what is home based trip

Lecture 3 - Trip Generation

CIVE 461/861: Urban Transportation Planning

We can examine trip generation in several ways…

Academic Vs. Practitioner Considerations

• Practitioner struggle deciding between a theoretically sound but difficult to implement set of models & a more pragmatic modelling approach reflecting the limitations of the data, time, & resources available for a study
• Models are too complex
• Implies that heuristic approaches , rules of thumb, & ad hoc procedures are easier to understand & therefore preferable

Planning & Monitoring with the Help of Models

Classic 4-Step Travel Model

• Trip generation, 2) Trip distribution, 3) Modal split, & 4) Traffic assignment
• Generally recognized that travel decisions are not actually taken in this type of sequence
• Model sequencing depends on the form of the utility function assumed to govern all these travel choices
• Four-stage model is seen as concentrating attention on only a limited range of travellers’ responses
• Current thinking requires analysis of a wider range of responses to transport problems & schemes
• Route followed to avoid congestion or take advantage of new links - choice of parking place or combination of services in the case of public transport
• Mode used to get to the destination
• Departure time to avoid the most congested part of the peak
• Trip destination to a less congested area
• Trip frequency by undertaking the trip on another day, perhaps combining it with other activities

Trip Definitions

• Home-based work
• Home-based grade school
• Home-based university
• Home-based shopping
• Home-based other
• Non-Home-Based (NHB) Trip : A trip which neither starts nor ends at the home
• Trip production : The home end of a HB trip or origin of a NHB trip
• Trip attraction : The non-home end of a HB trip or the destination of a NHB trip

Trip Production & Attraction

Origin/Destination Vs. Production/Attraction

• Production & attraction approach works fine when dealing with 24-hour work trips
• Lose directionality when dealing with peak-period flows
• Typically use origin/destination approach

Trip Purpose

• Travel to work
• Travel to school or college (education trips)
• Shopping trips
• Social & recreational trips
• Escort trips (to accompany or collect someone else)
• Other trips (healthcare & personal business)
• First two are usually considered compulsory (mandatory) trips & we build skeleton schedules around them
• Other usually considered discretionary (optional) trips

Factors Affecting Trip Generation

• Since trip generation performed before distribution & mode split, usually do not use travel times, costs, etc.

Personal trip productions

• Car ownership
• Family size
• Household structure
• Value of land
• Residential density
• Accessibility
• First 4 considered in most household trip generation models
• Value of land & residential density often considered in zonal studies
• Accessibility rarely included in models but makes trip generation elastic (responsive) to changes in transport system

Personal trip attractions

• Floorspace available for industrial, commercial, & other services
• Zonal employment

Freight trip production & attraction

Number of employees

Number of sales

Roofed area of firm

Total area of firm

What about type of firm? Accessibility? Curiously, few applications in freight models despite it seeming logical that different products have different transport requirements

Trip Generation Aggregation

• Temporal aggregation : hourly, peak/off-peak, daily, weekly
• Persons: by income, driver’s license, vehicle ownership, occupation type, household size, etc.
• Households: by income, vehicle ownership, household size, number of workers, with/without children
• Zones : by location (e.g., downtown, suburb), major trip generator (e.g., hospital, stadium)
• Most operational models use either zones or households. Why?

Trip Generation Approaches

Three major operational approaches.

• Trip rate models
• Cross-classification models
• Regression models

Trip Rate Models

• Home-to-work trips for retail employees = Total observed trips by retail employees / Total retail employment
• Trip rates can be geographically stratified (i.e., different rates used for different areas of the city) & may combine multiple factors
• Total shopping trips=

A1 ×Population in Downtown Area + A2×Population in Inner Suburbs + A3×Population in Outer Suburbs

• Constant trip generation rate is estimated from observed data
• Trips attracted to a shopping mall = \(A_s \times {MallFloorArea}\)
• Trips generated by a zone = \(\sum_k A_k \times HH With Cars \text{ where k} = 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.\)
• Trips generated in a zone = \(t_i\)
• Trips generated in the future \(T_i = t_i \times PopulationGrowthRate\)

