Travel agency
A business that arranges or sells travel services, including transportation, lodging, and tours, for individuals or groups.
Package tour: A trip sold as a bundle of services, commonly including transport, accommodation, and activities. Agencies assemble and sell bundled itineraries with coordinated services.
Travel agent: A professional who advises on travel and arranges bookings for clients. Travel agents perform the agency's advising and booking work.
Thomas Cook: An English travel organizer who pioneered commercially organized excursions and package tours in the nineteenth century. His organized excursions helped establish travel as a coordinated commercial service.
Direct booking: A customer reservation made with the travel-service provider rather than through an intermediary. It bypasses the agency's intermediary role and may change fees or support.
Corporate travel management: The organization and oversight of business travel, including booking, policy compliance, and expense control. Some agencies specialize in arranging employee travel under company policies.
Global distribution system: A computerized network that connects travel-service suppliers with booking intermediaries. These systems let agencies search availability and reserve supplier inventory.
Thomas Cook Group: A British travel company whose modern form sold package holidays and entered compulsory liquidation in 2019. Its history illustrates the rise and later collapse of a major integrated tour operator and retailer.
Metasearch engine: A search service that compares offers from multiple booking sites or providers, usually without completing the booking itself. Metasearch compares options but typically sends customers elsewhere to purchase.
Group travel: Travel arranged for multiple people sharing an itinerary, often with coordinated transport and lodging. Agencies can coordinate bookings and logistics for groups.
Travel supplier: A provider of travel services, such as an airline, hotel, car-rental company, or tour operator. Agencies distribute services supplied by these businesses.