Travel agency

A travel agency is a company which composes and sells offers of voyages to its customers. She plays the part of intermediary and/or agregator of services between the customers and the various people receiving benefits on the market of tourism: tour operator S, airline companies, hotel, hirers out of car, insurances of voyage, etc the travel agency also has a role of council while being ensured or by informing formalities necessary to the entry in a country. It also closes the destinations with the sale according to the recommendations of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Européennes (for France) and manages with its suppliers the problems being able to be met.

The agents of voyages can use the booklets of the tour operators and the systems of data-processing reservation or GDS ( Global Distribution Systems ) to compose an offer adapted to their customers. More and more, the travel agencies do without these intermediaries to compose themselves their products by assembling the various services used for this composition. The travel agencies are traditionally remunerated on a commission basis on the sold services. More and more, the remuneration of the agencies does not come any more of the suppliers but their customers (travellers) who must pay fees of council and reservation. Appeared with the commercial aviation and the growth of the Tourism of mass, the travel agencies suffer today from the competition of other channels of distribution as Internet which makes it possible to the travellers to directly organize their voyages, and sees emerging from the competitors entirely on line like the Degriftour precursor repurchased by Lastminute in France. The activity of groups of travel agencies like Thomas Cook or TUI concerns as much the distribution as of the turn operating .

In France, the profession of agent of voyage is regulated. Each travel agency must be titular of a license delivered by the regional headquarters after checking of criteria like the professional competence of the manager (diploma or equivalence), the financial guarantee (aiming at refunding the customers in the event of bankruptcy of the agency) and the insurance professional civil responsibility (to cover the financial damage related to the personal or incorporeal injuries).

External bonds

Federator organizations:

National union of the travel agencies - France
Canadian Association of the travel agencies - Canada
Swiss Travel Association off Retailers - Swiss
professional Union of the travel agencies - French-speaking Belgium
Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Européennes - France

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