What is an incoming tour operator?

Answer 1

The inbound tour operator's jobs may vary depending on the country. Usually they line up the ground transportation, hire local guides for narration, arrange attraction tickets, and help with emergencies. They are there to assist the tour director in making sure the tour members get everything they paid for and more.

They are especially helpful to the tour director when an unexpected event occurs during a tour. This may include emergencies, deaths, canceled flights, local strikes, floods, changed itineraries, and even volcanoes. Since the inbound tour operator is in the country being visited, they know how to assist in handling the situation and have the resources to help. You may be hired by the outbound tour operator, but while on tour, you are working with the inbound tour operators. Contacting them to confirm, transportation and tours, arrange local guides, help with emergencies, and give suggestions. You will find them extremely helpful.

There are also inbound tour operators in the United States. Their tour members and clients are from other countries. Inbound tour operators escort foreign groups throughout the United States. If you're bilingual, this can be an advantage when approaching an inbound tour operator, since some have a difficult time finding professional bilingual tour directors and tour guides. When they can't find qualified U.S. tour directors, they hire directors from other countries, especially German, Italian, and Japanese-speaking guides. A friend of mine commented that "The outbound tour operator is the company which will send you to lead a tour anywhere in the world. The inbound tour operator is the company which is in the country to assist in services while the group on its territory. While on an international tour you may visit five different countries. In each of them inbound tour operator assists for the group. So, one outbound and five inbound operators work for the group."

The outbound tour operator develops the tour. It is their responsibility to line up the hotels and air, make all of the tour reservations, arrange tours and attractions, contract inbound tour operators, and hire the tour directors to escort the group. This includes domestic and international tours. I work for outbound tour operators as an international tour director and cruise host.

Most outbound tour operators market the tours through travel agents using beautiful brochures, each listing what's included, dates, prices, and so on. When a client visits a travel agent, a good agent will qualify the client, finding out his or her needs and wants. When the client settles on the tour that matches his or her needs, timeline, and cost, the agent then calls the outbound tour operator. At this point, the tour operator takes over the reservation process.

Because most tour operators serve a particular market, qualifying the client is extremely important. Clients may chose from deluxe, value, adventure, educational, youth, student tours, and so on. Tours basically visit the same locations and sites, the difference is usually in the hotel arrangements and what is included in the tour package. Deluxe tours will stay in the finest hotels, include all tours, cover all meals, and travel with small groups. A value tour may involve less expensive hotels, include fewer meals, offer optional tours, and travel with larger groups. Other tours may include guest speakers, hikes, camping, and so on.

I've been working for outbound tour operators since the early 1980s. I've traveled throughout the world on their land and cruise programs. I've worked for outbound tour operators in Kansas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and Georgia. I visited the Los Angeles office of my first tour operator a few times, but I've never been in the other offices or met my managers face to face. We do most of our communication over the phone, Federal Express, and now e-mail. It's a part of the business that I think is unique. Of course, every tour member evaluates my performance at the end of the tour, so each person is always aware of my tour skills. I'm expected to receive 90 percent excellent, which isn't always easy.

The outbound tour operator promotes the expertise of the tour director. You also can see how important we are to the whole program; after all, we make it an escorted tour.