Cross-Classification Models

• Classify households (or persons) by one or more variables - often household size & number of vehicles
• Assume trip rates are relatively constant within each group
• Compute average trip rate for each group
• Zonal trips = sum of trips generated by all groups found in the zone
• Note: trip rate model is a cross-classification model by trip type not trip maker

Linear Regression Models

• Use regression to estimate “best fit” linear regression between # of trips & one or more explanatory variables \[T=1.229+1.379V\]
• Where \(T\) is daily trip productions per household for all purposes & \(V\) is the # of vehicles per household \[A=61.4+0.93E\]
• Where \(A\) is daily work trip attractions for a given zone & \(E\) is total zonal employment

Parameter Signs & Theoretical Expectations

• Model specification should “make sense” from behavioral & theoretical perspectives
• Variables included should have a causal influence on the dependent variable
• Parameters should have expected signs (+ or -)
• Parameters should have reasonable magnitudes

Parameter Signs & Theoretical Expecations

• Do these parameter signs make sense? \[Daily HH Trips= 3 Persons In HH − 0.5 HH Vehicles\]
• No : We expect trip making to increase with # of vehicles
• Does this parameter magnitude make sense? \[Daily HH Work Trips=0.2 HH Workers\]
• No : We expect each worker to make approx. 2 trips per day
• Does it make sense to include No. of HH workers in the model? \[Daily HH School Trips=1+0.2 HH Workers\]
• No : There’s no logical/causal relationship between no. of workers & school trips

Or Could The School Model Make Sense?…

International institute for applied systems analysis in austria:.

• Women with no schooling - 4.5 children
• Women with 2-3 years of primary school – 3 children
• Women who complete one or two years of secondary school - 1.9 children (replacement rate is 2.1 children)
• With one or two years of college, the average childbearing rate falls even further, to 1.7
• When women enter the workforce, start businesses, inherit assets, & otherwise interact with men on an equal footing, children per household fades even more dramatically

Zonal-Based Multiple Regression

Some important considerations.

• For this reason, only successful if inter-zonal variations reflect real reasons for trip variation
• Necessary that zones are homogeneous in socioeconomic composition & represent a wide range of conditions
• Major problem is that main variation in person trips is intra-zonal
• Role of intercept : One would expect estimated regression line to pass through zero but large intercepts are common. Why?
• Null zones : No information about certain dependent variables (e.g., no. HB trips in a non-residential zone). These zones must be excluded from analysis

Some important considerations cont…

• Zonal totals vs. zonal means : when formulating model, analyst has choice between aggregate or total variables , such as trips per zone or cars per zone vs. rates, such as trips per household or cars per household in the zone
• Important difference: \[Y_i=\beta_0+\beta_1 X_{1i}+\beta_2 X_{2i}+…+\beta_k X_{𝑘𝑖}+E_𝑖 \text{ (total trip model)}\] \[𝑦_i=\beta_0+\beta_1 x_1i+\beta_2 x_2i+…+\beta_k x_{𝑘𝑖}+e_i \text{ (trip rate model)}\]
• Where \(y_i=Y_i/H_i\) , \(x_i=X_i/H_i\) , & \(e_𝑖=E_i/H_i\)

Even more important considerations…

• Similar equations & parameters have a similar interpretation
• However , unless \(H_i\) is constant across zones, constant variance condition cannot hold for error terms in total trips model
• Aggregate variables reflect size of zone, thus magnitude of error depends on size of zone - heteroskedasticity (variability in variance)
• Using a \(1/H_i\) multiplier normalizes the model & reduces heteroskedasticity because model becomes independent of zone size
• Aggregate variable models often yield higher \(R^2\) but spurious effect from zone size helping to explain total trips
• DO NOT mix rate & aggregate variables in same model
• Even when rates used, zonal regression is conditioned by nature & size of zones ( spatial aggregation problem )
• Interzonal variance diminishes with larger zone size

