0.4 Tour booking

Section 1: language focus

Taking booking

Here are some of the expressions the travel agent uses when taking the booking.

Can I help you?

I’ll check availability on the 14th of November.

Do you want to confirm it?

Can I take some details?

I’ll just give you the booking reference number?

Asking questions

In formal situations it is more polite to ask questions indirectly, especially at the beginning of a conversation. For example, it can be better to use an indirect form such as Could you tell me when you were born? rather than When were you born?

PRACTICE

1. Listening

a. Discuss the following questions.

1. When you stay in a hotel, what kind of room do you prefer?

2. Do you like to have meals at the hotel or go to local restaurant when you’re on holiday? Why?

b. Listen to a conversation between a travel agent and a customer. Complete this customer enquiry form.

(Adapted from a listening exercise in Going International, 1998)

c. Speaking

Student A is a travel agent. Student B is a customer. Role-play the following situation. After you’ve finished, change roles and repeat the role plays.

Section 2: reading

1. Pre-reading

Which of the following things is better for a tourist to explore Can Tho City, buying a package tour or organizing a tour himself?

1. Reading

LOCAL TOURS

Tours, or trips, to places within a city or country are known as local tours. Local tours can be of two types. First, there are one-day trips around a city or area. Second, there are local tours that can take from two days to a full week and can include an entire country.

Local tours are arranged by tour packagers. Sometimes the packager is also a tour operator and provides the equipment and the guides for the tours. The packagers make up the itinerary, which is the schedule or listing of the places to be visited, and prepay (pay in advance) for any admission fees that may be charged. An admission fee is the charge to enter a place. It is usually prepaid on tours. If the tourists will stay overnight, the packager also arranges for hotel accommodations. Sometimes meals as well are included in local tour packages.

Tourists can arrange for local tours in two ways. They can reserve space on tours as part of a package they buy from their travel agent at home. In this case, all reservations are made before the tourists leave their own country. The arrangements are set before they arrive at the destination country.

The second way tourists can arrange for local tours is to have a travel agent make arrangements once they get to the destination country. Some tourists like to make plans and reservations for local tours after they have arrived and learned more about what they might like to see. They prefer not to have every day of their vacation planned ahead.

(Adapted from English for the Travel Industry

by Benedict Kruse and Bettijune Kruse, 1982)

Answer the following questions

1. What are the two ways that tourists can arrange for local tours?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

1. Why do some tourists prefer to make local tour reservations after they arrive in the destination country?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3. Vocabulary

Choose the correct word or phrase to complete each sentence.

1. One-day trips around a city and longer trips within one country are known as _______.

a. package toursc. local tours

b. vacation tripsd. seeing sights

1. The schedule or listing of places to be visited is called the _______.

a. routec. program

b. itineraryd. guide

1. Some places, such as museums or historic homes, charge _______ for people to enter.

a. tour feesc. operating fees

b. admission feesd. city taxes

1. Such charges, as well as the cost of hotel accommodations and meals, are usually _______ by the packager for local tours.

a. listedc. prepaid

b. taxedd. arranged

4. Speaking

Discuss the following questions in groups.

1. Where have you traveled during the past 5 years? Which holidays did you enjoy most?

2. What kinds of the following kinds of holidays do you like most?

AdventureCultureFly-drive

CruiseFarmstayPackage/beach