Lesson travel agencies reading: Travel agencies Grammar: Active and passive

(Source: Enzo Paci papers on Measuring the Economic Significance of Tourism, 2004)
NOTES


price discount – Price discounts are incentives offered to customers, usually as a means of attracting repeat business from those customers. While the implementation of some type of discount on price will vary from one situation to another, the basic idea is to provide customers with a sense of receiving some type of additional value by not having to pay the standard or published price for goods and services. While many think of a price discount as a tool used mainly by retailers, the fact is that this type of strategy is often utilized to attract business clients and entice them to make long-term commitments to a specific vendor.


retail – Retail involves the process of selling consumer goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Demand is identified and then satisfied through a supply chain. Attempts are made to increase demand through advertising. Retailing as a sector includes subordinated services, such as delivery. The term «retailer» is also applied where a service provider services the small orders of a large number of individuals, rather than large orders of a small number of wholesale, corporate or government clientele. Shops may be on residential streets, streets with few or no houses, or in a shopping mall.


commission (payment) – Payment by a supplier to an intermediary as a reward for his services, usually determined as a percentage of the
value of the transaction. Hence, commissionable, that for which a commission is payable. In travel, tourism and hospitality this is most commonly the amount received by a retail travel agent on ticket sales from airlines and other transport operators, on sales of tours from tour operators, and on other products and services from other principals. The percentage varies between products and services and to some extent also between countries and operators. Many principals also reward their most productive agents by higher rates or by other incentive payments.
Exercise

Answer the following questions using the information from the text

«Travel agencies»:
1 What does the function of travel agencies consist in?
2 Do travel agencies substitute the service-providing unit or provide
information and access to the visitor?
3 Is the function of travel agencies different from that of a retailer?
4 How do travel agencies earn income in some cases?
5 In what way do travel agencies earn income selling tickets?
6 What are three kinds of gross incomes of travel agencies?