI). For example, visitors purchase only a small proportion of food and beverage services, with most going to local consumption. Also, supply does not include imports. For example the sale of a ticket on a non-Canadian airline is excluded from supply.

• Domestic tourism: Travel within the country of residence.

• Dominant scenic alteration: An alteration in the scenic landscape that is visually obtrusive.

• double-occupancy rate: the price per person for a room to be shared with another person; abbreviated ppdo and most often quoted in the industry

• double-room rate: the full price of a room for two people (twice the double-occupancy rate)

• downgrade: to move to a lesser level of accommodations or a lower class of service

• Due diligence: Taking what is considered in law to be reasonable care.

• Dwell time: Length of time a visitor spends at an attraction or destination. Dwell time is often taken into consideration when setting admission fees as a way of ensuring perceived value for money

• Earth Check™ indicators: Proprietary system belonging to Green Globe 21, which uses carefully selected indicators to measure and benchmark key environmental and social impacts, as well as operational efficiency.

• Ecologically sustainable: Using, conserving and enhancing the community’s resources so that ecological development is maintained, and the total quality of life can be sustained now and in the future.

• eCommerce: Internet facilitated commerce, using electronic means for promoting, selling, distributing, and servicing products.

• economy fares or services: in U.S. domestic airline operations, passenger carriage at a level below coach service; in international operations, carriage at a level below first class

• ecosystem: an area where living and non-living things interact

• Ecosystem: A dynamic system of plant, animal, fungal and micro-organism communities, and the associated non-living physical and chemical factors.

• ecotour: a tour designed to focus on preserving the environment of environmentally sensitive areas

• eco-tourism: a combination of tourism and the environment (e.g. planning before development; sustainability of resources; economic viability of a tourism product; no negative impact on either the environment or local communities; responsibility for the environment from developers, the tourism industry and tourists; environmentally-friendly practices by all parties concerned and economic benefits flowing to local communities)

• Ecotourism: Defined by The International Ecotourism Society as ‘responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people’.

• Ecotourism: Ecologically sustainable tourism with a primary focus on experiencing natural areas that foster environmental and cultural understanding, appreciation and conservation.

• educational tour: tour designed around an educational activity, such as studying art

• endangered species: in severe danger of becoming extinct in the near future unless immediate steps are taken to protect the species

• Energy conservation: Positive initiatives to reduce the consumption of energy to the minimum level required.

• environment: the diverse community activities and cultures of a country's inhabitants, as well as its scarce and sensitive natural resources

• Environmental auditing: Inspection of a tourism organisation to assess the environmental impact of its activities.

• Environmental education: Formal and informal learning processes that are designed to raise awareness and teach new values, knowledge and skills, in order to encourage more sustainable behaviour.

• Environmental impact assessment: A study undertaken to assess the effect of an action upon a specific environment or the social or cultural integrity of a community.

• Environmental impact statement: The report resulting from an environmental impact assessment.

• Environmental impact: The effects that a community has on the environment as a consequence of its activities.

• Environmental management systems: Systems established by tourism organisations with the aim of mitigating negative environmental impacts.

• Environmental scanning: The process of collecting information to carry out a systematic analysis of the forces effecting the organisation and identifying potential threats and opportunities with view to generating future strategies.

• 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 occurs which causes a client great hardship or expense.

• escort: (1) a person, usually employed or subcontracted by the tour operator who accompanies a tour from departure to return, acting as a troubleshooter. This term is often incorrectly interchanged with courier, conductor, host, manager, director, or leader, since each term designates different duties although they do perform the escort function.

• escorted tour: (1) a pre-arranged travel program, usually for a group, escorted by a tour manager or leader. In a fully conducted tour, the escort will also provide guide service throughout.

• escrow accounts: funds placed in the custody of licensed financial institutions for safekeeping. Many contracts in travel require that agents and tour operators maintain customers deposits and prepayments in escrow accounts until the time of service.

• ethnic tour: tour designed for people usually of the same heritage traveling to their native origin, or to a destination with ethnic relevance

• European plan: a type of rate that consists of the price of the room only, no included meals

• Evolutionary theories: Theories of tourism which see destinations evolving, in the sense that the types of tourists change, or evolve, over time.

• excursion: journey where the traveler returns to the original point of departure

• executive coach: a luxury motorcoach with seating of 25 or fewer with upscale amenities

• Exotic plants: Plants whose genetic stock comes from beyond the area in which they are found.

• extensions : an arranged sub-tour offered optionally before or after a tour or cruise at an extra charge

• Externalities: Those costs or benefits arising from production or consumption of goods and services which are not reflected in market prices.

• FAM tour: an abbreviation for familiarization tour which is often a complimentary or reduced-rate travel program for travel agents, tour operators, travel writers or others to acquaint them with a specific destination or attraction, thereby helping to stimulate sales

• fauna: all the animals of a particular area

• fixed expense: an expense related to the tour as a whole, which does not vary with the number of passengers such as a meal or a per person entrance to an attraction

• flag carrier: a transportation carrier designated by a country to serve international routes

• flora: all the plants of a particular area

• folio: an itemized record of a guest’s charges and credits, maintained in the front office till departure, and can be referred to as guest bill or guest statement

• food cover: a unit of food service provided to a customer. The term is not synonymous with meal because a food cover may comprise only a cup of coffee or bowl of soup

• Force majeure: This is an unforeseeable or uncontrollable situation or train of events that would excuse a breach of contract.

