Travel And Tourism Industry And Virgin Atlantic

Travel And Tourism Industry And Virgin Atlantic The first organisation I want to talk about is Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic is an extremely popular and successful airline. Virgin Atlantic provides many services on board their flights, and its a scheduled service. Organisation Two: The Tour Operator Thomson. The second organisation Im going to talk and describe is Thomson Tour Operators which is part of the TUI group. Thomson are a multinational tour operator, and they offer a great deal of services towards the consumers who choose to holiday with them. A tour operator has major responsibilities towards the consumer, the travel agent that books the holidays, flights and other ancillary services, and even airport staff from ground handling and aircraft maintenance. Although Thomson can fall under the category of airline, they are also a tour operator and travel agents. Thomson is listed in all three component areas. Thomson specialises in package holidays, but it doesnt just limit the company to that. It provides a great deal of services towards the customer such as: Flights Hotels Car Hire Insurance Package Holidays Below I will analyse and discuss the services of each of the above listed products. Flights: Flights are a crucial product of Thomson. With Thomson creating package holidays to match their customers specific needs, they need a way to transport them to their destinations. Thomson have a large fleet of aircraft in their company, almost the majority being Boeing 767s. When a customer books a holiday with Thomson, naturally, the travel agent or their company website that books the holiday, has to arrange seats on an aircraft. Thomson are a chartered airline, and offer many inflight services, at a small cost, or sometimes, depending on the service completely free. Thomsons airlines offer the customer services such as Duty Free, on board entertainment, meal and drinks services, premium class and priority handling. This is a difference with low cost budget airlines, as a charge has to be made for all services, right down the baggage allowance. When a customer books a package holiday, or even just a flight, for a specific date, a seat on one of Thomsons aircraft has to be available, otherwise, the customer can simply not go on that date. Hotels: Travel companies and tour operators leases hotel rooms from many chains of hotel, so their customers can reside there whilst on their holiday. This all comes back to availability, if a customer books a package holiday, the flight seat has to be available, along with a hotel room, or as many rooms required by the consumer. However, this is not that big an issue, as computers and technology makes this easy for travel agents or even the customer at home. Hotels have to be up to the standard stated on Thomsons website, if Thomsons state that a hotel has five stars, it has to have five stars, again with product description, if the website of the travel agent where the holiday was booked states that the hotel has a sea view, then it must otherwise this breaches the trades and product description act. Hotels have to live up to not only the consumer expectations, but the Tour Operators too, in this case Thomson. Thomson wants the customer to have a relaxing and enjoyable time whilst on holiday, and if the hotel is damaged, or services are not up to scratch, this can seriously jeopardise the customers overall happiness and satisfaction. The consumer may, or probably will complain to a travel rep onsite, and this is reported back to Thomson or the travel agents where holiday was booked, the Tour Operator may choose to terminate the contract if a high volume of complaints are received, as this will not only damaged the hotels name, but also Thomsons too, who are responsible for the customers satisfaction. Errors like this can prevent return business, and referral to that customers friends. Its all about first impressions. Now within the hotel, there are many roles that have to be performed daily or regularly. A major role that is essential, not only to maintain the hotel is cleaning. The hotel has to be clean, not only for the image and reputation of the hotel, but for the customers satisfaction. If a customer walks into the lobby, and finds garbage and paper all over the floor, their first impression of their accommodation will not be the best, and may put them off from enjoying their holiday all together. Rooms are cleaned daily in hotels, but certain hotels have gone green meaning services such as bed sheets are only changed every other day, and towels are washed every few days, unless stated by the customer, by the use of a card that informs the cleaners to take away and replace the towels and sheets. Hotels are responsible for the satisfaction of the customer, as well as the travel reps, and tour operator. All staff in hotels should be friendly, including the cleaners. Hotel staff are responsible along with a travel rep, in this case a Thomson Travel rep to ensure that the customer is enjoying him/herself. If a customer has a problem, they should feel like they can approach a travel rep, or a member of the hotels staff, to complain and have the problem addressed. Complaints should be dealt with quickly and appropriately. If there is an issue with a hotel room, and the customer is dissatisfied, then the customer should either be given a replacement room, or have the problem resolved as quickly as possible. Pass Three: Write a review on the different types of interrelationships in the travel and tourism industry for example: Chains of distribution, integration (Including both Horizontal and Vertical) and interdependencies. Use diagrams where applicable to illustrate your review.

