Free-lancers

There are people in tourism who work for themselves. They are called free-lancers. They don't work full-time for any tourist com- pany. They work part-time or in high season only. They don't work in low and оff-season. Among free-lancers there are guides, guides-interpreters, escorts, animators, travel writers. Tourist companies employ them for per- sonal work. Cruising companies, resort hotels and holiday centres employ animators for summer high season. Travel agencies which deal with in-coming tourism employ guides, guides-interpreters, escorts. Travel writers offer their articles to magazines and newspa- pers when they wish to. Often magazines order special articles on tourist subjects from travel writers. Free-lancers are registered. It means that, on the one hand, they have got licences. Licences prove their qualifications and give them permission to work. On the other hand, if they are registered, they рау taxes. Free-lancers are, as а rule, members of professional associations. In high season free-lancers earn а lot of money. Iп low and off-season they don't earn any money at all or do some other job. Teachers work as free-lance guides. Students work as escorts. Actors work as animators. Travel writers are often permanent free-lancers.

Thomas cook company

Thomas Cook Company is the oldest travel company in the world. As а matter of fact, Thomas Cook from England opened the age of organized tourism. It started in 1841 when Thomas Cook arranged the first trip for 570 Englishmen by railway. Iп 1843 Thomas Cook organized the first group tour by train. This time he provided tourists with meals and tickets for the races. So it was the first package tour. Later on Thomas Cook made arrangements for organized visits to the First International Industrial Exhibition. The Exhibition opened in London in 1851. The tourists came from different parts of Eng- land. All those were domestic tours. However, Thomas Cook decided not to stick to domestic tourism within his country only. Four years later, in 1855 he arranged the first overseas trip. It was а tour to the Exhibition in Paris. After that regular tourist trips started to other countries of Europe. Thomas Cook continued expanding his travel business. Iп 1866 he arranged the first trip of two groups of Englishmen со the USA. Thomas Cook set up the first travel agency. Ву the end of the 19th century the company had its offices all over the world including Australia and New Zealand, selling millions of tickets and excursions. In the 20th century the company changed its owners many times.

The present-day пате of the company is Thomas Cook Group РI.С. It is still very active on the travel market. It is both а tour operator and а travel agency. Iп 2007 it became the second largest travel company in Europe, after TUI.