Experience all the sights and sounds of The Magic City on a sightseeing tour from our sister site, Miami Tour Company. Voted best in Miami. Daily excursions include:
Airline Fare - Price charged for an airline ticket. There
are several classifications:
Regular - Unrestricted fare.
Excursion - Round-trip completed within a specified
period of time.
APEX (Advanced purchase excursion) - Heavily discounted
excursion fares usually with cancellation penalties attached.
Tour Basing - Heavily conditioned fares on specified
routes. Rrequires the purchase of a land package.
Visit USA - Only available to foreign visitors and
purchased overseas. Point to point travel for a flat rate,
heavily conditioned.
Group - Usually round-trip travel in a specified
period of time, usually a minimum number of participants is
required.
Promotional - round-trip, restricted tickets used
to stimulate traffic on specific routes.
Open Jaw - Fare established where the passenger departs
the originating city to a destination; but returns to the
originating city from another destination.
All Expense/All Inclusive Tour - Misused expression since
virtually no tour covers every expenditure. This tour offers all
or most transportation, lodging, meals, sightseeing, etc. for
a pre-established price.
American Plan - A hotel rate that includes a sleeping room
and three meals.
Baggage Allowance - Weight or volume of baggage a passenger
may carry without additional charge.
Baggage Liability - Legal limits of a carrier’s financial
responsibility for checked baggage. Bed and
Breakfast (B & B) - Overnight accommodations usually in a
private home or boarding house, often with either a full, American-style
breakfast or Continental breakfast included in the rate.
Block - Number of rooms, seats, or spaces reserved in advance,
usually by wholesalers, group tour operators, or travel agents
who intend to sell them as components of tour packages.
Blocked Space - Reservations made with suppliers by wholesalers
or travel agents in anticipation of resale.
Booking or Reservation Form - Signed by customers purchasing
tours stating exactly which tour is being purchased. The form
also outlines all liability requirements.
Bulk Fare - A wholesale or discounted fare available only
to tour organizers or operators who directly purchase a specified
block of seats from a carrier at a low, non-commissionable price.
The organizers or operators then sell the seats at a marked-up
price, which provides their product.
Certified Tour Professional (CTP) - Designation conferred
upon tour professionals who complete prescribed academic study,
professional service, group travel employment, and evaluation
requirements. The CTP Program is administered by the National
Tour Foundation (located in Lexington, KY) and is open to individuals
employed in any segment of the group travel industry.
Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) - Designation attesting to
professional competence as a travel agent. Iit is conferred upon
travel professionals with five years or more industry experience
who have completed a two-year, graduate-level travel management
program offered by the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (located
in Wellesley, Ma).
Charter - To hire the exclusive use of a motor coach, aircraft,
vessel, or other vehicle.
Charter Flight - Flight booked exclusively for the use of
a specific group or groups who are traveling on an inclusive tour
charter program.
Circle Trip - Journey with stopovers that returns to the point
of departure without retracing its route.
Common Carrier - Anyone or any organization that offers transport
for hire to the public.
Confidential Tariff - Schedule of wholesale rates distributed
in confidence to travel wholesalers and travel agents.
Consolidator - Person or organization which forms groups to
travel on air charters or at group fares on scheduled flights
to increase sales, earn override commissions, or reduce the possibility
of tour cancellations.
Consortium - Loosely knit group of independently owned and
managed organizations such as travel agencies, tour operators,
hotels, etc. with a joint marketing distribution process.
Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) - A non-profit marketing
organization for a city, state/province, region, or area whose
primary purpose is the promotion of the destination and which
is representative of at least three of the multiple components
(lodging, attractions, restaurants, etc.) of the travel industry
within that city, state/province, region, or area.
Double-Occupancy Rate - The price per person for a room shared
with another person. This is the rate most frequently quoted in
tour brochures.
Double Room Rate - The full price of a room for two people,
sometimes misused to indicate double-occupancy rate.
Escorted Tour - Pre-arranged travel program, usually for a
group, with escort service. Fully escorted tours may also use
local guide services.
Ethnic Tour - Tour designed for people of the same heritage
traveling to their native origin or to a destination with ethnic
relevance.
European Plan - Hotel rate for a sleeping room only. Any meals
are extra. Familiarization Tour or FAM Tour - complimentary or
reduced rate travel program for travel agents, tour operators,
airline employees, or travel writers to acquaint them with a specific
destination and to stimulate the sale of travel.
FIT (Foreign Independent Travel or Foreign Individual Travel)
- An international pre-paid tour, unescorted, but including
several travel elements such as accommodations, rental cars, or
sightseeing. FIT operators specialize in preparing and operating
FIT at the request of retail travel agents.
Gateway - City, airport, or area from which a flight or tour
departs. Group Leader - individual, frequently acting cooperatively
with a tour operator, designated to handle tour and travel arrangements
for a group. Iin some cases may also serve as the escort.