Household-Based Regression

• More expensive models in terms of data collection, calibration, & operation
• Larger sampling errors (regression to mean with larger samples, so small zone means not capturing average person), which is assumed non-existent by multiple linear regression model
• Household used rather than person because we have a hard time incorporating intra-household dynamics (e.g., vehicle availability) - Some advances but still not great
• Can decide on variables in step-wise process but must be careful - May exclude a variable with slightly lower prediction that is easier to forecast
• Opposite approach of including all variables & removing variables can be a better approach

Validity of Linear Regression Assumption

• Regression models are easy to construct & use
• No correlations between explanatory variables
• Residual \(e_i = y_{i,observed} – y_{i,predicted}\)
• Residuals should be normally distributed with constant variance – can plot a histogram to check
• Residuals should be uncorrelated with any explanatory variable – can plot residuals vs. explanatory variables

Histogram of Residuals

Residuals Vs. Explanatory Variables

• Three variables are defined \(X\) , \(Y\) , & \(Z\) where \(X\) & \(Z\) are explanatory variables & \(Y\) is the dependent variable

First Model \(y = aX + b\)

Analysis of Residuals Vs. X

Analysis of Residuals Vs. Z

Second Model \(y = aX bZ + c\)

Analysis of Residuals Vs. X & Z$

Dealing With Non-Linear Relationships

Transform the Explanatory Variable (add \(x^2\) term)

Other Transformations

• Log transformation, \(x’ = ln(x)\) if effects starts strong at low x but reaches limiting return with further increases in \(x\) (often used for income variables)
• \(X_1\) = 0 if vehicle ownership = 0 & 1 if vehicle ownership > 0
• \(X_2\) = 1 if married & 0 otherwise
• \(X_1\) = age in years \(\times\) income less than $30k
• \(X_2\) = age in years \(\times\) income $30k-$60k
• \(X_3\) = age in years \(\times\) income over $60k
• \(X_4\) = gender (male) \(\times\) have fulltime job
• \(X_5\) = gender (male) \(\times\) have parttime job

Non-Linearity in Trip Generation Variables

• Linear regression assumes each independent variable exerts a linear influence on the dependent variable
• Not easy to detect non-linearity because relationship can appear linear until other variables enter into the model (i.e., it is representing the effect of multiple variables with a linear overall effect)
• Multivariate graphs can be helpful to identify non-linearity

Consider the variables trips per household ( \(Y\) ), number of workers ( \(𝑋_1\) ), and number of vehicles ( \(𝑋_2\) ). Successive steps were performed of a stepwise model estimation. Values (in parenthesis) are t-ratios. In the step 4 model, \(Z_1\) takes the value 1 for households with one car and 0 otherwise and \(Z_2\) takes the value 1 for households with two or more cars and 0 otherwise. We can see that zero car households will have the value 0 for both \(Z_1\) and \(Z_2\) . Even without the higher \(R^2\) , the step 4 model would be preferred because it clearly demonstrates there is a non-linear effect that’s ignored by \(𝑋_2\) .

Variable Selection & Model Building

• Problem : Choose the set of appropriate explanatory variables from a set of candidate variables - variable selection
• Exploring all possible variables - many combinations
• Forward selection : add variables to the model one at a time until there are no remaining candidate variables that improve fit
• Backward elimination : begin with all possible variables & remove the least significant variables
• Are there problems with these approaches?

