Travel and tourism terms and abbreviations can get confusing. Here's our A-Z glossary of common industry terms and definitions to help you out!
What is...?
A
ACTIVITY PROVIDER
Someone who provides an activity for visitors to their destination to book and participate in, whether this is a canyoning trip, adventure bike ride, or something else entirely.
ADD-ON
An optional extra that a customer can add to their basket during the booking process and add value to a tour or activity. For instance, a video package or audio guide. Here are 8 add-ons you can give away for free to add value to your product.
ADVENTURE INDUSTRY
The segment of the tourism industry focused on outdoor activities such as canyoning, kayaking, white water rafting and trekking. If you're in the adventure industry, we think it's worth knowing about Adventure Travel Trade Association and America Outdoor Association. These organisations host brilliant trade shows and have great online resources.
AGENT DESK
With the TrekkSoft Agent Desk feature you can create and manage your own group of selling agents. This means your products can be resold by other travel and tourism companies, marketplaces, hotels, friends and fans, ambassadors, or anybody you’d like to extend the privilege to.
AFFILIATE
A person or organisation that is officially attached to to an organisation. At TrekkSoft we have an Affiliate Program that lets you earn a commission for recommending tour and activity providers to our booking software.
API
The TrekkSoft application program interface (API) has a range of benefits for different business models. If you are a tour or activity provider, it allows marketplaces to access your live inventory and give you greater distribution. If you already have a marketplace, it enables instant access to TrekkSoft’s extensive live inventory pool of tours and activities from across the globe.
AUTOMATED EMAIL
An email that is automatically sent out to your customers, for instance to confirm a booking or share a pre- or post-trip message. We recommend scheduling a post-trip email that thanks your customer, encourages them to leave a review on TripAdvisor, and links to your social profiles so they can stay in touch. You can easily schedule automated emails with TrekkSoft booking software.
B
BACK END
This is the part of the software that you, the company owner, see. As a TrekkSoft client, the back end is where you manage your bookings, website, and distribution channels.
C
CALENDAR SYNCING
The TrekkSoft calendar syncing feature allows users to sync all trips, guest manifests and resources with their favourite calendar. These currently include iCloud, Google Calendar, Office 365, Exchange, and Outlook.com.
CARD READER
If you have the TrekkSoft Mobile Card Reader, you can process payments quickly and securely at any time. You don't need to type in any numbers, and it even works when you and your customer are offline. You can purchase your Mobile Card Reader directly from us.
CHANNEL MANAGER
A way to manage your tour company and sell via the channels that are important to you. With the TrekkSoft Channel Manager you can sell direct, via online partners, local partners, activity desks, hotel concierge or incoming tour operators and keep your availability and pricing up-to-date.
CHARTER
Hiring out a boat, bus, vehicle, or tour exclusively for a certain group of people.
COMMISSION
The percentage of a selling price paid to a retailer by a supplier. As a tour or activity provider, you might pay travel agents a commission for selling your tours or activities.
CONCIERGE
A person who resells your tours and activities in a hotel lobby. They might also handle restaurant reservations, travel details, and other arrangements for guests.
CONFIRM / CHARGE LATER
A feature that allows the merchant to confirm or cancel a booking request before charging the customers' credit card. It is particularly useful for companies that are unable to offer live availability and need to review and approve individual booking requests.
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS)
A system used to manage the content of a website. The TrekkSoft CMS helps you to create your own unique website, build itineraries and upload images and videos of your tours. With the Website Builder, you can also design and build a tourism website from scratch with a range of responsive templates.
CUSTOM DOMAIN
Your own place on the web, defined by a URL of your choice. This is often "www.[your business name].com". For instance, www.trekksoft.com.
CUSTOM TICKETS
A way to personalised tickets for customers on a private or one-off custom tour. This is a TrekkSoft feature for all price plans.
D
DEPOSIT
An advance payment required to book a tour or activity. This can help guarantee attendence from booked customers.
DESTINATION MANAGEMENT COMPANY (DMC)
A business that promotes a destination and provides tourists with advanced knowledge of local offerings. They may resell local tours and activities or act as a marketplace.
DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION (DMO)
A DMO, unlike a DMC, is a non-profit or government-funded organisation that is designed to promote a destination. They may also act as a marketplace.
DISCOUNT CODE
A specific code that applies a discount to tours booked through your online booking system. You can create a range of these with TrekkSoft, for instance for advance, group, or repeat bookings. These can a great way to boost revenue, especially when shared through your social media and marketing platforms.
DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
The method(s) in which you market and sell your tours and activities to customers from all over the world. Broadly speaking, there are two types: direct and indirect channels. Direct distribution refers to bookings you secure through your company’s website, social media, Google advertising, customer recommendations and so on. Indirect distribution refers to any third parties that market your tours to a larger audience. For instance, another tour or accommodation provider, a travel agent, a DMO or DMC, an online marketplace (such as Viator or Expedia) or an online travel agent.
DOMAIN NAME
A unique name that identifies a website, for instance "trekksoft.com" for TrekkSoft. You can pay for a custom domain name to enhance your website's branding and online presence.
E
EBOOK
An electronic resource that can be downloaded on any device. These are often educational, as in our free selection of resources for tour operators in the TrekkSoft Ebook Library.
F
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING
Facebook provides several advertising options that you can use to target specific audiences in a cost-effective way. Here are 7 steps to creating your first successful Facebook ad campaign.
FRONT END
The part of your website that your visitors and customers see, including your live pages, online inventory, and booking process.
G
GIFT CERTIFICATE
A token of a set amount that someone can redeem towards your tours or activities, whether online or offline. TrekkSoft allows you to limit this gift voucher to specific activities, add-ons and shop items and add an expiration date.
GOOGLE ADWORDS
An advertising service by Google for businesses wanting to display ads on Google and its advertising network. Google AdWords lets you set a budget for advertising and only pay when people click the ads (also known as PPC, or pay per click). We have a free Google AdWords Handbook for Tour & Activity Providers by our in-house expert, Marcel Whelan, to help you launch your first campaign and get guaranteed bookings.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
The most widely-known web analytics platform to track and report website traffic. To simplify the process for you, TrekkSoft will automatically insert your Google Analytics tracking code on each of your TrekkSoft pages.
H
I
INBOUND TOUR OPERATOR
A company specialising in domestic tours for foreign visitors.
INTEGRATION
At TrekkSoft, this refers to the process of adding the TrekkSoft online booking system to your existing website.
INTERLAKEN
The mountain town in Switzerland that TrekkSoft calls home, dubbed by many as the adventure capital of Europe. Here's what it's like to live and work in Interlaken.
J
JOOMLA!
A free content management system (CMS). Your Joomla! website can be easily integrated with TrekkSoft booking software using our Joomla! Plugin.
K
L
LEISURE TRAVEL
Travel undertaken for pleasure outside of paid work time.
LIVE CHAT
A popular term for online chat applications designed to provide online and immediate assistance to users of a website. You might have noticed this pop-up when browsing the TrekkSoft website.
LIVE INVENTORY
An up-to-date view of tours and activities you have available, plus how many of each resource (e.g. tour guide, kayak, or audio guide) you have to spare. With live inventory and real-time bookings you can avoid overbooking.
LOW SEASON
The time of year when tourist arrivals in your destinations, and often rates too, are at their lowest. Also referred to as off-peak or off-season.
M
MARKETPLACE
A distribution channel for your tours and activities. Two online examples are Viator and Expedia.
MOBILE MANAGEMENT APP
A handy way to manage your tour or activity company on-the-go. The TrekkSoft App lets you manage your capacity wherever you are, take bookings, collect payments, and manage your existing bookings.
MOBILE-OPTIMIZED (SEE ALSO: RESPONSIVE)
Your website can be easily viewed on any mobile device without any disruptions or a reduced experience.
N
NETWORKING EVENT
An opportunity to meet with others in your local travel and tourism industry, learn from each other, and even build partnerships. We run regular TrekkSoft networking events throughout Europe and the wider world.
