Commercial and professional structures in the international tourism world

industry. And decisions clear the way for the expansion of global tourist structures. For the population of Bangladesh or Nigeria, WTO

purchasing power for s

Although the WTO system is not optimal, it still allows smaller states to put press s

for interventions, for protecting their interests. Ergo, a large structure was created, one of immense financial power, with huge lobby power and which consists of specialists:

3.9.2 WTTC – World Travel and Tourism Council - it has 100 members of the most famous tourism companies. It is the only structure which represents the private sector in all its diversity.

Its mission is to ensure interest for economic growth and social development, to co-interest governments and politicians, to open up the potential of tourism industry to create

generate prosperity. WTTC has 7 strategic directions

• A vision for future traveling and tourism (T&T¹⁴¹

• Measuring and promoting the T&T industry

• Promoting a positive T&T image regarding

• The encouragement of free access, free markets, open skies and the cancellation of growth barriers;

• To help equilibrate the infrastructure of at demand level

• To help facilitate access to capital resources and advanced t

• T promote responsibility in conserving the national, cultural and economic environment;

TTC

W activity has three main axes:

• Global activities: bringing solutions into discussion which affect T&T activities everywhere in the world

Workgroups: te

•

opportunities in field like human resources, infra Initiatives and regional programs: puts into prac

•

but also in countries or regions which have a high potential but which don’t have means and required resources to put them into value.

WTTC concept: “Let us show you a vision about a world where T&T brings profit to each individual, bringing a positive contribution, to sustainable growth and prosperity, understanding and wellbeing among people, shared by all who travel and by communities which they visit and their natural resources, as well as social and economic”.

To finish we invite you to read Annex 6 regarding WTTC members. It is Expressive.

Again, unfortunately, Romania is missing.

3.9.3 Commercial and professional structures in the international tourism world

These groups’ professional international organisms, both social and scientific, built in different states. These organizations have as purpose the encouragement of exchanges among specialists of different countries, of elaborating data and studies which can be the basis for decisions made by public authorities. At the same time, the purpose of these organizations is to represent different professions within international government organizations. Furthermore, these

harmonization are made are global structures where decisions regarding interest

correspond to the policy of large international tourism companies and their members.

The main organizations in this category are:

1. World Association of Travel Agencies (WATA);

2. International Association of Aerial Transport (IATA);

141 T & T : short for Travel and Tourism

110

3. International Hoteliers Association (IHA);

4. American Society for Tourism Agencies (ASTA);

5. he Universal Federation of Trade Agencies Associations (FUAAV);

6. The International Council for Travel Agencies (ICTA);

T

se are why we believe that it is needed to make a more detailed presentation of several

ssociation of Travel Agencies (WATA)

e enterprises) in this network, so that each member could have the advantage for l

y. The WATA status grants that each member is able to successfully compete with any y status, the association and its membe

ill administrative needs. The headquarters ensure

HA asked its members to accept vouchers emitted by WATA members for thei

mber, will be paid upon from the warranty fund;

c) W e IHA /

lly hich accept them are

A ining al WATA members and

eir address can be at the disposal of clients which depart for a voyage, if they are going to need For more important clients, special cards can be sued.

) W

ementary

7. The International Association of Tourism Circuits (ISTA);

Etc.

These all have international character, their status being respected by all members, many times even in front of local laws.

The

of these associations, of the role which they play and their attributes, in order to illustrate globalizing values.

World A

The WATA is a non – profit organization created by independent tourism agencies for the wellbeing of all tourism agents in the world. It helps recognized agencies on local plans to gain the same recognition at an international level.

Ever since 1949, since it was founded, WATA became a respected name in the tourism industry worldwide. With over 200 members from over 180 cities across the globe, WATA created a real network of tourism agencies, which rejoice in unique privileges.

The ideas which lead to the creation of WATA is that of including new members (preferably privat

affi iation to this international colossus, at the same time with maintaining a local market supremac

larger corporation. The adhesion trough this status, on one hand, and the respect of the status by the members, on the other, have lead to a fantastic reputation of the association.

WATA is registered as an association under Swiss law. B

rs are asked to assist each other in their actions. The association has a permanent secretariat which has the location in Geneva and which must fulf

assistance, information and other services to the members of the association.