• foreign flag: any carrier not registered in the USA (applies to air and sea transportation)

• franchise: the right to market a product or service, often exclusively for a specified area by a manufacturer, developer, or distributor in return for a fee

• Frequent Independent Traveler: FIT: custom designed, pre-paid tour with many individualized arrangements. Also used as foreign independent traveler

• front office: office situated in the lobby of a hotel, the main functions of which are (1) control/sale of guest rooms, (2) providing keys, mail, and information, (3) keeping guest accounts, rendering bills/payments, and (4) providing information to other departments

• full house: a hotel with all guest rooms occupied

• full-service restaurant: a food-service establishment with several menu selections and table service

• function room: room used for functions, also called banquet room

• function: a pre-arranged, catered group activity, usually held in private room/area

• gateway: the point of access to a country or region, usually an airport or seaport, although certain frontier points and railway stations can be given the designation

• gateway city: city with an international airport

• gateway: city, airport, or area from which a flight or tour departs

• Globalisation: Generally defined as the network of connections of organisations and peoples are across national, geographic and cultural borders and boundaries. These global networks are creating a shrinking world where local differences and national boundaries are being subsumed into global identities. Within the field of tourism, globalisation is also viewed in terms of the revolutions in telecommunications, finance and transport that are key factors currently influencing the nature and pace of growth of tourism in developing nations.

• Green Globe/Green Globe 21: GREEN GLOBE 21 is the worldwide benchmarking and certification programme which facilitates sustainable travel and tourism for consumers, companies and communities. It is based on Agenda 21 and principles for Sustainable Development endorsed by 182 governments at the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. www.greenglobe21.com

• Greenhouse effect: The trapping of the sun’s thermal radiation by gases and water vapour, keeping the surface of the earth warmer than it would be otherwise.

• Greenhouse gases: Gases that contribute to the greenhouse affect. These include carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour. One source of greenhouse gases is the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal.

• ground operator: a company or individual providing such services as hotel, sightseeing, transfers, and all other related services for groups. See receptive operator.

• ground package: often expressed as a percentage (eg. 100% or 110%) of the lowest regular fare for the air travel scheduled.

• group leader: an individual, acting as liaison to a tour operator, acts as escort

• group tour: a pre-arranged, pre-paid travel program for a group usually including all components. Also see packaged tour.

• guaranteed tour: a tour guaranteed to operate

• guest account: an itemized record of a guest’s charges and credits

• guide: (1) a person qualified to conduct tours of specific localities or attractions (many reliable guides are licensed), (2) an airline, bus, railroad, or ship manual of schedules and fares, usually printed seasonally

• guided tour: a local sightseeing trip conducted by a guide

• head tax: fee charged for arriving and departing passengers in some foreign countries

• heritage: a very broad expression that describes anything that has a link with some past event or person (e.g. cultural heritage refers to past customs and traditions with the unspoken implication that these are worthwhile or creditable)

• heritage site: a place that capitalises on its connection with heritage

• Heritage: Things of value that are inherited which people want to keep. Heritage can be natural, cultural, tangible, intangible, personal or collective. Natural heritage is often conserved in places such as reserves and national parks. Cultural heritage practices are often conserved through ongoing traditions and practices.

• Heritage: Today's perception of a pattern of events in the past.

• High conservation value: Recognition of the great significance of a natural or cultural site.

• high season: the period of the year when occupancy/usage of a hotel or attraction is normally the highest. High usage invariably means higher prices for rooms or admission. Also referred to as on-season or peak season.

• History: A pattern of events in the past.

• host: (1) a representative of the group (organizer) that may arrange optional excursions and answer questions but does not have escort authority (2) liaison to the tour operator or tour manager, or (3) a representative who provides only information or greeting services or who assists at the destination with ground arrangements without actually accompanying the tour.

• HRM: Human Resource Management, concerned with the strategic management of human resources to achieve a competitive advantage.

• hub and spoke tours: tours which utilize a central destination with side trips of varying length to nearby destinations

• human-made attraction: an attraction created by people

• immigration: the process by which a government official verifies a person’s passport, visa or origin of citizenship

• Impacts: Effects, which may be either positive or negative, felt as a result of tourism-associated activity. Tourists have at least three kinds of impacts on a destination: economic, sociocultural and environmental. Tourism also has effects on tourists, in terms of possible attitude and behaviour changes.

• Impromptu Travel: No arrangements booked in country of destination prior to travel. (Another name for FIT travel).

• inbound tour operator: company specializing in domestic tours for foreign visitors in the strictest sense. Can also be used interchangeably with receptive operator.

