CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS IN TOURISM: TOUR OPERATORS, TRAVEL AGENTS, CONSUMERS OF TOURIST SERVICES

Abstract

The modern travel and tourism industry has become complex, encompassing diverse organizations. The tourism product consists of various elements, involving transport, accommodation, catering, entertainment, natural resources and also other facilities and services. It cannot be examined prior to purchase or stored, and involves an element of travel. For all these reasons the value and importance of intermediaries through which those products are channelled in developed countries seem to be obvious. Tour operators and travel agents alleviate market inefficiency in terms of imperfect information or transaction costs, to name but a few. Although they do not cover the full extent of the distribution channel structure, it is the most significant single relationship in the targeted industry in both countries. Tour operators were chosen from a wide range of travel service providers. Their relationship with travel agents creates one of the several links within the channels of distribution of tourism products, and it is one of the most important. Therefore, the scope of the current research was limited to the relationships between travel agents and tour operators only.