Nearly one billion people worldwide travel every year to international destinations. Consider the world’s population of seven billion, one in seven people travel outside their home country every year for different reasons. Ten countries out of 50 receive 40% of these international visitors. What countries are travelers visiting and why? Travel professionals provide value-add service when they know what attracts visitors to these destinations and when they provide accurate information about them.

A friendly Avatar guides you through this e-course and helps you learn about:

• A description of 12 basic types of leisure travelers
• Characteristics of human populations on all continents including a model of the “World Village”
• The world’s major mountains, oceans, seas, rivers and other bodies of water that attract visitors
• Distinguishing between the terms “weather” and “climate” and their impact on destinations
• How climate is affected by latitude, altitude, winds and proximity to water
• A review of the 15 top countries visited by international travelers, highlighting practical country information and niche attractions and activities in a downloadable workbook

• Leisure and corporate travel agents
• Tour operators and guides
• Event and meeting planners
• Corporate travel managers

With the Destination Geography Course, you will study the following units:

• Geography and the Travel Sales Process
• Destination Geography and the Leisure Traveler
• The World’s Continents
• Human Population and the “World Village”
• Major Natural Geographical Features
• The Effect of Climate on Travel
• Major World Tourist Destinations and Attractions
  oAustria
  o China
  o Croatia
  o France
  o Germany
  o Italy
  o Malaysia
  o Mexico
  o Singapore
  o Spain
  o Thailand
  o Turkey
  o Ukraine
  o United Kingdom
  o United States of America

Today’s travelers are better informed about geography. They expect their travel consultant to have more information and knowledge about travel geography than they do. Continually learning as much as possible about geography to stay current is probably the most important investment for travel professionals. By studying this course you will gain confidence in your ability to sell destinations, answer common questions asked by travel customers and provide valuable advice that customers are willing to pay for.

This course is delivered via Internet access. Upon enrolling, you will receive a link to the course site and a username and access password.  You will have three months to complete the course study and course access is unlimited during your enrolment period. You will be able to download the closed caption course content should you prefer to review or study any portion of the course in printed format. You may take the online course examination at any time during your course enrolment period. Upon passing the online examination you will receive your course certificate in electronic format for local printing.

The IATA Geography in Travel Planning Course is a good prerequisite for this course if your knowledge of general world geography is weak.

A minimum of 20 hours is required to complete this course study.

Further training
Graduates of this course can apply for the Harvard ManageMentor (HMM) distance learning program at a special graduate price.

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