• inbound tour: group of travelers whose trip originated in another city or country

• incentive or incentive commission: See override.

• incentive tour: (1) a trip offered as a prize, particularly to stimulate the productivity of employees or sales agents, or (2) the business of operating such travel programs

• incidentals: charges incurred by participants of a tour, but are not included in the tour price

• inclusive tour: tour in which all specific elements – transportation, airfare, hotels, transfers, and other costs – are offered for a flat rate. An inclusive tour does not necessarily cover all costs such as personal items and telephone.

• independent contractor: a person contractually retained by another to perform certain specific tasks The other person has no control over the independent contractor other than as provided in the contract. In the context of group travel, a tour manager is often retained by the tour operator, or tour brochure designer/writer might be hired in this capacity.

• independent tour: an unescorted tour sold through agents to individuals. For one price, the client guaranteed air travel, hotel room, attraction admissions and (typically) a car rental.

• Indigenous people: Indigenous peoples are those who are descendants of the ...

• Indigenous species: A species that occurs at a place within its historically known natural range, and forms part of the natural biological diversity of a place.

• indirect air carrier: generally synonymous with charter tour operator. A tour operator, travel agent, or other promoter who (under federal regulations) contracts for charter space from a carrier for resale to the public. In theory, indirect air carriers act as independent, risk-taking entrepreneurs, promoting their own product

• info-mediaries: Organisations which provide websites/electronic guides as an information resource, sharing other resources such as web links to organisations that sell tourism/travel. The infomediary may be an organisation or company in its own right, or may form part of an individual company's or organisation's customer service

• Information systems: Systems that use information technology to capture, transmit, store, retrieve, manipulate, or display information.

• Infrastructure: Construction needed to support economic development.

• Innovative best practice: A practice that is considered to be of the highest quality, excellence, or standing – a leader in the field.

• Intangibility: The characteristic of not being touchable: a good is tangible whereas a service is intangible

• Intermediary: An organisation within the chain of distribution whose function is to facilitate the supply of a given product from producers to consumers. In the travel industry examples are travel agencies and tourism information offices.

• intermediate carrier: a carrier that transports a passenger or piece of baggage as part of an inter-line movement, but on which neither the point of origin or destination is located

• intermodal tour: tour using several forms of transportation such as airplanes, motorcoaches, cruise ships, and trains to create a diversified and efficient tour package

• Interpretation: An educational process that is intended to stimulate and facilitate people's understanding of place, so that empathy towards, conservation, heritage, culture and landscape is developed.

• Interpretation: Revealing the significance and meanings of natural and cultural phenomena to visitors, usually with the intent of providing a satisfying learning experience and encouraging more sustainable behaviour.

• Introduced species: A translocated or alien species found at a place outside its historically known natural range, as a result of the intentional or accidental dispersal by human activities. Includes genetically modified organisms.

• IT Number: a registration number that is assigned to a tour package

• itinerary: the travel schedule provided by a travel agent or tour operator for the client. A proposed or preliminary itinerary may be rather vague or very specific. A final itinerary spells out all details, including flight numbers, departure times, and similar data, as well as describing planned activities.

• land operator: a company that provides local services, see also ground/receptive operator

• lead time: advance time between initiating a tour and its departure date

• Leadership: Influencing and directing the performance of group members towards the achievement of organisational goals

• leg: portion on a journey between two scheduled stops

• Leisure travel: Travel undertaken for pleasure and unrelated to paid work time.

• Length of stay: No of nights spent in one destination. Most tourist boards seek to find ways of increasing visitors’ length of stay

• letter of agreement: a letter from the buyer to the supplier accepting the terms of the proposal. This may also be the supplier s initial proposal that has been initialed by the buyer

• Lifecycle: The particular pattern through which a destination evolves.

• Limits of acceptable change: Environmental indicators that can monitor changes over time as a consequence of tourism.

• load factor: average number of seats occupied, e.g. motorcoach or air

• local: belonging to a particular place or region

• low season: that time of the year at any given destination when tourist traffic, and often rates, are at their lowest. Also referred to as off-peak or off-season.

• macro business: a large, formal business that employs many people

• manifest: final official listing of all passengers and/or cargo aboard a transportation vehicle or vessel

• Market orientated pricing: A method of pricing that benchmarks prices against competitors when deciding on price.

• market segment: the concept of dividing a market in parts

• Market segmentation: Market segmentation is a marketing approach that encompasses the identification of different groups of customers with different needs or responses to marketing activity. The market segmentation process also considers which of these segments to target.

• markup: (1) difference between the cost and the selling price of a given product; (2) difference between the net rate charged by a tour operator, hotel, or other supplier and the retail selling price of the service.

• Mass tourism: Traditional, large scale tourism commonly, but loosely used to refer to popular forms of leisure tourism pioneered in southern Europe, the Caribbean, and North America in the 1960s and 1970s.

• master account: the guest account for a particular group or function that will be paid by the sponsoring organization

• master bill: all items contracted by the operator and supplier that will be paid by the operator

• MAVERICS: Characterisation of tourists of the future as multi-holidaying, autonomous, variegated, energised, restless, irresponsible, constrained and segmented.

