Republic of the Philippines

PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF

AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

ANALYSIS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF NON- ACCREDITED

TRAVEL AGENCY IN PROVIDING TOUR PACKAGE FOR

FOREIGN TRAVELERS WITHIN THE PHILIPPINES

An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to the

Faculty of the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS

Piccio Garden, Villamor, Pasay City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF ARTS AND SCIENCES MAJOR IN AVIATION TOURISM

HERNANDEZ, Eimielynn P.

SEVA, Jasmien Joy D.

SUMAMBOD, Cristine Marie B.

VILLANUEVA, Elthon Jude

 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

“Nowadays, more and more people are travelling like never before.

People travel for many reasons , to relax , to experience different cultures

and traditions , to spend time with your loved ones, or sometimes just to be

able to post pictures on social media. Travelling is definitely an undying trend.”

(Zyon, 2018)

Travel agency is a service industry. It plays a vital role in the promotions

of tourism. It depends on the goodwill of the people. Travel agencies act as an

agent between the traveler and suppliers in the tourism industry such as

airlines, steamship companies, railways, bus companies, car rental firms,

hotels and sightseeing operators. The reality is that not everybody who is taking

a trip needs a travel agent, but the reason that travel agencies remain in this

age of information is because they know more about trotting the globe than

anyone else. Along with that privileged industry knowledge comes industry

connections, as in having personal relationships with the executives and

general managers of hotels, which results in access to features and benefits

that aren't provided by websites.

According to A. Scully, President of McCabe World Travel in Virginia,

describes a good travel agent as a "pillow" saying that "people think they can

just book flights, hotels, or car rental themselves, and sometimes they can,

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

especially if nothing goes wrong. But when your flight is cancelled and

you are standing in line waiting to be rebooked, believe me, you'll wish

you had a travel agent. I'd already be working on it for you."

Richard Cox (1718-58), founded the first modern travel agency in

the 19th century with its root in 1758 as establishment of Cox & Kings

Ltd. In 1970, Cox and Kings the longest establishment travel company

centered its focus on its business of travel and tourism. Lately in the last

quarter of the 19th century, Thomas Cook (1808- 92), a British travel

agent, established a chain of agencies in association with the Midland

Railway. The success of the guided excursion led to the formation of a

travel agency bearing his name. Cook organized and personally conducted

tours throughout Europe and procured traveling and accommodations for

tourists making independent trips.

Today’s information resource is used not only for cost reduction

but also in pursuing business strategies. There are many travel agencies

that offer a wide variety of services but customers wants the best and

the cheapest.

In order to be cultural literate, knowing and possessing the basic

information in the modern world is needed. To thrive in the business

world, one needs to possess both cultural literacy and knowledge of

customer satisfaction.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

At present, tourism represents a distinct field of activity, a component of

utmost importance of the economic and social life, for more and more countries

in the world. The notion of tourism refers to the action of the individuals which

move with the purpose of sightseeing various parts of the world and of staying

there for a short period of time. A very interesting definition is given by David

Weaver and Laura Lawton in the book “Tourism Management”, according to

which, tourism “is the sum of phenomena and relationships arising from the

interactions among tourists, the tourism industry, host communities origin

governments, universities community colleges and non-governmental

organizations, in the process of attracting, transporting, hosting and managing

these tourists and other visitors”.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has its licensing and regulatory

authority over certain establishments like travel agency. The government

sector in the tourism industry is responsible for the formulation of tourism

policies. It provides guidelines for the development of destinations, and

regulates the industry, in collaboration with the government agencies.

The Philippine Travel Agencies’ Association (PTAA) is a fairly young

organization borne out of the union of the national association of the outbound

travel agencies and inbound tour operations in 1979. Founded to foster unity

in the travel industry and to promote the welfare of its members and the

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

traveling public as well, the PTAA has evolved into one that now plays

a vital role both in the national and international tourism levels.

The DOT has asked local government executives for assistance in

implementing the government agency’s accreditation guidelines for tourism

establishments. According to Arnaldo, M.S. (2017), In an interview with the

Business Mirror, DOT Director for Tourism Standards and Regulations Ma. Rica

C. Bueno said the government agency wrote the League of Municipalities of the

Philippines (LMP), League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) and the Philippine

Councilors League (PCL) “to support the DOT accreditation process, and make

sure that tourism enterprises secure accreditation from us first, before they are

issued business permits”. This request comes on the heels of a recent survey

by the DOT, which found out that almost 50 percent of tourism establishments

nationwide are not accredited with the government agency.

According to the DOT official, despite the agency’s aggressive push for

tourism establishments to be accredited, the agency has been receiving

numerous complaints against non-accredited tourism entities and front-liners.

Most of the complaints were undelivered services of travel and tour agencies

that are not accredited by the DOT.

