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reasons. First, passengers of many airlines have accumulated significant amounts of travel that, if and when these amounts show up on the company’s balance sheet as a liability, will have a significant impact on the airline. Second, it is only a matter of time before the Internal Revenue Service looks at these awards and begins to tax them. As part of the effort to reduce corporate travel costs, some companies are seeking to have the award given to the company rather than to the individual.

Business travel is a nondiscretionary expenditure. The business traveler must travel to specific places to do business. For the pleasure tourist, taking a vacation is a discretionary purchase one that he or she does not need to make. As a result, business travel is more stable and less price resistant than vacation travel. Business trips are taken consistently throughout the year, while pleasure trips tend to be concentrated in the summer months.

Business travelers are likely to be more upscale than pleasure travelers. They are more likely to be men (although there is a trend towards more and more female business travelers), to be between the ages of 25 to 44, and to have better educations, professional or managerial occupations, and higher incomes than pleasure travelers.

People traveling on business tend to get frustrated with the many demands of travel, the long waits, and the delays of arrivals and departures. They also have more personal frustrations – being away from home and families, being alone, and living out of suitcases.

More and more companies are concerned about the high cost of travel and are putting more time and effort into controlling their corporate travel costs.

The business executive travel market is proving to be more “segmentable” today, with many airlines and hotels making specific efforts to cater to these higher echelon persons. Airlines have been offering first-class seat service and first-class passenger lounges in airport terminals to these travelers for many years. More recent innovations include special check-in arrangements, bigger seats, and sleeper seats. Many hotel chains have begun to allocate whole floors or wings of their buildings for those business travelers seeking greater luxury in their accommodations. The rooms or suites are more spacious, contain more personal “giveaways,” and they provide theirs guests with complimentary drinks and express check-in , check-out service. Normally the airline and hotel companies add a surcharge to their regular prices for the extra comforts and convenience provided to executive travelers; they have achieved considerable marketing successes in so doing.

While we have been talking about the business traveler, there are actually several segments to this market, each with distinct characteristics. Business travelers can be divided into segments as follows:

1.frequent business traveler

2.women business traveler

3.luxury business traveler

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4.international business traveler

5.occupational designation

Frequent business travelers are those who take a minimum of ten trips a year. While they are just 10 percent of all travelers, they account for slightly less than one-half of all the business trips taken. They average 22 trips and 70 nights away from home each year. The average number of nights per trip is less than for other business travelers. They tend to be upscale professionals between the ages of 35 and 44, college graduates with high incomes. They are much less interested in rates and much more interested in frequent travel programs.

In 1970 women accounted for 1 percent of all business travelers; today they account for approximately 40 percent of all business travelers. This figure is estimated to increase to 50 percent by the year 2000. They tend to have less formal education and have lower incomes than men business travelers. They are also more likely to have another household member with them on the trip and to add on vacation days to the business part of the trip. As hotels sought to attract this segment of the market, several mistakes were made. Early attempts to provide “women’s floor” and pink wallpaper were viewed by many women as patronizing. They were concerned about such things as security, however. This has resulted in such things as a “club floor” – open to both sexes – and accessed by a special key. More hotels are building suites so that women can hold meetings in their rooms without having a bed in view. Room service hours have been expanded as many women dislike eating alone. Lighting in hallways and parking lots is getting brighter.

The luxury business traveler comprises one in every six business travelers. They are defined as business travelers who fly business or first class on airlines and who stay in more expensive hotels.

Almost one in five business travelers travel abroad on business trips each year. Business travelers account for one third of all air trips abroad by U.S. citizens. They have higher incomes than business travelers in general and are concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states. They are more likely to be including vacation time and to be accompanied by others , either family members or business associates.

Business travelers can also be segmented based on their occupations. Twenty

– eight percent of business travelers are managers (president to self-employed consultants); twenty-seven percent are salespeople; twenty-two percent are professionals (doctors to lab technicians); twenty-three percent are administrators (operational workers, office workers and skilled workers, who produce the products that the sales-people sell and who carry out the decisions of the managers).

Managers, the largest segment, travel primarily for sales and consulting, take the most but the shortest trips, visit the same destinations most often, use their own cars most often, and use hotels frequently. Salespeople travel frequently for

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sales and consulting, include more vacations with business trips, fly frequently, and use hotels most often. Professionals include many women, take fewer but longer trips, travel primarily to attend meetings often travel to new destinations, and often use their own cars. Administrators tend to be younger, travel infrequently and stay longer. They are the most likely of all business travelers to use airlines, rental cars, and travel agents for their trips.

There are four factors which influence the future of business travel. These factors are economic, regulatory, communications, and automation. As a general rule, the rate of growth of the economy determines the level of business travel and the extent to which that level changes. Business travel activity tends to match the growth of the economy when overall economic performance is weak, but business travel moves ahead of the rate of growth of the economy during times of economic stability and expansion. The market in the U.S. follows this pattern more strongly than does the European market. The strong signs for business travel are strong trade, investment, and output growth, while the weak signs are high interest rates and unemployment levels.

Exchange rates are economic factors. The rate of exchange refers to the relative value of one’s own currency to other currencies. Changes in exchange rates are not felt as much in business travel as in pleasure travel. There is, however, an impact. When a substantial change in exchange rate occurs, the trade balance moves in favor of the weaker economy. When the dollar loses value against the pound, for example, U.S. goods are less expensive for the British to sell the cheaper U.S. goods. This represents a psychological barrier which business travels, however, seem to overcome.