• Mediation: An attempt to settle a dispute using a neutral third party

• meet and greet: pre-purchased service for meeting and greeting a client/group upon arrival in a city, usually at the airport, pier, or rail station. Service may include assisting the client/group with entrance formalities, collecting baggage, and obtaining transportation to the hotel

• micro business: a small, often informal, business that employs very few people

• Minimal impact practices: Deliberate human behaviour that reduces the negative impact of people or objects on the environment to a minimum.

• minimum charge: the amount that each customer must pay no matter what is consumed. For example: a two-drink minimum in a club

• minimum land package: the minimum tour expressed in terms of cost and ingredients that must be purchased to qualify for an airline inclusive tour, or contract bulk inclusive tour fare. Such packages usually include a certain number of nights lodging, other specified ingredients such as sightseeing tours and/or entertainment and/or car rental. The minimum rate for the combined air fares and

• Mode of travel: The type of transport used to make a journey between an origin and a destination, and can include walking and cycling as well as all forms of mechanical transport.

• Monitoring: The ongoing review and assessment of the natural or cultural integrity of a place in order to detect changes in its condition with reference to a baseline condition.

• Motivation: Internal and external forces and influences that drive an individual to achieving certain goals.

• motorcoach tour operator: a company that creates tours in which group members are transported via motorcoach on a planned itinerary of stops

• motorcoach: a large, comfortable, well-powered bus that can transport groups and their luggage over long distances

• mystery tour: a tour to an unpublished destination -- passengers get a surprise!

• nationwide tour: sold to people throughout the nation

• Natural area: Areas that exist in or are formed by nature which are not artificial, and can include cultural aspects.

• natural attraction: a tourist attraction that has not been made or created by people

• natural disaster: a destructive force (e.g. earthquake, flood, volcanic eruption)

• Nature Tourism (Nature-based tourism): Ecologically sustainable tourism with a primary focus on experiencing natural areas.

• Negligence: Failing to exercise what is legally considered to be reasonable care.

• net wholesale rate: a rate usually slightly lower than the wholesale rate, applicable to groups when components are specifically mentioned in a tour brochure. The rate is marked up by wholesale sellers to cover tour costs.

• no show: guest with confirmed reservations who does not arrive and has not canceled

• No-frills: A low-cost scheduled travel package based on minimising operator service and costs, which are passed to the consumer as a low price.

• Non-profit: Non-profit organisations are those which are driven by non-financial organisational objectives, i.e. other than for profit or shareholder return.

• occupancy: the percentage of available rooms occupied for a given period. It is computed by dividing the number of rooms occupied for a period by the number of rooms available for the same period.

• off-peak: a period in which a hotel or attraction is not in its busiest season

• Off-site management: Provision of pre-visit (or otherwise off-site) educational and interpretive materials to raise awareness of management issues and encourage minimal impact behaviour.

• on-demand public transportation: transportation services, such as taxicabs that do not have regular schedules

• On-site assessment: A site-visit by a quality systems member to verify material submitted during the accreditation application.

• On-site management: Management of visitor impacts and behaviour on-site through the use of signs, formed tracks or board-walks, barriers and the physical presence of management staff.

• open jaw: an arrangement, route, or fare, authorized in a tariff, granting the traveling public the privilege of purchasing round-trip transportation from the point of origin to one destination, at which another form of transportation is used to reach a second destination, where a passenger resumes the initial form of transportation to return to the point of origin. Used for airline travel mainly

• Operations management: "The ongoing activities of designing, reviewing and using the operating system, to achieve service outputs as determined by the organization for customers" (Wright, 1999).

• operations: performing the practical work of operating a tour or travel program. Operations usually involves the in-house control and handling of all phases of the tour, with both suppliers and clients.

• option date: the date agreed upon when a tentative agreement is to become a definite commitment by the buyer

• option: tour feature extension or side trip offered at extra cost

• Organisation: A deliberate arrangement of people to achieve a particular purpose

• outbound operator: a company which takes groups from a given city or country to another city or county

• outbound tour: any tour that takes groups outside a given city or country, opposite of inbound

• outfitter: a business that provides services or equipment at a recreational facility

• overbook: accepting reservations for more space than is available

• override: a commission over and above the normal base commission percentage

• pacing: The scheduling of activities within an itinerary to make for a realistic operation and give a certain balance of travel time, sightseeing, events and free time

• package tour: a combination of several travel components provided by different suppliers, which are sold to the consumer as a single product at a single price

• package: (1) pre-arranged combination of elements such as air, hotel, sightseeing, and social events put together and sold at an all-inclusive package price; (2) to package, meaning to combine elements as above into an all-inclusive package product

• packager: an individual or organization that coordinates and promotes the package tours and establishes operating guidelines for the tour

• passport: government document permitting a citizen to leave and re-enter the country

• pax: industry abbreviation for passengers

• peak fare, rate, or season: highest level of charges assessed during a year

• Perishability: The characteristic of being perishable. In tourism the term is used to describe, for example, a particular hotel room on a specific night or a particular seat on a specific flight: they cannot be 'stored' and sold later, so they are perishable.