Variable Specification & Forecasting

• Consider variables important for explaining differences in trip-making decisions
• Frequency & data plotting gives idea of variability with respect to different variables
• Variable choice depends on availability of observed information & capacity to forecast
• Statistical significance tests
• Model goodness of fit can be used to identify impact of specific variables

Model Validation

• A good way to validate a model is to compare observed vs. modeled values for some groupings of the data
• Better than comparing totals because biases may cancel in that case (high prediction cancels with low prediction)
• Errors are reasonably low (i.e., less than 30%)
• Large bias could be addressed by adjusting model parameters, but it’s not easy because there are no clear rules

Model Validation - Learning From Machine Learning

• Leave-one-out (LOO) & k-folds cross-validation to get mean & std. dev.
• Score (R2 for linear regression)
• Mean absolute error (MAE)

Obtaining Zonal Totals

• Simple process for zone-based models because already modeling total trips
• \(T_i=H_i(0.91+1.44\bar{X}_{1i}+1.07\bar{X}_{2i}\) where \(T_i\) is the total number of HB trips in zone \(i\)
• With dummy variables, we need to know the number of households in each group
• \(T_i=H_i(0.84+1.41X)+0.75H_{1i}+3.14H_{2i}\) where \(H_{1i}\) is the number of one vehicle households & \(H_{2i}\) is the number of two vehicle households in zone \(i\)

Matching Generations & Attractions

Models do not guarantee, by default, that total trips originating in a zone (the origins O_𝑖) at all zones will equal the total trips attracted (the destinations 𝐷_𝑗)

Following expression may not hold \[\sum_i O_i=\sum_j D_j\]

Generally assumed that trip generation models are better than trip attraction models

Total trips are then \(T=\sum_i O_i\) & a factor applied to trip attraction \[f=T/\sum_j D_j\]

This equality is necessary for the next model step: trip distribution

Growth Factor Modeling

• Growth factor method given by \[T_{i+t}=F_tT_i\]
• Where \(T_i\) is total trips at time \(i\) , \(T_{i+t}\) is total trips at time \(i+t\) , & \(F_i\) is a growth factor. Determining total current trips is a simple process but forecasting future trips (i.e., \(F_t\) ) is a big challenge
• \(F_t\) is related to variables such as population ( \(P\) ), income ( \(I\) ), & car ownership ( \(C\) ) \[F_t = \frac{f(P_t,I_t,c_t)}{f(P_i,I_i,c_i)}\]

Growth Factor Example

Consider a zone with 250 households with vehicles and 250 households without vehicles. Assuming we know the average trip generation rates of each group:

• Vehicle-owning households produce 6.0 trips/day
• Non-vehicle-owning households produce 2.5 trips/day

We can determine the current number of trips as \[T_i = 250 \times 2.5 + 250 \times 6.0 = 2125 \text{ trips/day}\]

Let’s assume that all households in the future have a vehicle. We can then estimate a simple multiplicative growth factor as \[F_t = 1/0.5 = 2.0\] \[T_{i+t} = 2 \times 2125 = 4250 \text{ trips/day}\]

Growth factor methods are crude & generally used in practice for external trips where additional information is not available

• Let us also assume that in the future all households will have a vehicle, but income & population remain unchanged

\[T_i = 6 \times 500 = 3000 \text{ trips/day}\]

• But do we expect non-vehicle households to make this many more trips if income is not changing?

Stability & Updating Trip Generation Model

• Temporal stability : Population/socio-economic structure changes over time & affects trip rates
• Geographic stability : Trip-making patterns vary from place to place
• If models were developed using old data , it is necessary to update the model for present situation
• Best way to re-estimate trip generation model using present data
• If sufficient data is not available , we can update previously estimated model using small present data sample

Forecasting Variables In Trip Generation Analysis

• Standard variables are household totals, household size (and structure), number of vehicles owned, & household income
• Social circumstances likely affect travel
• Personal living alone will have a different set of tradeoffs & coordination patterns than person living in with others
• Multi-person household dynamics will vary depending on structure – several students living together may not coordinate trips in same way as a family
• Elderly people living with younger people may be more engaged outside the home than those living alone or with similarly aged persons
• Appearance of a pre-school children
• Time when youngest child reaches school age
• Time when youth leaves home & lives alone, with other young adults, or marries
• Time when all children of a couple have left home but couple has not retired yet
• Time when all members of a household reach retirement age
• Important factors for identifying/classifying households as being in similar life stage & potentially having more homogeneous travel patterns
• What about overall aging of population? Age tends to be associated with decline in mobility in change in lifestyle

Trip Generation Inelastic In Most Models

• Independent of the level of service provided in the transport system
• Probably unrealistic but only recently techniques have been developed which can take systematic account of these (induced demand) effects

What is the fundamental event of interest?