The NASA Haughton-Mars Project. :: essays research papers

The NASA Haughton-Mars Project. A thousand miles or so from the Earth's North pole lies our planet's largest uninhabited island, Devon Island. Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island on Earth, with a surface area of approximately 66,800 km2. Its geology presents two major provinces: a thick (presently ~ 1.3 km) subhorizontal sequence of Paleozoic (Cambrian to Devonian) marine sedimentary rocks dominated by carbonates (dolomite and limestone) forming part of the Arctic Platform; and a Precambrian crystalline (gneissic) basement lying unconformably under the stack of marine sediments, forming part of the Canadian Shield. The Paleozoic sediments present a gentle dip of approximately 4Â ° towards the west. The flat-topped plateau characterizing much of Devon Island's surface is an old erosional surface (peneplain) exposing sediments of increasing age towards the east. Devon Island is home to one of the highest-latitude impact structures known on Earth, Haughton Crater. At 20 kilometers in diameter the crater fo rmed 23 million years ago, at the beginning of the Miocene, when an asteroid or a comet collided with our planet. Little imagination is required to believe oneself on Mars when exploring Devon Island. Many features and sites there are strikingly reminiscent of the Martian landscape, from barren rocky blockfields to intricate valley networks, from precipitous winding canyons to recent gully systems on their slopes. We come here to understand whether this resemblance is merely a coincidence or whether there are common underlying causes. Did some of the processes that shaped Devon Island also operate on Mars? The object that struck Devon Island was perhaps 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) in diameter. Coming in at cosmic speeds, the impactor delivered a pulse of energy equivalent to 100 million kilotons of TNT. In so doing, it produced a blinding flash of light followed by a monumental air blast that flattened the surroundings, obliterating almost all life several hundred kilometers around. As the impactor itself blended into the target rocks and vanished as a superheated gas, a colossal shock wave expanded into the subsurface. Rocks were crushed, melted, vaporized, and ejected. Soon, a gaping crater 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) wide and 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) deep appeared, only to shallow out moments later as its unstable walls collapsed inwards. As the dust cleared, a smoldering hole filled with a vast pool of chunky molten carbonates appeared. Haughton Crater was born. Early research efforts at Haughton focused on studies of the crater itself with investigations into a possible Mars analog angle remaining unexplored.

Modern Business Statistics with Microsoft excel Essay

When are you entitled to deduct interest? If you run a business in part of your home, you are entitled to deduct part of the interest on money you borrowed to buy your home if: part of your home is set aside exclusively as a place of business and is clearly identifiable as such, and that part of the home is not readily adaptable for private use, for example, a doctor’s surgery located within a doctor’s home. If you rent out part of your home with access to general living areas on an arm’s length basis, you are entitled to deduct part of the interest on money borrowed to buy the home (see Taxation Ruling IT 2167). In these situations you would satisfy the interest deductibility test. This means you would not obtain a full main residence exemption and so would have to pay tax on part of any capital gain made when you sell your home. You may satisfy the interest deductibility test even if you didn’t borrow money to acquire your home – you must apply it on the assumption that you did borrow mon ey to acquire it. You also satisfy the test if you were entitled to claim a deduction for the interest, even if you didn’t actually claim the deduction. There is a special rule to work out the amount of your capital gain or loss if you first use your home to produce income in a way that satisfies the interest deductibility test after 20 August 1996. Last Modified: Tuesday, 30 June 2009 Main residence exemption – the effect of using your home to produce income Where you first use your home to produce income after 20 August 1996 If you start using your home to produce income (in a way that would satisfy the interest deductibility test) for the first time after 20 August 1996, there is a special rule for working out your capital gain or loss. In this case, you are taken to have acquired your home at its market value at the time it is first used to produce income if all of the following apply: you acquired the home on or after 20 September 1985Â  you first used it to produce income after 20 August 1996 Â  you would get only a part exemption because the home was used to produce assessable income during the period you owned it, and you would have been entitled to a full exemption if you had sold the home immediately before you first used it to produce income. The effect of this rule applying is that the period before the home is first used by you to produce income is not taken into account in working out the amount of any capital gain or loss . The extent of the exemption for the period after the home was first used to produce income depends on the proportion of the home used to produce income. Example: Home first used to produce income after 20 August 1996 Louise purchased a home in December 1991 for $200,000. The home was her main residence. On 1 November 2001 she started to use 50% of the home for a consultancy business. At that time the market value of the house was $220,000. She decided to sell the property in August 2002 for $250,000. The capital gain is 50% of the proceeds less the cost base. Percentage of use X (proceeds – cost base) = capital gain 50% X ($250,000 – $220,000) = $15,000 Louise is taken to have acquired the property on 1 November 2001 at a cost of $220,000. Because she is taken to have acquired it at this time, Louise is taken to have owned it for less than 12 months and therefore cannot apply the indexation or discount method to calculate her capital gain.