• Personal disposable income: The amount an individual has left over for personal expenditure on goods and services, after payment of personal direct taxes, national insurance and pension contributions.

• Person-trip: A Person-trip for non-residents begins each time a non-resident traveller enters Canada. The person-trip concludes when the traveller leaves Canada. For residents, each time a person departs from Canada a person-trip begins. It ends when the traveller returns to Canada.

• Physical evidence: The tangible evidence of a service, including everything which can be seen, touched, smelt and heard.

• Pollution: Harmful effects on the environment as a by-product of tourism activity. Types include: air; noise; water; and aesthetic.

• port of entry: point at which persons enter a country where customs and immigration services exist

• Positioning: The process of ensuring potential customers have a desired perception of a product or service, relative to the competition.

• pre- and post-trip tours: optional extension packages before or after a meeting, tour or convention

• pre-formed group: a tour group in existence prior to the tour, the members of which share a common destination and purpose

• Price elasticity of demand: A measure of the variability that can be expected in sales when prices are changed. Unity elasticity would see equal increase in sales to in reaction to a decrease in price. Inelastic demand would not change when prices went down or up.

• Price elasticity of demand: A relationship between the changes in prices charged for a good or service (here taken as hotel rooms) and the change in the amount demanded.

• pricing: decision-making process of ascertaining what price to charge for a given tour, once total costs are known. Pricing involves determining the markup, studying the competition, and evaluating the tour value for the price to be charged; function performed by the operations manager.

• primary market: a country in which the US Travel & Tourism Admin (USTTA) maintains an office

• Process control: A systematic use of tools to identify significant variations in operational performance and output quality, determine root causes, make corrections and verify results (Evans and Lindsay, 1999:345).

• Process design: Involves specifying all practices needed, flowcharting, rationalisation and error prevention (Rao et. al., 1996:540-541).

• Process improvement: A proactive task of management aimed at continual monitoring of a process and its outcome and developing ways to enhance its future performance (James, 1996:359).

• Process management: Planning and administering the activities necessary to achieve a high level of performance in a process and identifying opportunities for improving quality, operational performance and ultimately customer satisfaction. It involves design, control and improvement of key business processes (Evans and Lindsay, 1999:340).

• Process: "A set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs" (ISO, 2000a:7).

• Product: "The result of a process" (i.e. output), which may be either a service, or a good (hardware or processed materials) or software (e.g. information) or their combination (ISO, 2000a:7)

• Profit: The excess of revenue over expenses, if expenses exceed revenues in a given period the organisation will make a loss.

• proof of citizenship: a document, necessary for obtaining a passport, that establishes one s nationality

• Protected area: Any area of land and/or sea dedicated to the conservation, protection and maintenance of biodiversity and natural and cultural resources, which is managed through legal or other means.

• protected: guarantee by a supplier or wholesaler to pay commissions, plus all refunds to clients, on pre-paid, confirmed bookings regardless of subsequent cancellation of a tour or cruise.

• Public policy: Is whatever governments choose to do or not to do (Thomas Dye 1992: 2). Such a definition covers government action, inaction, decisions and non-decisions as it implies a very deliberate choice between alternatives (see Hall and Jenkins 1995).

• Quality: The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics of a product fulfils customer requirements (ISO, 2000a).

• Qualmark: Classification and grading system for the New Zealand tourism industry, using 5 star system.

• rack rate: regular published rate of a hotel or other travel service

• Rack Rate: Retail price of accommodation, airfares, activities/attractions.

• Regulation: Control through formalised processes.

• release: (1) signed form giving the tour operator permission to use a person s name, picture or statement in an advertisement; (2) to give up space, as in returning unsold airline reservations

• Renewable energy: Energy sources that are practically inexhaustible. For example solar, hydro and wind energy.

• Requirements: Stated, generally implied (as a custom or common practice for the organisation, its customers and other interested parties) or obligatory needs (ISO, 2000a).

• resort: a hotel, motel or condominium complex located in an area associated with recreation and leisure, such as the mountains or the seashore. Normally offer facilities for sports and recreational activities.

• responsibility clause: that section of a brochure that spells out the conditions under which a tour is sold. The clause should name the party responsible for the tour financially.

• Responsible tourism: Type of tourism which is practised by tourists who make responsible choices when choosing their holidays. These choices reflect reponsible attitudes to the limiting of the extent of the sociological and environmental impacts their holiday may cause.

• Restoration: Returning existing habitats to a known past state, or to an approximation of the natural condition, through repairing degradation, removing introduced species, and revegetating using native locally occurring species.

• retailer: (1) travel agents or (2) one who sells directly to the consumer

• Revenue expenditure: The cost of resources consumed or used up in the process of generating revenue, generally referred to as expenses.

• Revenue management: Revenue management is a management approach to optimising revenue, often based on managing revenues around capacity and timing (yield management), for different market segments or from different sources of funding.