• Home-based (HB) trip : trip with the home (or hotel for a nonresident) being either the trip origin or destination
• Non-home-based (NHB) trip : trip where neither end of the trip is the home
• Trip production : defined as the home end of an HB trip or as the origin of an NHB
• Trip attraction : defined as the non-home end of an HB trip or the destination of an NHB
• Trip generation : total number of trips generated by households in a zone, both HB & NHB
• Usually has a purpose associated to it: work, study, shopping, leisure, etc.
• Tour or trip chain : a sequence of linked trips
• Contemporary models are generally interested in tours rather than trips . Why?

Trip Generation & Accessibility

• Classical transport planning (4-step) model can incorporate an iterative process between distribution & assignment, leaving trip generation unaltered
• True even in most contemporary models, which attempt to appropriately solve supply-demand equilibrium problem
• E.g., Extension of a subway line would not generate more trips between that zone & other zones
• May hold for compulsory trips but unlikely to hold for discretionary trips
• Attempts made to incorporate an accessibility measure into trip generation by replacing \(O_i = f(H_i)\) by \(f(H_i,A_i\) where \(H_i\) are household characteristics & \(A_i\) is an accessibility measure
• Often give wrong sign or non-significant results due to unresolved model dynamics & problems from using cross-sectional rather than longitudinal data
• Leads to activity-based models & trip frequency/scheduling choice models (discussed in CIVE864 )

CIVE461 Home

Fundamentals of Transportation/Trip Generation

Trip Generation is the first step in the conventional four-step transportation forecasting process (followed by Destination Choice , Mode Choice , and Route Choice ), widely used for forecasting travel demands. It predicts the number of trips originating in or destined for a particular traffic analysis zone.

Every trip has two ends, and we need to know where both of them are. The first part is determining how many trips originate in a zone and the second part is how many trips are destined for a zone. Because land use can be divided into two broad category (residential and non-residential) we have models that are household based and non-household based (e.g. a function of number of jobs or retail activity).

For the residential side of things, trip generation is thought of as a function of the social and economic attributes of households (households and housing units are very similar measures, but sometimes housing units have no households, and sometimes they contain multiple households, clearly housing units are easier to measure, and those are often used instead for models, it is important to be clear which assumption you are using).

At the level of the traffic analysis zone, the language is that of land uses "producing" or attracting trips, where by assumption trips are "produced" by households and "attracted" to non-households. Production and attractions differ from origins and destinations. Trips are produced by households even when they are returning home (that is, when the household is a destination). Again it is important to be clear what assumptions you are using.

• 1 Activities
• 2.1 Home-end
• 2.2 Work-end
• 2.3 Shop-end
• 3 Input Data
• 4.1 Home-end
• 4.2 Non-home-end
• 5 Normalization
• 6 Sample Problems
• 7 Variables
• 8 Abbreviations
• 9 External Exercises
• 10 Additional Problems
• 11 End Notes
• 12 Further reading
• 14 References

Activities [ edit | edit source ]

People engage in activities, these activities are the "purpose" of the trip. Major activities are home, work, shop, school, eating out, socializing, recreating, and serving passengers (picking up and dropping off). There are numerous other activities that people engage on a less than daily or even weekly basis, such as going to the doctor, banking, etc. Often less frequent categories are dropped and lumped into the catchall "Other".

Every trip has two ends, an origin and a destination. Trips are categorized by purposes , the activity undertaken at a destination location.

Some observations:

• Men and women behave differently on average, splitting responsibilities within households, and engaging in different activities,
• Most trips are not work trips, though work trips are important because of their peaked nature (and because they tend to be longer in both distance and travel time),
• The vast majority of trips are not people going to (or from) work.