The WATA membership offers several advantages:

a) A guaranteed payment of IHA¹⁴² bills: the association guarantees the payment of all bills for services from a IHA member to a WATA member, up to an amount of cash established from case to case, as compared to the credibility and the status that the respective agency has in the association. In exchange, I

r clients, so that these can be paid after the tourist left.

b) Internal warranty: in certain conditions, some services presented by a WATA member to another me

ATA vouchers: any voucher which has the WATA logo or any reference to th WATA accord, or vouchers printed by WATA with the name of the issuing agency, is fu accepted, without reserves, anywhere in the world. In most cases, hotels w

willing to cash the full value of the services, after the client’s departure, without demanding a fore payment.

d) list of the members and special cards: a small brochure conta th

assistance and special services during this trip.

is

e ATA Master Key: the annual book called the Master – Key is without a doubt the most important source of travel information. WATA members or non-members which receive it use it everyday; this is a huge base of information for them, which spares them of suppl

142 IHA – International Hotels Association

111

expenses and money. The yearbook has WATA member tariffs, for services to foreign tourists (for the INCOMING activity). A standard presentation of these data makes extracting information as simple as possible and accessible. Together with the tariffs, there is also a short presentation of the country from where the agency comes from, presentation given by the main tourism office from that country and it contains several information which is very useful for those who intend to visit that destination.

f) WATA memos: they announce the latest developments, so that they can be made available for clients.

g) Maximal commissions: a maximum commission of 5% is allowed between WATA members, compared to public prices from the Master-Key, for transfers, city tours, trips, car rentals, with or

all cities below 1.000.000 inhabitants there

llaboration between transporters by air. Now, the s over 200 members, worldwide, who are either active or affiliated ones.

as the unification “of languages” spoken in international ivil aviation. It is hard to imagine what would have happened if the association would not have t herw

glish; all pilots and f

ed by personn

ironment (noise and gas emissions); safety (passenger protection); juridical (regard

without drivers, which gives them the edge over the competition.

All these advantages are similar to those given by globalization, uniform rules, which are strictly respected by the members for maximum profit.

Members, who have full rights, usually travel agencies with a solid financial structure and outstanding professional ethics. All WATA members have the same rights, privileges and obligations. To maintain a percentage of exclusive, in

can be only one WATA member specialized on each of the services mentioned. If the number of inhabitants is bigger, for each 1.000.000 inhabitants (fraction of a million) there can be only one WATA tourism member.

Affiliated members are a category opened to hotels, airlines, shipping lines and car rental companies. Their purpose is to develop established relations among WATA members and their partners.

Here are a few tasks of a WATA member, eloquent for the way they globally act:

- it must respect the ethics and conduit code imposed by the association - it must support the development of the association trough its actions

- collaboration among members must be an active one, a constructive collaboration, a priority compared to non-member obligations

- members must take part in general and regional assemblies International Air Transport Association (IATA)

The IATA was created in 1919, at the initiative of 6 airlines to found an organization of air transport with the purpose of developing co

organization ha

The idea which started IATA w c

been created: each aerial company would have had different safety regulations, differen communication methods, and maybe even different languages. Ot ise, it would have been hard, if not impossible, to realize an international cooperation regarding over-border flights. The realization of such standardization brought what they were seeking – and managed to obtain – the six initial companies which set the base for IATA: the used language is En

traf ic controllers give and receive instructions in English. There is also standardization in documentation, rules which govern the calculation price and the ticket issuing, learn

el from all over the world.

The IATA has the needed instruments to determine air companies to work together in several fields, such as flight safety (finding new solutions above the resources of a single company); env

ing legal responsibilities and legal relations of aerial transporters towards their clients);

financial and accounting (a simplification of the accounting process, taking taxes into account, insurance and the multitude of operating currencies).

112

IATA has three main headquarters: Geneva – for problems regarding Europe, Africa and the Middle East; Montreal takes care of North and South America; and Singapore, which takes care of Asia, Australia and the Far East. At the same time, these three major traffic areas are divided into sub-areas. The date separation line gives the demarcation between the first and the els of tariffs adjusted to the purchasing power of ose areas, and then detailed on countries.

completed by a eries of other rules and regulations whose presentation would take a very long time and which are

tional Hotel Association (IHA)

The IHA has its headquarters in Paris and was founded on March 18^th, 1946, in London.

ntract.

companies in car renting, hotels and government tourist office. It was founded in 1936 under the name of American Steamship Travel Association, and organized throughout time various travel themed conferences, collaborating with various government agencies in the field.

We may conclude that in the tourism activity we find that the globalization phenomenon is third areas. The three areas also mean three lev

th

In order to make communication easier IATA members throughout the world – and not only them – have standardized many of the booking and payment procedures. All these rules are to be found in the IATA ABC – Airways Guide, a guide edited by IATA in which flight schedules appear. Another manual edited by the IATA is the APT – Air Products Tariffs which includes tariffs which occur in international civil aviation and their means of calculation.

The two are just a few of the manuals IATA edits, but which are destined to lead to an end what the six companies intended in the beginning: better communication. They are

s

not the object of this book.

Add this to those said when we have been talking about the role of aviation transport in the development of tourism, as a global activity.

