on tour ❖ marty de souto, ctc AT SOME TIME IN OUR CAREER, it’s necessary that we sit down and decide what is the purpose of the trips we offer and then think further as to what is our role in bringing these travel opportunities to our participants. Are we doing this as a lifetime career? As recreation? For personal fulfillment? PURPOSE OF OUR TRIPS Let’s ask ourselves: (l) Is our travel program to educate our travelers? (2) Is it to provide fun and enjoyment to those who might otherwise stay at home? (3) Is it perhaps to enlarge our participants’ horizons and provide them with a more global outlook? (4) Or is it to provide a social opportunity for our travelers to meet new people and per- haps form new but ongoing friendships? (5) Is it to make money for our sponsor- ing organization – and perhaps ourselves also? (6) Could it be to obtain publicity for our organization so as to build its stature? (7) Is it to attract new member- ship to our traveling club organization? MANY MOTIVATIONS All of the above can be viewed as legitimate reasons for our trips. But we then need to delve further and ask our- selves “Why am I here?” Am I here in- volved in this as a career, as a business? Am I here as a goodwill gesture to bring enjoyment, fulfillment and opportunity to others? Am I here because I love being involved in the world of travel – meeting people from other places and stretching my world knowledge? Am I here simply for the “free trips” that I manage to take and I just put up with all the work and headaches as a means to an end – travel for myself? Am I here because I actually work for a travel agency or tour operator and only do group tours as a part of my daily job? I would guess that for many of us a combination of some of the above moti- vations may strike a chord rather that just one of them. I have come to realize that, as an educator myself, I enjoy spoon-feeding ongoing learning through travel. But I have also learned that on tour one cannot continually be teaching; your travelers want activity and fun and friendship woven throughout the day. LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned that I enjoy designing the itin- erary; the creative process is what turns me on. I do not necessarily enjoy es- corting tours designed by others. I’ve learned that I can easily design and book tours to certain areas of the world that I know well but that for other areas I am not as well qualified and need to put my travelers on a travel product such as a cruise or tour from some company that excels in that area. LUSTING FOR TRAVEL I’ve learned that I’d love to be able to have a successful career in travel, but that financially it can be a rough road to riches and very few “make it” as a financially-fulfilling life enter- prise. I see many involved in manag- ing travel programs as a second career; these are the individuals who, upon retirement, and with a basic retire- ment income, can then turn their en- ergies to what they really lust for – a life in travel. I’ve also seen those who have found a way to continue their present non-travel career but augment it with the occasional tour or tours during the year. Each of us will have our own moti- vations and we need to be clear about them. We also need to assess our indi- vidual strengths and weaknesses. We can then make the choices necessary and direct our travel programs accord- ingly for success. Tour Programming as a Career Many factors, from “free trips” to learning about the world, motivate tour planners. Some are in the business to bring enjoyment to others. Marty is founder and chair of the travel industry training program at Berkeley City College in Berkeley, Calif., where she teaches all aspects of group travel. You can reach her by e-mail at [email protected]. For information on her latest book, How To Plan, Operate, and Lead Suc- cessful Group Trips, click on Premier Tourism Mar- keting’s educational website, groupuniversity.com. 6 April 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com