• risk monies: funds that an agency would not recoup should a tour not take place, such as nonrefundable deposits, promotional expenses, and printing costs

• room rates: day rate: usually one-half the regular rate for a room during the day up to 5 pm; flat rate: a specific room rate for a group agreed upon by the hotel/group in advance; group rate: rate based on an agreed upon minimum number of rooms used, also called flat rate; net group rate: a wholesale rate for group business (usually a minimum of 10 and 15 people) to which an operator may add a markup if desired; net wholesale rate: a rate usually lower than the group rate, applicable to groups or individuals when a hotel is specifically mentioned in a tour folder; published rate: a full rate available to or advertised to the public, The rate can change, depending upon the season. Also known as rack rate.

• room service: food or beverages served in a guest’s room

• rooming list: the list of names or passengers on a tour or other group travel program, submitted to a hotel/motel. The names are not alphabetized as on a flight manifest, but rather room by room indicating who is rooming with whom. Twin-bedded rooms, singles and triples are usually listed in separate categories.

• run-of-the-house rate: flat rate for which a hotel or motel agrees to offer any of its available rooms to a group. Final assignment of the rooms is the discretion of the hotel.

• Sales: Revenue from ordinary activities: not necessarily cash.

• Seasonality: A phenomenon created by either tourism supply or demand (or both) changing according to the time of the year.

• sector: a part or branch of the whole industry that provides particular goods and/or services

• series operator: a travel agent, wholesaler, tour operator, or broker who blocks space in advance for a series of movements over a given period of time, not necessarily on a back-to-back basis

• service: work done for the benefit of another

• service charge: (1) a specified percentage of a hotel’s daily rate (usually 10% or 15 %) charged to the guest, who in return is relieved of the responsibility for tipping; (2) a fee charged to a client by a travel agent in addition to the commissions paid to him or her by the principals

• service delivery: the manner in which customer needs are met

• Service encounter: The moments of interface between customer and supplier

• Service marketing mix: The addition of People, Physical Evidence and Process to the four areas of activity more usually associated with marketing products,: Price, Place, Promotion and Product.

• service provider: a person or company that supplies a particular service

• service: non-physical, intangible attributes that management controls, including friendliness, efficiency, attitude, professionalism, and responsiveness.

• Servicescape: The location in which the service encounter takes place

• shore excursion: a land tour, usually available at ports of call and sold by cruise lines or tour operators to cruise passengers

• short haul: 1-3 hour flight

• shoulder season: period when there is neither a high nor low demand for a destination, usually falling in the spring or fall months for most areas

• single supplement: an extra charge assessed to a tour purchased for single accommodations

• site destination selection company: company that investigates and suggests potential meeting sites to suit corporate or association needs

• Skills gaps: Employers perceive existing employees have lower skill levels than needed to achieve business objectives, or where new, apparently trained and qualified for specific occupations, entrants still lack requisite skills.

• Skills shortages: Lack of adequately skilled individuals in the labour market due to low unemployment, sufficiently skilled people in the labour market but not easily geographically accessible or insufficient appropriately-skilled individuals.

• Small business: A small business is one which has a small number of employees, profit and/or revenue. Often these are owner-managed, with few specialist managers. Some definitions of small businesses distinguish between businesses with under 10 employees, which are micro-businesses, and those with 10-49 employees, which are classified as small businesses.

• SME(s): Small and Medium Enterprises

• Social: Relating to human society and interaction between its members.

• souvenir: a product purchased by a tourist as a reminder of a holiday

• special event tour: a tour designed around a particular event, e.g.: Mardi Gras

• special interest tour: a tour designed to appeal to clients with a curiosity or concern about a specific subject. Most special interest tours provide an expert tour leader and usually visit places and/or events only relevant to that interest.

• special market: a foreign country with high potential for US inbound travel which does not have an office of the US Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA).

• Stakeholder: Any person, group or organisation with an interest in, or who may be affected by, the activities of another organisation.

• state travel office: an official government agency or privately run, non-profit organization responsible for travel development and promotion of a state or province

• State: 'The state' is a set of officials with their own preferences and capacities to effect public policy, or in more structural terms a relatively permanent set of political institutions operating in relation to civil society' (Nordlinger 1981, in Hall and Jenkins 1995). The state includes elected politicians, interest or pressure groups, law enforcement agencies, the bureaucracy, and a plethora of rules, regulations, laws, conventions and policies.

• Statute: The law as made by parliament, e.g. in the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act (1995). A statute is made up of many parts called 'sections' or 'provisions'.

• Statutory instrument: The vast majority of delegated legislation in the UK is in the form of statutory instruments governed by the Statutory Instruments Act 1946

• step-on guide: an independent guide who comes aboard a motorcoach to give an informed overview of the city or attraction to be toured

• Strategic information systems: Systems designed to support the strategic management decision processes and implementation.

• Strategy pyramid: A visual way of representing the different levels of the strategy conceptualisation and implementation process. The most general assumptions are shown at the apex and the practical, implementation actions are at the base.