Property Laws in China - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2412 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Research paper Tags: China Essay Intellectual Property Essay Did you like this example? Chinese Commercial Law: Assignment One Development of the Intellectual Property Laws and Protection of the Foreign Intellectual Property rights in China Introduction According to the World Trade Organisation, Intellectual Property rights are defined as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds which give the creator an exclusive right over the use of the creation for a certain period of time.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ The period of time at which an individual own the Intellectual Property rights varied across the world and also depends on the creation itself. The Intellectual property rights are divided into two categories. The first category is the copyright and rights related to copyright which cover mostly literary and artistic works. The second category is the Industrial property which is further classified into protection of distinctive signs, in particular trademarks and those that are related to invention, innovation, design and the creation of technology with the aim of attracting investment in the development of new technology, thus giving the incentive and means to finance research and development activit ies. Infringement of the Intellectual property rights is said to have occurred when an individual or a firm used the protected Intellectual property rights without an authorisation or permission from the legally recognised owner of the creation within the protected period. Since the Intellectual Property right is a huge topic of study and it has been vastly covered in the existing literature, it is beyond the scope of this paper to cover every aspect of the Intellectual Property right. However, this assignment will explore the historical development of Chinese Intellectual Property laws, adoption of the intellectual property laws in China, studied two Cases involving the protection of foreign intellectual property rights in China and in conclusion, the essay will make some remarks on the current trends and how China is implementing its intellectual property laws as well as future scenarios and challenges facing foreign companies in their quest to do business and continue to prote ct their intellectual property rights in China. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Property Laws in China" essay for you Create order Historical development of the Intellectual Property Laws in China The original concept of Intellectual property right in China can be dated back to A.D. 835. The first known pronouncement and protection of the intellectual property rights was in the form of an edict issued by Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty. This edict had à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"prohibited unauthorised reproduction by persons of calendars, almanacs, and related items that might be used for prognostication.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ The role of the edict was later expanded to prohibit unauthorised copying and distribution of state legal pronouncements and official histories, and the reproduction, distribution, or possession of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"devilish books and talksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (yaoshu yaoyan) and most works on Buddhism and Daoism (prognostication).à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ The intellectual property laws in the modern China did not come without a concerted effort and push from the western countries which were worried of losing their trade and markets due to coping and violation of the intellectual property rights in China. The 20th Century American concerns and pressure on China to protect the intellectual property on Americans goods has been very prominent in this effort. In 1903, the USA induced China to sign a commercial treaty which granted copyright, patent, and trademark protection to Americans in return for reciprocal protection to the Chinese. Following this treaty, China embarked on the legislating various aspect of the intellectual property right. Among them was the introduction of the copyright law in 1910, patent law 1912, and trademark law in 1923 but all these laws were not put into practice and offered foreigners very limited intellectual property protection. The wait for the proper attention to intellectual property protection in China went on until the signing of the American and Chinese governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s intellectual property agreements of 1990s which consequently have a huge impact on the development C hinese intellectual property laws. After China reopen its shores for trade with the western nations, particularly the US, the European nations and Japan, the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Republic of China entered into an Agreement on Trade Relations with the United States of America which called for copyright, patent, and trademark protection to the nationals of the other party. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was approximated that the United States lost about $2 billion of revenues annually due to rampant piracy in China. The quantification of such losses made the US furious. In order to protect its businesses, the U.S. government adopted a coercive policy, which involved threatening China repeatedly with economic sanctions, trade wars, non-renewal of most-favo[u]red-nation status, and opposition to Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). As result, Chinese leaders began to show interest in implementing domestic legal reforms. Following this ch ange of policy in 1990, China enacted various intellectual property right legislations and in 1996, China issued the Regulations on the Certification and Protection of Famous Trademarks and the Regulations on the Protection of New Plant Varieties as well as amending its criminal law to include a section on intellectual property crimes. In order to enforce these laws effectively, China upgraded the State Patent Bureau to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). Adoption of the Intellectual Property Laws in China According to a report published by Wang Jing Co, in 2009 alone, the Supreme Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s court heard 15,302 copyright cases, 6,906 cases for trademarks, 4,422 cases regarded patents and the Court the total disputed amount for first instance cases was RMB 3billion .Out of all the cases heard in 2009, , foreign parties were involved in 1,361, an increase of about 19% from 2008. The arbitration of these cases have shown the commitment of the People Republic of China in prosecuting those who infringed on the intellectual property rights of others and protecting the intellectual property rights for both domestic and foreign companies and individual. This was a move by the government of the People Republic of China in implementing it policy agenda and encouraging innovation and invention. China amended it Criminal Law in 1997 in order to give the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s supreme Court powers to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"severe punishment against serious violations of intellectu al property rights, such as counterfeit and piracy.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ The criminal law is implemented together with the three main intellectual property laws in China which are applied together with accompanying regulations by the Supreme Peoples Court. These intellectual property laws are the Trademark Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Revised in 2002). Copyright Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Revised in 2001). Patent Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Revised in 2008). In order to reverse the infringement trend, the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Courts has been imposing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"severe penalties for infringements as provided by lawà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. This is purposely designed to cut the cost of intellectual property law enforcement and increases the financial cost of the infringement. The Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Courts apply the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"principle of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“give priority to mediation; combine mediation and adjudicationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (tiaojie youxian, tiaopan jiehe) to ensure full and final resolution.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Therefore, only serious infringement cases and those whose mediation has failed proceed to court. Two Cases Involving the Protection of Foreign Intellectual Property Rights in China Case One: BMW v Shenzhen Century Baoma Apparel Co. Ltd Using the Trademark Law of the Peoples Republic of China and the Regulations for Recognition and Protection of Well-Known Marks, BMW sued Shenzhen Century Baoma Apparel Co. Ltd for unfair competition practices and trade mark infringement. BMW argued that its trademark was a well know brand and it would be damaged by the respondent for mimicking it logo as well as it letters which may easily confuse consumers. The legal issue presented before the Supreme Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court for decision was whether Shenzhen Century Baoma Apparel Co. Ltd has involved in unfair competition practices and has infringed the BMW trade mark? This question was addressed by the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court by applying the existing laws and regulations. The law which was applied is the Trademark Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Revised in 2002) and the Regulations for Recognition and Protection of Well-Known Marks. The regulations were passed to prevent registration of famous trademarks by non-owners in other countries. In this case, during the application of the law in protecting intellectual property rights, the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court consideration of elements such as the distinctiveness of the trade mark and market awareness where are the forefront in the analysis of the case. During the proceeding, the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court recognised that the BMW trademark and logo was a popular brand and Baoma should have foreseen the damage it would cause by violating it. The Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court held that Shenzhen Century Baoma Apparel Co. Ltd has intentionally misled the public and violated generally accepted business ethics, which constituted trade mark infringement and further damaged the BMWà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s reputation. Since Shenzhen Century Baoma Apparel Co. Ltd was dealing with mixed product with some carrying similar logo to BMW, it was very difficult to estimate the amount of profit made by Baoma due to this infringement. T herefore, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"the court awarded RMB 500,000 to BMW, the maximum permitted by statute in cases in which the infringerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s profits are unknown.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Under the Regulations for Recognition and Protection of Well-Known Marks, BMW trademark receives protection. Therefore, this case has set an authority which may feature in similar future cases of trademark infringement in China. Case Two: Criminal Liabilities in Copyright Infringement: Chengdu Share-Software, Sun Xianzhong (Individual), Zhang Tianping (Individual), Hong Lei (Individual), Liang Chaoyong (Individual) In 2009, the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Courts found Chengdu Share-Software Net Science and Technology Co. Ltd and group of the individuals listed in the case above as criminally liable for coping a Windows XP operating system without Microsoftà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s authorization, and made a software know as Tomato Garden softwareà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ that allowed users unrestricted access to certain Microsoft softwares, as well as provided technical support and access through free downloads online.