Sometimes it's useful to communicate in the language of travel, we're here to help...

What's the Difference?
Do you know the difference between a tour operator, tour wholesaler, travel agent, and receptive operator?  If not, the following should help.

Tour Operator
Develops, markets and operators group travel programs that provide a complete travel experience for one price.  Packages usually include transportation, accommodations, sightseeing, selected meals and an escort.  Tour operators sell directly to the consumer through retail travel agents.

Tour Wholesaler
Develops and markets inclusive tours and individual travel packages to the consumer through travel agents.  Wholesalers do not sell directly to the public.

Travel Agent
Sells travel services directly to the consumer and corporations and is a primary distribution system for transportation (air, rail, cruise lines), car rental companies, wholesalers and tour operators.  Synonymous with retailers.

Receptive Operator
Companies engaged in the management of receptive tour services that are a registered U.S. corporation, partnership, or company engaged primarily in providing wholesale receptive services to non-U.S. members of the travel industry.

TOURS GLOSSARY:

All-inclusive packages: A product that includes all essential elements for a set price.

Add -on: A tour feature not included in the basic price.

Adventure tour: A tour built around an active pursuit, such as hiking or rafting.

City tour: A guided sightseeing trip through a city, usually lasting a half-day or a full day.

City guide: The tour guide of a city tour, usually a locally licensed resident.

Conditions: The section of a tour contract that specifies what is offered and when the contract may be invalidated.

Consumer protection plan: An insurance policy that provides compensation in case of a tour operator bankruptcy.

Cruise tour: Escorted tours that include a cruise.

Custom tour: A package or group itinerary made to order.

Cultural tour: A tour that promotes participation in culture, through meeting locals or lectures by experts.

Double-occupancy rate: The price per person for a room for two; the rate usually quoted in tour brochures.

Ecotours: A tour built around the appreciation and conservation of the natural environment.

Escort: The leader of a tour, usually called tour director.

Extension: A tour that can be tacked on to another tour for an extra charge.

FIT: The term used to stand for foreign independent travel, but now refers to independent travel.

Fly/drive: A package that includes an air ticket and a rental car.

Group Leader: A person who coordinates and leads a group, usually not employed by a tour operator.

Hosted tour: A group tour met at the destination by a representative of the tour operator, who interacts with the group only to provide information and arrange for transportation.

Hub-and-spoke itinerary: A route that uses a central hotel as the departure point for day trips.

Inbound operator: An operator that handles travel arrangements at a destination.

Independent packages: A package that does not include an escort or a host.

Land operator: A person who handles travel arrangements at the destination.

Meet-and-greet service: A service that assists travelers upon arrival with entrance formalities, baggage handling, transportation and orientation.

Multisport tour: A tour built around two or more sports.

Package: Any combination of more than one component, such as a hotel room and an air ticket.

Special-event package: A package designed for participating in an event, such as a concert or sporting event.

Sports tour: A package built around a spectator sport.

Theme tour: A tour built around any theme, such as history, cuisine or music.

Tour: A package with an itinerary, a plan to go from place to place.

View: Usually refers to only the opportunity to see a sight from a vehicle.

Visit: Usually means stopping and going inside an attraction, with admission included.

 CRUISE GLOSSARY
Accommodation ladder: External folding stairway for access from ashore or from Accommodation ladder: External folding stairway for access from ashore or from Accommodation ladder: External folding stairway for access from ashore or from Accommodation ladder: External folding stairway for access from ashore or from alongside

Aft: Near, toward or in the rear of the ship

Amidships: In or toward the middle of the ship; the longitudinal center portion of the ship.

Astern: Abaft, or beyond the ship's stern

Beam: Width of the ship at the widest point

Bearing: Compass direction, usually expressed in degrees, from the ship to a particular destination or objective

Berth: Dock, pier or quay (key); or, the bed or beds within the passengers' cabins

Bilge: Lowermost spaces of the ship's inner structure

Cleat: Horizontal wedge-shaped device to which cables are made fast

Companionway: Interior stairway

Davit: A device for raising and lowering the ship's lifeboats

Draft: Measurement in feet from waterline to lowest point of ship's keel

Even keel: The ship in a true vertical position with respect to its vertical axis

Fathom: Measurement of distance equal to six feet

Forward: Toward the fore or bow of the ship

Free port: A port or plate free of customs duty 
and most customs regulations.

Galley: The ship's kitchen

Helm: Commonly the ship's steering wheel, but more correctly the entire steering apparatus consisting of the wheel and rudder and their connecting cables or hydraulic systems

SKI GLOSSARY

Aerials: Acrobatic ski jumping while in mid-air involving twist somersaults, etc.

Alpine Skiing: The formal descriptive term for downhill skiing, one of the basic ski techniques.

Apres' Skiing: After ski activities.

Artificial Snow: Mechanically made snow, produced by a machine that mixes water and compressed air.

Basket: The plastic or metal ring on the end of the ski pole which prevents the tip from sinking too far into the snow.

Big Air: When the snowboarder rushes along the  side of a halfpipe, flipping the board into the air  as high as it will go and coming down for a smooth  landing, only to try again on the other side of the pipe.

Bindings: A set of ski fastenings for holding the boot firmly on the ski.

Boarder Cross Races: Boarder cross races consist of six snowboarders racing simultaneously over an obstacle  course. Speed, accuracy and style determine the winners.