• subcontractor: a local operator who provides services for a wholesaler

• supplier: the actual producer of a unit of travel merchandise or service such as a hotel or restaurant

• Suppliers: Individuals, companies or other organisations which provide goods or services to a recognisable customer or consumer.

• surety bond: insurance to guarantee that an insure will carry out the specific work he or she was hired to do

• sustainable: something which can be kept in the same or a better condition for the future

• Sustainable development: Development carried out in such a way as to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

• Sustainable tourism: According to the World Tourism Organisation, this is "envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled with maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity, and life support systems."

• Sustainable tourism: Tourism that can be sustained over the long term because it results in a net benefit for the social, economic, natural and cultural environments of the area in which it takes place.

• Sustainable tourism: Tourism that is economically, socioculturally and environmentally sustainable. With sustainable tourism, sociocultural and environmental impacts are neither permanent nor irreversible.

• tariff: (1) fare or rate from a supplier; (2) class or type of a fare or rate; (3) published list of fares or rates from a supplier; (4) official publication compiling rates or fares and conditions of service

• themed tour: a tour designed around a specific theme such as fall foliage, also a special interest tour

• tour basing fare: a reduced-rate excursion fare available only to those who buy pre-paid tours or packages. Tour basing fares include inclusive tours, group inclusive tours, incentive tours, contract bulk inclusive tours, and group round-trip inclusive tours.

• tour broker: a person or company which organizes and markets tours

• tour catalog: a publication by tour wholesalers listing their tour offerings

• tour conductor: see tour manager/director

• tour consultant: individual within an agency selling and advising clients regarding a tour. The consultant is sometimes a salesperson with particular expertise in escorted tour sales.

• tour departure: the date of the start by any individual or group of a tour program, also used in referral to the entire operation of that single tour

• tour escort: the tour company staff member or independent contractor who conducts the tour. Often called the tour manager or tour director. It is technically a person that only escorts the group and does not have charge of the commentary portion.

• tour leader: usually a group leader, also see escort

• tour manager: a person employed as the escort for a group of tourists, usually for the duration of the entire trip, perhaps supplemented by local guides. The terms tour director, leader, escort,

• tour manual: (1) a summary of facts about a company s rules, regulations, and official procedures; (2) a compendium of facts about a destination, including its attractions, accommodations, geography, and special events, used by destination marketing organizations to attract tour operators and visitors and their area

• tour menu: a menu that limits group clients to two or three choices at a special price

• tour operator: a person or company which creates and/or markets inclusive tours and subcontracts with suppliers to create a package. Most tour operators sell through travel agents and/or directly to clients.

• tour option: any component of a package tour that is not included in the package price, but may be purchased as an added feature to extend the length of the package or enhance the trip.

• tour order: a coupon given to the purchaser of a tour package, identifying the tour, the seller, and the fact that the tour is pre-paid. It is used as a form of proof of payment and receives vouchers for meals, porterage, transfers, entrance fees, and other expenses. Also see tour vouchers.

• tour organizer: person who locates and creates groups for preformed tours. The tour organizer is often compensated only with a free trip

• tour vouchers: documents issued by tour operators to be exchanged for tour components, also called coupons

• tour: any pre-arranged journey to one or more destinations

• tourism: the all-embracing term for the movement of people to destinations away from their place of residence for any reason other than following an occupation, remunerated from within the country visited, for a period of 24 hours or more

• Tourism Commodity: Tourism Commodity is one for which a significant part of its total demand in Canada comes from visitors.

• Tourism Demand: Tourism Demand is defined as the spending of Canadian and non-resident visitors on domestically produced commodities. It is the sum of tourism domestic demand and tourism exports.

• Tourism Domestic Demand: Tourism Domestic Demand is the spending in Canada by Canadian visitors on domestically produced commodities.

• Tourism Employment: Tourism Employment is a measure of employment in tourism and non-tourism industries. It is based on an estimate of jobs rather than “hours of work”. Thus, someone who works 10 hours a week counts for as much, by this measure, as someone who works 50 hours a week.

• Tourism Exports: Tourism Exports is spending by foreign visitors on Canadian-produced goods and services. It includes spending that may take place outside of Canada, for instance, the purchase of an airline ticket from a Canadian international carrier, to travel to Canada.

• Tourism flows: The major movements of tourists from specific home areas to destinations.

• tourism geography: the knowledge of countries, regions, major cities, gateways, famous icons, monuments, building structures, and geographical features such as rivers, seas, mountains, deserts and time zones

• Tourism income multiplier (TIM): Exaggerated effect of a change in tourism expenditure on an area's income.

• tourism industry: a group of businesses that provide services and facilities for consumption by tourists

• Tourism Industry: Tourism Industry is an industry that would cease to exist or would continue to exist only at significantly reduced levels of activity in the absence of tourism.

