BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Commission cuts and the rise of the Internet
triggered a restructuring of the travel agency business, as well as
new approaches to travel education and training.
At Kingsborough Community College here, for example, the
Department of Tourism and Hospitality completely revamped its
Travel Agency Ownership and Management curriculum because of
travel's new landscape, relying on help from some major industry
players.
"The fundamental relationship with travel agents and the
airlines is going through a radical change," said department
chairman Stuart Schulman.
"The business is being redefined by technology. The agent's CRS
used to be magic. Now [the public] can [make reservations
themselves]," he noted.
But the Web, while useful, cannot duplicate "an agent's
knowledge and experience," Schulman said.
Today, he said, "The agent must be a knowledge broker, and we
have revised our curriculum."
This revision, he said, which included the establishment of
virtual enterprise business units, field trips and added exposure
to professionals, would not have been possible without financial
and other support from firms seeking to recruit dedicated
employees.
Among them are American Express Travel Related Services; Boeing;
CityGuide Magazines; the Rihga Royal Hotel, New York, affiliated
with Marriott; Rosenbluth International; Tommy Hilfiger, which
sells travel wear; Travelocity, and United Airlines, Schulman
said.
American Express, for example, offers job-shadowing
opportunities and provides student mentors, supplies, printed
matter, guest speakers, and internships.
The Department of Tourism and Hospitality needs this kind of
support because it has something in common with most of its
students, Schulman explained -- limited funds.
Nearly all of the students work while attending school out of
economic necessity, he said, whether they want to become agents,
tour operators, meeting planners, hoteliers, restaurant managers or
air traffic controllers.
To meet their needs, the Department of Tourism and Hospitality
offers classes from 8 a.m. to 9:10 p.m., including Saturdays and
Sundays.
And while some students hold down real jobs, all students have
to hold down a simulated job under the department's 4-year-old
Virtual Enterprise class requirement in order to get a degree.
Schulman explained that students sign employment contracts with
fictitious companies that operate on a set budget.
These firms do business via the Internet with supplier concerns
in simulated situations that are "as lifelike as possible," he
said.
Some of these virtual enterprise concerns are operated by
Kingsborough students; some are run by other colleges.
Kingsborough's virtual enterprise businesses include Xtreme
Adventures, acting as both a travel agency and tour operator;
Kingsborough Enterprises, a meeting planner; Millennium Airlines,
an air carrier, and City Lights, a New York hotel.
Anthony Borgese, formerly with Continental Airlines Grand
Destinations -- a forerunner of Continental Airlines Vacations --
is among the instructors of the virtual agency portion, which
requires that students research and create a package and decide how
it should be sold.
In the meeting planner virtual enterprise experience, students
sometimes plan real meetings and trade shows involving other
colleges, setting up transportation, hotel rooms, meals, ground and
air transportation, and arranging for the exchange of real
money.
Richard Graziano, a former meeting planner for the New York City
Board of Education, oversees this operation.
Travel agency ownership and management students visit agency
offices and meet with their employees as part of the course work.
Some intern at brick-and-mortar agencies, including Gayety Travel
and Liberty Travel branches in Brooklyn.
Those completing the department's curriculum, plus nontravel
courses required by the college, are eligible for a two-year
associate's degree with a major in Tourism and Hospitality.
Schulman said 40% of the department's graduates go on to a
four-year school, while 70% of those who enter the travel industry
workforce right away eventually get the four-year degree, usually
after three years on the job and upon the encouragement of their
employer.