Boot Fit: The extent to which a ski boots is the right size or shape for a foot.

Bowl: A natural formation or geographical region shaped like a bowl.

Cable Car: An aerial tramway consisting of heavy  pylon-supported cables strung very far above the  ground from which is suspended a large cabin  capable of carrying over a hundred skiers on a  fast, steep ascent to a high-altitude skiing area.

Camber: The arch built into a ski which means that  it curves upwards in the middle when lying flat. It is  designed to distribute the skier's weight more evenly  over the whole length of the ski. A side-camber or  side-cut is a ski that is widest at the front and  narrowest in the middle.

Chute (shoot): An inclined plane, sloping  channels, or passage down or through which things may pass.

Cross-country Skiing: Traditional Scandinavian  all-terrain snow-traveling technique. It isn't difficult  to learn, nor is it dangerous. It's good exercise,  but isn't overly strenuous, nor is it likely to cause injuries.

Drag Lift: A ski lift which pulls slope-users  uphill while still in their bindings.

Edging: Vital skiing skill that involves using a rolling  motion of the knees and hips to tilt the ski edges  into the slope, making it possible to stand still on the fall line.

Extreme Skiing: A thrill seeking form of expert skiing.  Few ski areas promote it because it entails skiing the  steepest slopes in unmarked areas containing cliffs  and a variance of snow conditions such as crusted  ice to deep powder. Some resorts have opened parts  of their areas for patrolled extreme skiing.

Fall Line: The steepest shortest and fastest line down  any slope, the line of least resistance, which would  be taken by, say, an un-steered sled down the slope.

Gondola (gon'-dul-ah): An enclosed car suspended  by a cable and used for transporting passengers.  May be used as a ski lift or a mode of transportation.

Goofy Footed: Riding with the right foot  forward on the snowboard.

Halfpipe: A channel constructed in the snow,  which resembles a pipe cutlongitudinally. Halfpipes, or pies, have consistent walls on  both sides and are 75 to 350 feet long with 6 to 12 foot walls.

High-speed Detachable Quad: A four person (quad)  chair-lift with chairs that slow down for convenient  loading and unloading, but otherwise travels twice  as fast as traditional lifts.

Hit or Kickers: A raised area with an abrupt lip  from which snowboarders jump to get airborne.

Kinderski: Common, generic term for a special  children's ski school in a resort area.

Lift Lines: An area where skiers wait to board a  chair-lift or gondola.

Lift Ticket: A pass that allows access to the  mountain via a lift or gondola. It is like cash and  is not interchangeable from one skier to the next.  Many ski areas provide a photo ID lift ticket that is  bar coded to track the number of skiers daily.

Lifts: Cable operated vehicles used to transport  skiers from the base area to the top. Usually found in the form of chairs holding two, three or four  passengers. Some are high tech with  Plexiglas screens and foot rests.

Lip: The top edge of the halfpipe wall.

Mogul (mow'-gull): Bumps in a ski run.

Nordic Skiing: Another name for cross-country skiing.

Norpine Skiing: Downhill skiing using  cross-country ski equipment.

Nursery Slope: A gentle prepared slope on  which beginners can learn away from the main runs.

Powder: A fine, dry, light snow. Referred to as  "Champagne Powder" in Steamboat because it  is lighter and drier than the usual powder.

Quarterpipe: A channel with only one wall.

Regular Foot: Riding with the left foot forward  on the snowboard.

Retaining Strap: A strap connecting the skier's  leg to the binding so that the ski remains attached  to the skier during a fall. Sometimes referred to  as a "safety strap."

Running Groove: A long, narrow channel along the  length of the ski's running surface, which helps  to keep the ski stable.

Ski Patrol: A group of trained, experienced  volunteers or professionals who are responsible  for the maintenance of safety, the elimination of  dangerous conditions, and the treatment of  injuries in ski areas.

Ski Run: Marked ski trails and slopes of the  ski area. They are color-coded based upon the  skier's ability. Green is beginner; Blue is  intermediate; and Black is expert.

Ski-in/ski-out: Skiers can ski to and from  the ski area right from the door of the hotel.  They do not have to walk or get transportation.

Slalom: A competitive event in alpine skiing in  which racers run a course marked out with  gates that must be passed through during the descent.

Snowplow: A converging ski position also known  as the "wedge," which is formed by opening the  skis in a V-shaped (tips together, tails apart)  and rolling the skis onto their inside edges.  Snowplowing is the simplest method of controlling speed.

Stem Turn: Somewhat more difficult move than  the snowplow that involves pushing out the tail of  the one ski into a half snowplow, then bringing the  other ski alongside of it. It is taught to the intermediate  skiers so that they can gain enough confidence to ski  across and down a slope with skis parallel and thus  achieving the second level of skill in skiing.

Tabletop: A mound of snow with the top  sheared off to provide a flat, level landing  area for snowboarders.

Terrain Jumping: Making a voluntary jump into the  air while skiing over a bump or slope edge.

Tuck Position: A low crouched stance with the  upper body bent and the knees tucked up in the chest.

Whale, Whale Tail, Whoop De Doo: A  grouping of elongated bumps, ranging  from two to five feet high and seven to ten  feet long, from which snowboarders jump.

XC: An abbreviation for cross-country skiing.