"How to Organize, Market & Lead International Programs: A Handbook" is a must read for any individual, group, or organization (church, club, university, professional association, or whatever) contemplating running a group international travel program for fun or profit. And, since the international travel industry is globally uniform, this guide will help you plan your tour regardless of your nationality or destination(s).

Conveniently organized topically in outline form, this handbook addresses all the significant factors and potential pitfalls of such a task. Written by an American college professor with more than 40 years of international travel experience and more than 30 years organizing, leading, and marketing such programs for his college and community, this is a one-of-a-kind guide regarding programs. There is nothing on the market like it!

General topics include, but are not limited to: Successful tour organization and management; types of travel providers; travel information resources essential for planning; tour operator selection, negotiations, and interaction; itinerary design; calculating costs and profit margins; payment and billing procedures; insurance and legalities; program promotion; in addition to leadership and group dynamics in foreign environments.

The handbook also details topics to be addressed by the tour leader, in terms of the pre-departure orientation of participants via newsletters, including passports and immunizations, packing, airport and hotel procedures, money matters, international frontiers, shopping, tipping, issues of health and safety, cultural do’s and don’ts, emergency procedures, the specter of culture shock, difficulties characteristic of group travel, the avoidance of overseas travel scams, common fears associated with international travel, etc.

Very importantly, the handbook provides explanations and samples of necessary forms connected with international travel programs such as: Participant applications forms; tour “terms and conditions” contracts; necessary certificates of insurance; travel agent / organization agreements; proof of emergency medical, accident, and evacuation insurance; agreement to participate and waiver / assumption of risk forms; medical emergency information forms, and so on.

You and your organization do not want to embark on planning an international travel program without having studied this handbook!


About the Author:

Professor Roger S. Patching is Professor and Chair of the History and Political Science Department at a college in California. He specializes academically in international relations, works in the coordination of international education, and has studied and taught overseas. He has traveled abroad all of his life, beginning on his own in his late teens. During the last 30 years he has, under the auspices of his college and the community, designed, organized, marketed, and led programs established for broad based participation to destinations throughout Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia, North Africa, South America, Russia and the former Soviet Union, China, and multiple safaris in East Africa, among others.