1.2 Organising a trip Intermediaries: wholesalers and tour operators Intermediaries 1. . ....................... 2. . ....................... outbound to cater: provvedere collapse: crollo currency: moneta disease: malattia exchange rate: tasso di cambio fuel: carburante in bulk: all ingrosso margin: ricavo package: pacchetto supplier: fornitore wholesaler: grossista 34 travel agencies 3. . ....................... Intermediaries Some tourists don t have a lot of travelling experience, may be anxious about booking a holiday, or find it difficult to deal with a different language. These challenges create the opportunity for companies to act as intermediaries in the booking of tourist services. Intermediaries benefit suppliers like cruise companies, hotels, etc. because: they can reach a wider part of the market; they know the tourist market better; they can reduce marketing and promoting expenses as these can be shared across different suppliers. started to do so through the Internet. Intermediaries benefit customers too because: they know the travel product they sell; they can obtain lower prices as they buy in bulk ; they can provide help with the language, currency , payments and sometimes through a representative based in the destination. How tour operators work Tour operators research the tourist destination and product by conducting inspections, trying the different services, negotiating prices, putting together all the costs and adding a margin for themselves. Then, they fix a price, promote, and finally sell the package to potential customers directly or through intermediaries, the Internet included. The process of creating the package normally lasts more than a year, and the long time between purchasing the services and selling them leaves tour operators vulnerable to many factors, like exchange rate fluctuations, fuel price changes, or collapse of the demand for that particular destination, due, for example, to natural disasters, diseases or wars. There are three main types of intermediaries in the tourism system: wholesalers , tour operators and travel agencies. Wholesalers (like Jactravel or GDS) buy a particular type of service in bulk and sell it to tour operators and travel agencies. Traditionally, they didn t sell to consumers directly, but they have recently Types of tour operators Tour operators combine different tourist products and services into a fixed price package . The outbound tour operator caters to customers who want to travel abroad, so it operates a selection based on the knowledge that it has of the requirements of its customers. The inbound tour operator specialises in providing packages to visitors coming from abroad, thus offering direct knowledge of the tourist product.