Interna

The purposes of the association can be summed up like this:

a) to help develop and profit trough industry quality hotels all over the world

b) to represent the opinions of its members, to promote their interest through an effective and permanent lobby in all government organisms, both international and regional

c) to organize seminars and professional meetings for representatives of the world hotel industry d) to facilitate communication within the branch and to supply information to its members

The IHA meets the interests of national associations, of national and international hotels, both independent or not, formation institutes for human resources involved in the hospitality industry, equipment suppliers, installations, machines, products and services for the hotel industry of 145 states.

The Romanian Hotels Association is an IHA member since 1991. As was the case for other members, whether they are hotels, tourism agencies or national hotels association, the AHR is submitted to the rules of the International Hotel Rules, which was adopted by the IHA Council on November 2^nd 1981 in Katmandu, Nepal. This document is supposed to codify international professional usages which are generally known to govern the hotel contract. It is destined to complete existent dispositions in national legislations regarding contract clauses and is applied when the mentioned legislation does not include express dispositions regarding the hotel co

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA)

The American Society of Travel Agents is the largest of its kind, and is located in New York. There are 24 departments activating within it, each with its own management. The total number of members is 12000, of which 3600 are travel agents. In the affiliated members we find aerial lines, naval companies, railroad companies, companies which hold coaches, specialized

guided and lead by international structures, some of which are states themselves (but which

113

include civilians as well), both directly and through the influence which they have in leadership organisms modern technocrats.

nal? Skal is a rofessional organization of tourism executives throughout the world which promote global

nly international group which unites all branches of tourism and avel”. Its members, executives in the industry, meet at a local, national, regional and international

: therwise they will be walking around in a peripheral or lower paid area. The common interest

ofits. Otherwise they perish.

Essentially, technocrats from a leading transnational company, not only from tourism, usually

onditions. The main objective of the technocrat is to maintain in the group, and, if possibl

Bucharest’s Skal club appeared once foreign managers appeared (1999). A few Romanians etty high quota, even for a Romanian patron.

Whereas the world moves trough people. And decisions in global structures are made by these new nsion and of a career in the leisure industry, e and in the last four years he was an executive manager at e was acknowledged as a leisure FUUAV section and of course a member of Skal Romania”. Is that enough? Yes,

ile the Romanians are not even participating!

3.10 Technocrats

In 1932, long before globalization¹⁴³ was a known process, the first Skal club was founded in Europe – the club of tourism CEOs – chief executive officers. Today it has over 25000 members, in 83 countries, organized in 523 clubs. Which is the main activity? The monthly breakfast meeting: “to socialize”¹⁴⁴. Technocrats from different sectors are found here: hotels, aviation, restaurants, agencies, etc. to come together and exchange impressions. Most of them are modern and nomadic technocrats; graduates of several prestigious and specialized schools, they adopt the philosophy of a transnational group and are sent by headquarters throughout the world.

They are formed in the philosophy of the respective group: “What is Skal Internatio p

tourism and friendship. It is the o tr

level to talk, follow, and continue problems of common interest”¹⁴⁵. Rare are the cases of transfers from one company to another. Whereas the Skal club gives them the possibility to meet the competition and exchange opinions in an informal way, as well as the chance to have an excellent lunch, in a pleasant company. Their philosophy is the continuous expansion of their company o

gives them the same purpose in life: expansion, maximum pr

with thousands of employees, maximum profit is not paramount. Rather, that level of profit which ensures the maximum fidelity of their stock holders. Because they pay a dividend which is larger than the banking interest, while the shares holders, individually weak and divided do not object to the high level of life which managers ensure for themselves: large wages, spectacular life

& working c

e, to open a unit which, basically, he can be the workplace of a member of his own family.

Whereas, the first global structures which appeared in tourism were a model of experience as well as prediction.

have been included, after a large effort, given the pr

spiritual leaders of Americanism. A possible biography of a Romanian technocrat of our economy might be the next: “he was an example of the asce

starting out as a chef, then as a waiter, then as a hall chief, receptionist, managing director at th

….. Hotel, manager at the tourist resort

the …… Consulting Group”, a leader on the Romanian market. H

expert by the T&T Foundation in the USA. He is a SITE member, chief and vice-president of the Eastern Europe

but only those in Annex 6 decide, wh

unziker and Krapf in their “Grundniss der Algemeinen Fremdenverkerslele” proclaimed tourism as a global, multi-disciplinarian activity (our underlining) – long before the phenomenon would become known by the great mass, even by initiated.

144 To socialize has no equivalent in Romanian: in English it designates the action of associating yourself in being sociable to others, of the same rank but also living your life in the company of others

145 Skal New – no. 210 June 2001 143 In 1942 professors H

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Im Dokument Globalization and Tourism: Study case Romania (Seite 111-116)