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ From the onset of this case, the legal issue presented before the Supreme Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court for decision was whether Chengdu Share-Software Net Science and Technology Co. Ltd and the assisting groud of individual defendants have copied a Microsoft Windows XP operating system by developing the Tomato Garden software that allowed users unrestricted access to certain Microsoft softwares. Like many other cases in China, the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court followe d a strict application of the laws. The law being applied in this case was the Copyright Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Revised 2001) and Patent Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Revised in 2008). During the application of these laws in protecting the intellectual property rights of the Microsoft, the court developed three main doctrines which guide the decision and sentencing of the accused. Firstly, the court took a position that profiting from copied software is unacceptable and the offenders are culpable of a criminal offence. Secondly, developing and producing plagiarised software is punishable with imprisonment and finally, using foreign intellectual property without authorisation and profit from it has been criminalised as this case has set a precedent. This was the first case in China where the copyright infringement has been given a criminal liability. From this case, China has demonstrated its clear intention to implement its international obligations rega rding the equal protection of foreign copyright holders under the Paris Convention. This is a sign that piracy and copying of foreign softwares is illegally and it is no longer accepted in China. The Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Court found that all the accused were culpable for copying the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. Therefore, Chengdu Share-Software was order to pay a fine of RMB 9 million and ordered to forfeit all RMB 2.9 million of illegal earnings. The president of Chengdu Share-Software and all the defendants were jailed for three and half years and the company website and Tomato software were shut down. This case has a huge significant when it comes to the turn of events in China regarding the protection of the IP rights because it is the first case in China where a criminal liability has been imposed for infringement of the IP rights. It is also acting as a stern warning to individuals and companies which may be tempted to violate intellectual property rights with a view of profiting from it. The case has also demonstrated that China has the willingness to protect foreign intellectual property rights thus, the Microsoft intellectual property right was protected in this particular case. Conclusion The current trends and how China is implementing its intellectual property laws indicated that China is on the right trajectory regarding the protection of the intellectual property rights. Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s reform and opening-up (gaige kaifang) has spurred the development of intellectual property since the late 1970s and early 1980s. A study conducted by Nathan W. Snyder, suggested that domestic Chinese firms and individuals support the concept of trademarks and trademark litigation with over 76% of disputes being filed by Mainland plaintiffs. It also found that case outcomes are not affected by litigantsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ nationalities or locations. In his view, foreign companies were more likely to both win and receive compensation through either adjudication or mediation. In china, businesses can combat the intellectual property right infringement through either the State Administration for Industry, the State Press and Publication Administration and Commerce or throu gh the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Courts. To better protect intellectual property rights, China has enacted comprehensive compulsory licensing schedules which require the individual or the owner of the intellectual property to register their creation. From the two cases of BMW and Microsoft which have been studied in this assignment, it is evidence that the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Republic of China has shown the intention to implement it international obligation in protecting intellectual property right for domestic and foreign companies. As indicated in the literature and by the two cases, any violation of the intellectual property right is not accepted and it has been criminal in some serious cases. Even though China civilisation has been dated back to over 4000 years, the country has been lagging behind in it development of the intellectual property laws. Majority of the current intellectual property laws were legislated in 1990s and the associated implementation regulatio ns were passed just from 2000 to 2014. This means that China has still got some room to improve it laws as well as strengthening it judicial processes when dealing with intellectual property rigt violation. On the positive note, the Peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Republic of China has set some precedents in protection of the foreign intellectual property right has demonstrated in the case of BMW and Microsoft and it would be fair to conclude that China is indeed protecting the intellectual property right of those companies which are doing business in China.