O
ONLINE BOOKING SYSTEM
Specialized software that allows clients to book and pay directly on your website.
ONLINE TRAVEL AGENT (OTA)
A website that allows you to book flight tickets, holiday packages, accommodation, activities, and other details of a trip online.
OVERBOOKINGS
The problem that occurs when you have more bookings than available spaces on your tour or activity. This can be avoided with live inventory.
P
PARTNER NETWORK
The TrekkSoft Partner Network allows you to cross-sell tours and activities with other TrekkSoft users, providing customers with greater choice and you with an extra revenue stream. To help partners sell your tours for you, you can provide them with a customized web portal.
PASSENGER MANIFEST
A list of customers that are booked on your tour or activity.
PAYMENT GATEWAY
A service that processes and authorizes card payments from your customers. The TrekkSoft Payment Gateway is a secure, fast and cost-effective way to accept payments for your tours and activities, wherever you are based in the world.
PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDER (PSP)
A service that allows you to accept electronic payments by a variety of payment methods, including credit card. Popular PSPs are PayPal and Stripe.
PAY PER CLICK (PPC)
A model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked.
Q
R
RAFTING
Did you know that TrekkSoft's CEO and Co-founder started out as a raft guide?
REAL-TIME BOOKING
A way to offer an up-to-date view of your tours and activities. Travellers can see your available inventory on your website, book a tour or activity, and have immediate confirmation that their booking is a success. This also allows you to avoid overbooking.
RENTAL SYSTEM
TrekkSoft clients can streamline their business by enabling online rentals. For instance, a city bike tour provider might rent out their bikes on their website as well as enabling online tour bookings.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
A feature that automatically manages your internal resources and tour guide availability to prevent overbooking.
RESPONSIVE
A website that adjusts to a mobile device and provides visitors with an optimized experience.
RETARGETING
A way to advertise to past website visitors and encourage them to revisit your site.
S
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
The process of affecting the visibility of your website in a search engine's unpaid results (also known as organic traffic). In simple terms, SEO is how you can help your tourism website appear higher in Google searches.
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)
A form of Internet marketing that promotes websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages, primarily through paid advertising like Google AdWords.
SMS GATEWAY
A way to interact with your customers through SMS.
SWITZERLAND (SEE ALSO: INTERLAKEN)
The place that TrekkSoft calls home.
T
TOURISM BOARD
An official organization that encourages people to visit an area, city, or country. See also: DMO, DMC.
TOUR OPERATOR
A person or company that runs tours within a destination.
TRADE SHOW
An event where industry professionals meet, network, and form partnership. Leading travel and tourism trade shows include ITB Berlin and WTM London.
TRAVEL AGENT
A professional who helps travellers to plan a vacation. As a tour or activity provider, you could offer travel agents a commission to resell your inventory.
TREKKSOFT
The leading online booking and payment solution for tour and activity providers worldwide. Our software is used by small businesses, industry leaders, and DMOs in 125 countries. Want to find out more? Here's an invitation for your personal demo and consultation with our team.
TRIPADVISOR
The world's largest travel site with 200 million+ unbiased traveler reviews. It was founded in 2000 and has since become an essential platform for tour and activity providers to be active on.
U
V
VIATOR MARKETPLACE
VOUCHER CODE
An online token with a “cash value” that can be redeemed against any tour or activity in your inventory.
W
WEBMASTER
A person whose profession it is to maintain a website. Tasks can include web design, technical updates, and overseeing a booking software implementation process.
WEBSITE BUILDER
The TrekkSoft tool to build a booking-optimized website from scratch using a range of responsive designs.
WHITE LABEL APP
A mobile application that is customized especially for your tour or activity business.
WIX
A cloud-based website builder that can be easily integrated with TrekkSoft booking software.
WORD-OF-MOUTH ADVERTISING
An unpaid form of promotion in which happy customers share with others how much they like a business, product or service, whether offline or online.
WORDPRESS
A content management system (CMS) that can be easily integrated with TrekkSoft booking software using our WordPress Plugin.
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Z
Got a correction or suggestion? Send it over to lucy[at]trekksoft.com!