The latest survey of the DOT’s Office of Tourism Standards and

Regulation (OTSR) showed that 1,479 out of 2,995 travel and tour agencies

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

(TTAs) and tourist transport operators (TTO) were not accredited with the DOT,

hence, making up the 49 percent of the whole population of operational TTAs

and TTOs in the country. In 2016 alone the OTSR received a total of 59

complaints filed against tourism entities not accredited with the DOT, while nine

complaints of the same nature were received by OTSR during the first quarter

of 2017.

According to the DOT web site, the benefits and incentives of

accreditation include: “Endorsement to embassies and travel trade

association/s for utilization of establishment’s facilities and services; eligibility

for participation in travel fairs; priority to DOT training programs; endorsement

to international airports for issuance of access pass to qualified personnel [for

two years accredited tour operators and accommodation establishments only];

endorsements to the Commission on Elections for exemption from liquor ban

during election-related events [for accommodation establishments and

restaurants only]; free online/print advertising in national dailies; and promotion

of events in Facebook page and other social-media sites.”

Accreditation and further review submission to the DOT, Department of

Tourism, has a lot requirements to accomplish. A lot of qualifications and

guidelines are needed to be followed in order to be a DOT accredited travel

agency. You need to fix not only just the house rules of your certain company

but also your establishment. When you say “accreditation of travel agency” it

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

doesn’t mean that Department of tourism only but it also includes different

government sectors such as safety government sectors. This is the main

reason why some of the travel agencies that most Filipinoes took when traveling

are not DOT accredited, it is way cheaper that the ones who are accredited.

Not accredited travel agencies are way cheaper than the ones who are

accredited, it offers the same experience like the ones who are accredited but

the difference is the “safety”. Some tourist, not only just Filipinoes, still prefer

the ones who are accredited but we cannot deny that most of the tourist,

especially millenials, are the risk takers and they are taking the travel agencies

that are not accredited.

According to DOT Davao Regional Director Alabado, DOT is more of

regulatory institution, and they are enforcing national laws to uphold consumer

protection. Around 60 Philippine Airlines passengers bound for Tokyo, Japan

complained about their scammed transaction with Travel Agency after

discovering at Davao International Airport that their flights were not booked by

the said traveling agency.

Most travel agencies offers tour packages included transportation, hotel

accommodation, meals, tour guide and taxes and fees.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

This study aims to know the performance of non- accredited travel

agencies in the city of Manila in order to know if they meet and give the

customers’ needs and wants. This research also can be an instrument for some

future readers and researchers to find out the competitiveness of some

companies that related to Aviation industry by looking at the gathered data.

REVIEW AND RELATED LITERATURE

SERVQUAL is a modern statistical method used to measure service

quality from the customer’s perspective and customer satisfaction. SERVQUAL

measure service quality by calculating the discrepancy (gap) between

corresponding expectation in five dimensions: tangibles, reliability,

responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Tangibles represent physical

objects, equipment and the appearance of the staff. Reliability relates to the

ability to provide the promised services in a credible and accurate way.

Responsiveness is the willingness to help a customer and provide prompt

attention. Assurance means friendly and professional staff that inspires security

and trust. Empathy involves providing careful and personalized attention to a

customer. This instrument is designed for applications across as broad range

of services.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The main objective of this study is to measure the performance of non-

accredited travel agency in providing tour packages by knowing the tourist

satisfaction.

Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What are the profile of the Foreign travelers in terms of:

1.1Age

1.2 Gender

1.3 Nationality

1.4 Occupation

2. What are the profile of the selected non- accredited travel agencies in

terms of:

2.1 Form of business ownership

2.2 Years of existence

2.3 Number of employees

3. What are the performance of Non-accredited Travel Agency in

providing tour packages in terms of:

3.1 Reliability

3.2 Responsiveness

3.3 Assurance

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

4. How do the foreign travelers rate the performance of Non-accredited

travel agency in providing tour packages in terms of:

4.1 Transportation

4.2 Hotel accommodation

4.3 Meal

4.4 Tour Guide

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Non- accredited
Travel Agency

Performance of non-
accredited travel agency

 Reliability
 Responsiveness
 Assurance

Tour Package Inclusions

 Transportation
 Hotel accommodation
 Meal
 Tour guide

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Conceptual Paradigm:

As shown in Figure 1, the Performance of non- accredited travel agency

in providing tour package to foreign travelers. Reliability, Responsiveness and

Assurance will be the base of the following data. These factors are the main

process and basis of this research.

GENERAL ASSUMPTION OF THE RESEARCH

This study aims to know the performance of the said chosen travel

agencies in terms of the Department of Tourism’s accreditation, if the factors

and conditions of the accreditation affects the target market of the travel

agencies.

