Application, Global

You recently inherited your aunt's tourist business, which creates custom tours of museums and other sites of interest in Washington, D.C. Your aunt had no employees; rather, she would contact an organization, such as a local historical society, and work directly with her contact at the organization to propose and arrange a tour. After the tour details were finalized, your aunt would open the tour to other people who might wish to take the same tour. This strategy allowed your aunt to have a confirmed number of people for the tour, and additional people made the tour more profitable.

You aunt's tour business has an excellent reputation and was regularly rec- ognized as a high-quality experience in tourist magazines and AARP publications. But almost all the people taking tours with your aunt's business are from the United States. You feel that you can substantially build the business if you also cater to foreign tourist groups. You will begin by seeking tourist groups from other English-speaking countries because you are not fluent in any language other than English.

You have decided that you must establish a Web presence if you are going to contact customers

from other countries. Your aunt's business has no Web presence because it was mainly promoted by

"word ot mouth endorsements from people who had taken tours with your aunt. You view this as an opportunity because you are now able to create the Web presence without having to worry about how it will interact with any existing Web presence for the business

Review Questions

1. What challenges do vou expect to encounter as vou try to attract tour groups trom other countries?
2. How will customers from other countries pay for the tours? Will you accept payment in currencies other than the U.S.