The second factor affecting the future of business travel is regulatory. Its impact is felt in two areas – deregulation of travel and government policy regarding the treatment of business travel expenses for tax purposes. In 1978, deregulation came to the U.S. air industry. Airlines were free to set rates based on market demand without their being subject to government approval beforehand. As a result many new airlines came into being and many went out of business. Increased competition kept fares between major cities low. Airline deregulation in Europe will evolve in a much slower way. It remains to be seen how the Economic Community’s decision to eliminate trade barriers in a992 will effect the cost of air travel.

Business travel is treated as a business expense. Recent moves in the United States to limit the tax deductibility of business meals to 80 percent of the cost of the meal has not seemed to limit travel but has changed the way clients are entertained. For example, by bringing a speaker into a luncheon, the entire cost of the meal can be deducted. Various attempts have been made to limit the tax deductibility of meeting abroad. Any attempt to do this would have an impact on the amount and type of travel undertaken.

As the potential for international communications continues to increase, the opportunities for globalization also increases. The economies of countries are

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increasingly interdependent. With the interdependency comes a greater demand for international business travel.

Automation can work both to increase travel and to limit it. The development of sophisticated computer systems makes it easier to make, confirm, and change travel reservations and control the costs of travel. On the other hand, innovations, such as picture phones and teleconferencing, eliminate the need for much travel.

Assignment 3: Make presentation of the article in English.

КАК СДЕЛАТЬ ТУРИЗМ В РОССИИ ДОХОДНЫМ?

Опыт разных стран показывает – успех развития туризма напрямую зависит от того, как на государственном уровне воспринимается эта отрасль, насколько она пользуется государственной поддержкой.

Разработанные в ряде стран государственные программы стимулирования въездного туризма предусматривают льготы в налогообложении, упрощение погранично-таможенного режима, создание благоприятных условий для инвестиций, увеличение бюджетных ассигнований на развитие инфраструктуры, рекламу на зарубежных рынках, подготовку кадров.

Примером такой страны может служить Греция. Ее правительство предлагает инвесторам помощь в получении кредита по выгодной процентной ставке, скидки по налогам. Ежегодно Министерство национальной экономики Греции объявляет общую сумму помощи инвесторам в туризм. В 1995 году, например, она составила 587 млн долларов США.

Правительством же Греции определяются и приоритеты инвестирования в туризм. Прежде всего это строительство, расширение и модернизация высококлассных отелей и туркомплексов. Причем, если объем инвестиций достигает 21 млн долларов США, предоставляются дополнительные льготы. Интересно, что реконструирующиеся гостиницы и другие туристические объекты имеют право выбора формы государственной помощи. Кому что подойдет – субсидии или налоговые льготы.

В Турции все льготы определяются специальным сертификатом, для получения которого устанавливается минимальная сумма инвестиций в туризм как в неприоритетных, так и в приоритетных регионах и зонах свободной торговли.

Местным и иностранным инвесторам в туризм предоставляют следующие льготы:

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инвестиционная поддержка по налогам; освобождение от таможенных пошлин и НДС на импорт; льготные кредиты.

Льготы по налогам и сборам означают:

освобождение от таможенного сбора машин и оборудования, которые должны быть завезены согласно льготному сертификату;

освобождение от таможенного налога ряда машин и оборудования не зависимо от наличия льготного сертификата; скидка на корпоративный налог (от 30 до 100%);

освобождение от уплаты части подоходного налога с заработной платы рабочих, занятых в регионах высокой степени приоритетности. Согласно закону по стимулированию туризма ряд льгот предоставля-

ется и туроператорам. Их доходы от туристической деятельности облагаются корпоративным налогом лишь на пятую его часть. 20% доходов от туризма, полученных в иностранной валюте и проконвертируемых в турецкие лиры, освобождаются от обложения в течение 10 лет со дня создания предприятия.

Благодаря финансовой поддержке государства и местных властей Турция за последние 5 лет переживает настоящий бум в туристической отрасли. Если в 1994 году количество туристов составило 6,7 млн человек, то в 1996 году этот показатель достигнет 8,6 млн, а это не менее 6 млрд долларов США дохода за год.

И это не единственный пример. Во многих странах о туризме заботятся на государственном уровне, что позволяет значительно увеличить экспорт туристских услуг и обеспечить положительное сальдо баланса туризма.

Становление рыночных отношений в России, одномоментное открытие тынка для зарубежных Фирм привело к кардинальному изменению соотношения экспортно-импортных операций туризма и положения страны в системе международного туризма. Россия превратилась в страну преимущественного выездного туризма и стала ведущим рынком для турфирм Турции, Кипра, Китая, Финляндии, Польши, обеспечивая основной объем въездного туризма этих стран и значительную часть их дохода от этого вида деятельности.

В то же время положение в российском экспорте услуг туризма не вызывает оптимизма. По данным прессы, число иностранных туристов, посещающих ежегодно Россию, находится примерно на уровне 1986 года, когда из-за катастрофы на Чернобыльской АЭС произошла массовая аннуляция поездок из-за границы.

Для привлечения туристов на отечественный рынок основной акцент необходимо сделать на качестве сервиса и цены. Сопоставимость качества и цены продукта принципиально важна для основного сегмента отечественных туристических предприятий – наших сограждан. Лавина