The researchers aim to get the step-by-step process of data gathering

with the enough amount of respondents in order to get a truthful research.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

The study will be delimited only to Ten (10) Non-Accredited

travel agencies. These travel agencies are : Good Earth Travel and Tour Corp,

Air Master Tours & Travel, Travelview incorp., Lucky pick Travel & Tours, World

Explorer Travel & Tours, Itineraries Travel & Tour, Gladex Travel & Tours,

Nawal Marketing, Emperor Dragon Travel & Tours, Easy Tour Philippines.

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The researchers will focus on the performance of the Non-Accredited

travel agency in providing tour packages for foreign travelers.

The study will be further delimited to the possible suggestion for

improvement of the services.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study would help travel agencies to improve

the performance in providing tour packages to the tourists.

To the School officials and professors, this study would make them

aware of their part on educating and in giving sufficient ideas to the

students on how to start a travel agency business.

To the future researchers and students, they may use this study

as a reference for their future research and they would know the

DEFINITION OF TERMS

 Accreditation - A certification issued by the Department of Tourism

enterprise that officially recognizes it as having complied with the

minimum standards for the operation of tourism facilities and services.

 Accommodation – A place or room where a tourist can stay for a period

of time.

 Assurance - Means friendly and professional staff that inspires security

and trust to the clients.

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

 Meal – food that includes on the tour package (breakfast, lunch, dinner,

or snacks)

 Reliability- relates to the ability of travel agency to provide the promised

services in a credible and accurate way of the travel agency.

 Responsiveness - the willingness of an agent to help a customer and

provide prompt attention.

 Transportation – either land, sea, or air mode of transport that includes

to the tour package.

 Travel Agency - It refers to a commercial enterprise where a traveler

can secure information and expertise, and make arrangements to travel

by air, to any point of the world.

 Tour Guide – a person who provides assistance, information, and show

tourists around places of interest.

ABBREVIATIONS

DOT. Department of Tourism

LMP. League of Municipalities of the Philippines

LCP. League of Cities of the Philippines

OTSR. Tourism Standards and Regulation

PCL. Philippine Councilors League

PTAA. Philippine Travel Agencies’ Association

TTA. Travel and Tour Agencies

TTO. Tourist Transport Operator

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

CHAPTER II

RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN

The researchers will be using two types of questionnaire which are the

qualitative questionnaire and competitive performance survey. Qualitative

questionnaire will be given to the accredited and non-accredited travel agencies

in Manila. They will undergo a qualitative interview in the approved chosen time

and day. A qualitative questionnaire is a questionnaire that aims to establish

general laws of behavior phenomenon across different settings/contexts. It is

used to test a theory and ultimately support or reject it. It is to gather informal

support of the interviewee according to the topic of a particular research, it is

also to distinguished opinions according to their knowledge while competitive

performance survey is a kind of quantitative survey that requires numerous

respondents in order to get the majority answers. Competitive performance

survey is also the process of comparing other companies or businesses using

set of collection metrics. This survey will be given to the possible clients in the

chosen area to know the weighted average of data to get a strong analysis.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The researchers will be using a sampling technique since they are

aiming to know the competitiveness of the chosen travel agencies around

Manila city, Metro Manila, they are going to conduct two surveys, for the clients

and the chosen travel agencies. They are going to compare the travel agencies

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

and they are going to weigh the quantitative answers of the possible clients.

After that, they are going to observe the two (2) data that are gathered to know

the effect for the both parties.

RESEARCH LOCALLE

The whole research, Analysis On The Performance Of Non- Accredited

Travel Agency In Providing Tour Package For Foreign Travelers Within The

Philippines, will be conducted in Manila City, Metro Manila.

RESEARCH RESPONDENTS

The researchers believed that they have the better knowledge and

understanding according to the topic that are prepared by the researchers.

 25 foreign clients with the age of 20- and up.

 Managers of Chosen travel agencies around Manila City, Metro Manila

DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE

The researchers will be providing request letters or permission letters

signed by their research adviser. These letters will be provided to the

respondents in order for them to know the limitations and also, to inform them

that they will be participating in this study.

They will be receiving different types of questionnaire. For the possible

clients, they will be receiving competitive surveys and for the chosen travel

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF
AERONAUTICS
Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

agencies, they will be receiving qualitative questionnaires that requires an

interview.

DATA ANALYSIS

The researches will be using descriptive data analysis and graphs to

provide the results of two gathered data. They will also provide joint analysis in

order to compare the two gathered data.

REFERENCES

www.bradwatch.com/blog/competitive-benchmarking-define-how-to-do-it/

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0267257X.1990.9964113

https://blog.cvent.com/events/feedback-survey/quatitative-vs-quantitative-

research-methods/

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/119297

file:///C:/Users/Yobab%20Kebab/Desktop/trigo/04_AveliniHoljevac_Basan.pdf

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