Hotel Classification - The following designations are generally
understood throughout Europe, and to an extent, the world. There
is neither an official nor generally accepted rating system for
U.S. hotels:
Budget - Budget hotels and motels are reasonably
priced accommodations and are the fastest growing segment
of the S. lodging industry. general, they provide a room with
a bed, TV, telephone, and shower, as well as free parking.
They often do not have room service or a restaurant.
Deluxe - A top grade hotel; all rooms have private
bath; all the usual public rooms and services are provided;
a high standard of decor and service is maintained.
First Class and Luxury - Many luxury hotels in the
U.S. exist in large cities, offering a number of special services
to the business and leisure traveler. S. first class hotel
offers, for example, first class restaurants, banquet and
conference rooms, valet service, room service, cable and complimentary
morning newspapers.
Moderate - These hotels account for nearly 75 percent
of available S. hotels rooms. They have on site restaurants,
bars, and perhaps conference rooms, as well as basic services.
Spoke Tours - Tours that utilize a central destination
with side trips of varying length to nearby destinations.
Incentive Tour -Trip offered as a prize, usually by a organization
to stimulate sales or productivity.
Land or Ground Operator - Organization that provides local
travel services.
Markup -Difference between the cost and the selling price
of a given product. Difference between the net rate charged by
a tour operator, hotel, or other supplier and the retail selling
price of the service. Generally a percentage of the net rate rather
than a fixed amount, as in a 20 percent markup on the net.
Minimum Land Package - Minimum number of elements that must
be purchased to qualify a passenger for an airline inclusive tour
fare. For example, a certain number of nights lodging, sightseeing
and entertainment or some combination of services.
Modified American Plan - Sleeping room including breakfast
and one other meal.
Net Rate - Rate to be marked up for eventual resale to the
consumer.
Net Wholesale Rate - Rate usually slightly lower than the
wholesale rate, applicable to groups of individuals when a hotel
is specifically mentioned in a tour folder. Rate is marked up
by wholesale sellers of tours to cover distribution, promotion
etc.
Override - An extra commission. Airlines pay overrides in
conjunction with volume bookings. Wholesalers pay them as bonuses
for volume business. Suppliers pay them to provide a profit margin
for wholesalers. Hoteliers pay them as volume incentives to wholesalers.
Packager - Anyone who organizes a tour including prepaid transportation
and travel services, usually to more than one destination.
Package Tour - A saleable travel product that offers an inclusive
price with several travel elements that would otherwise be purchased
separately. Usually has a predetermined price, length of time
and features, but options can be offered.
Receptive Operator - tour operator or travel agent specializing
in services for incoming visitors.
Resort - Nearly all resorts are located in regions associated
with recreation and leisure, such as mountains, seashore, and
natural or man-made attractions. resort hotel or motel offers,
or is located near, facilities for sports and recreational activities
such as tennis, swimming, sailing, etc.
Retail Agency - Travel organization selling directly to the
public. Retailer - Middleman, such as travel agents, who sell
directly to the consumer.
Technical Tour - Tour designed for a special interest group,
usually to visit a place of business with a common interest. The
tour usually includes part business/part leisure and is customized.
Themed/Special Interest Tour - Tour designed around a specific
theme to match the special interest of the participants such as
fall foliage. Tour Operator — An organization that creates and/or
markets inclusive tours and/or performs tour services and/or subcontracts
their performance. Most tour operators sell through travel agents
and directly to clients.
Visit USA/See America Committee - Volunteer committee formed
by parties who have a common interest in promoting, increasing,
and generating Visit USAa travel and tourism. Committees may include
U.S. organizations with in-country representation, national organizations,
S. government officials and others who share this common goal
of improving their market's share of Visit travel. The committee
may be involved in one or more of the following activities: advertising
or public relations campaigns; travel agent/tour operator training;
participation or organization of trade shows; easing of visa application
and processing procedures; detailed and better availability of
information brochures and collateral materials on the S.; trade
inquiry support and information fulfillment; coordination of delegations
to S. Travel Association International Pow Wow and other S.-based
trade shows; publication of Visit USA newsletters and directories;
coordination of press conferences/events; support of familiarization
tours for agents/operators/journalists, etc.
Vouchers - Documents issued by a tour operator to be exchanged
for accommodations, meals, sightseeing, admission tickets, etc.
Wholesaler - An organization that usually creates and markets
inclusive tours and FIT's for sale through travel agents. Often
used interchangeably with "tour operator," but several
distinctions might be drawn:
a wholesaler presumably sells nothing at retail; a tour
operator often does both;
a wholesaler does not always create his or her own products;
a tour operator virtually always does;
a wholesaler is less inclined than a tour operator to perform
local services.