• tourism infrastructure: roads, railway lines, harbours, airport runways, water, electricity, other power supplies, sewerage disposal systems and other utilities to serve not only the local residents but also the tourist influx (suitable accommodation, restaurants and passenger transport terminals form the superstructure of the region)

• tourism product: different things to the various members of the tourism industry. To the hotel it is `guest- nights'. To the airline it is the `seats flown' and the `passenger miles'. To the museum, art gallery or archaeological site, the product is measured in terms of the number of visitors. For the tourist the product is the complete experience resulting from the package tour or travel facility purchased, from the time they leave home until their return.

• Tourism satellite account: System of accounting at national or regional level which reveals the total direct impact of tourism on the economy.

• Tourism System: A framework that identifies tourism as being made up of a number of components, often taken to include the tourist, the tourist generating region, the transit route region, the tourist destination and the tourism industry (Leiper, 1990)

• tourism: the business of providing and marketing services and facilities for leisure travelers. Thus, the concept of tourism is of direct concern to governments, carriers, and the lodging, restaurant, and entertainment industries, and of indirect concern to virtually every industry and business in the world.

• Tourism: The definition of tourism used in the national tourism indicators (NTI) is that adopted by the World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Statistical Commission: “the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.”

• tourist: one who travels for a period of 24 hours or more in a place other than that in which he or she usually resides, whose purpose could be classified as leisure (whether for recreation, health, sport, holiday, study or religion), business, family, mission or meeting

• Tourist attractions: Tourist attractions are defined as being destinations for visitors' excursions which are routinely accessible to visitors during opening hours. Visitors can include local residents, day-trippers or people who are travelling for business or leisure purposes. Formal definitions exclude shops, sports stadia, theatres and cinemas, as these meet a wider purpose, although in practice tourists may consider the excluded categories to be tourist attractions.

• tourist card: a kind of visa issued to tourists prior to entering a country (required in addition to a passport or other proof of citizenship).

• tourist facility: a feature created for utilisation by tourists

• tourist route: a route developed to attract tourists to an area to view or experience something unique to that area (e.g. wine route, whale route, heritage route, battlefield route)

• tourist trend: a general tendency to visit a country, region or destination or to pursue a specific tourist activity

• Tourist: Anyone who spends at least one night away from home, no matter what the purpose.

• TOWS matrix: Uses a SWOT analysis to develop strategies by matching strengths with opportunities, using opportunities to reduce weaknesses, using strengths to overcome threats, and reducing weaknesses and avoiding threats.

• Tracking Research: Ongoing research conducted at regular intervals to track changes in specific factors, for example, potential customers' intention to travel to NZ.

• tracking: a cause of action or method of monitoring, such as tracking the number of tours that come into a specific destination

• transfer: local transportation, sometimes including porterage, as from one carrier terminal to another, from terminal to a hotel, or from a hotel to an attraction

• transit visa: visa allowing the holder to stop over in a country to make a travel connection or brief visit

• transit: process of changing planes without going through security and/or customs

• travel agent/agency: a person or firm qualified to arrange for all travel components

• trip director: an escort for an incentive company. Larger companies reserve this title for the person who directs all personnel and activities for a trip.

• upgrade: to move to a better accommodation or class of service

• value season: a time of year when prices are lower than peak, also called low or off-season

• Variability: Because the production and the consumption of a tourism experience are inseparable and because differing circumstances and people will affect each experience, those experiences are prone to variance and create a challenge for tourism managers to achieve consistency of standards.

• variable cost: a cost that changes according to how many people take a tour, such as motorcoach expenses

• VAT/TVA/MWS/GST: acronyms for value-added tax, a tax system which adds a fixed percentage of taxation on products and services at each step of production or service delivery. Common in Europe and Canada.

• Virtual organisation: Organisation in which major processes are outsourced to partners.

• visa waiver: a program to eliminate the visa requirement for selected countries

• visa: stamp of approval recorded in a passport to enter a country for a specific purpose

• Visitors: A broader category than 'tourist', includes tourists and same-day visitors.

• Visitors: Visitors are persons who undertake tourism as defined above. They are referred to as either tourists (those who stay overnight or longer in the place visited), or same-day visitors.

• volume incentive: see override

• waitlist: list of clients awaiting transportation or accommodations at times when they are not available, confirmed as a result of subsequent cancellations

• wholesaler: a company that usually creates and markets inclusive tours and FITs for sale through travel agents. Although the term is used often as a synonym for tour operator there are several distinctions: (1) presumably sells nothing at retail while a tour operator often does both; (2) does not always create his/her own products, while a tour operator always does; (3) is less inclined than a tour operator to perform local services.

• Working Capital: Operational assets and liabilities needed for everyday operation, e.g. cash or bank overdraft, stock and trade creditors, known as net current assets/liabilities.

• World Heritage Area: Land of cultural and/or natural significance inscribed on the World Heritage List.

• world heritage site: a site designated by UNESCO as being of special historical, cultural or natural importance

• Yield Management: "A revenue maximization technique which aims to increase net yield through the predicted allocation of available … capacity to predetermined market segments at optimal price" (Donaghy et al., 1997a).

• Zoning: Different eco-systems may be zoned in terms of their robustness to pressures from tourism in an attempt to mitigate environmental damage.