People engage in activities in sequence, and may chain their trips. In the Figure below, the trip-maker is traveling from home to work to shop to eating out and then returning home.

Specifying Models [ edit | edit source ]

How do we predict how many trips will be generated by a zone? The number of trips originating from or destined to a purpose in a zone are described by trip rates (a cross-classification by age or demographics is often used) or equations. First, we need to identify what we think the relevant variables are.

Home-end [ edit | edit source ]

The total number of trips leaving or returning to homes in a zone may be described as a function of:

Home-End Trips are sometimes functions of:

• Housing Units
• Household Size
• Accessibility
• Vehicle Ownership
• Other Home-Based Elements

Work-end [ edit | edit source ]

At the work-end of work trips, the number of trips generated might be a function as below:

Work-End Trips are sometimes functions of:

• Area of Workspace
• Occupancy Rate
• Other Job-Related Elements

Shop-end [ edit | edit source ]

Similarly shopping trips depend on a number of factors:

Shop-End Trips are sometimes functions of:

• Number of Retail Workers
• Type of Retail Available
• Area of Retail Available
• Competition
• Other Retail-Related Elements

Input Data [ edit | edit source ]

A forecasting activity conducted by planners or economists, such as one based on the concept of economic base analysis, provides aggregate measures of population and activity growth. Land use forecasting distributes forecast changes in activities across traffic zones.

Estimating Models [ edit | edit source ]

Which is more accurate: the data or the average? The problem with averages (or aggregates) is that every individual’s trip-making pattern is different.

To estimate trip generation at the home end, a cross-classification model can be used. This is basically constructing a table where the rows and columns have different attributes, and each cell in the table shows a predicted number of trips, this is generally derived directly from data.

In the example cross-classification model: The dependent variable is trips per person. The independent variables are dwelling type (single or multiple family), household size (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5+ persons per household), and person age.

The figure below shows a typical example of how trips vary by age in both single-family and multi-family residence types.

The figure below shows a moving average.

Non-home-end [ edit | edit source ]

The trip generation rates for both “work” and “other” trip ends can be developed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression (a statistical technique for fitting curves to minimize the sum of squared errors (the difference between predicted and actual value) relating trips to employment by type and population characteristics.

A typical form of the equation can be expressed as:

Normalization [ edit | edit source ]

For each trip purpose (e.g. home to work trips), the number of trips originating at home must equal the number of trips destined for work. Two distinct models may give two results. There are several techniques for dealing with this problem. One can either assume one model is correct and adjust the other, or split the difference.

It is necessary to ensure that the total number of trip origins equals the total number of trip destinations, since each trip interchange by definition must have two trip ends.

The rates developed for the home end are assumed to be most accurate,

The basic equation for normalization:

Sample Problems [ edit | edit source ]

• Problem ( Solution )

Variables [ edit | edit source ]

Abbreviations [ edit | edit source ]

• H2W - Home to work
• W2H - Work to home
• W2O - Work to other
• O2W - Other to work
• H2O - Home to other
• O2H - Other to home
• O2O - Other to other
• HBO - Home based other (includes H2O, O2H)
• HBW - Home based work (H2W, W2H)
• NHB - Non-home based (O2W, W2O, O2O)

External Exercises [ edit | edit source ]

Use the ADAM software at the STREET website and try Assignment #1 to learn how changes in analysis zone characteristics generate additional trips on the network.

Additional Problems [ edit | edit source ]

• Additional Problems

End Notes [ edit | edit source ]

Further reading [ edit | edit source ].

• Trip Generation article on wikipedia

Videos [ edit | edit source ]

• Trip Generation
• Normalization

References [ edit | edit source ]

• Book:Fundamentals of Transportation

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• Building Your Business
• Business Taxes

Deducting Business Mileage to and From a Home Business

Car Expenses and Mileage To and From a Home Business

Business Mileage Deductions

Proving business related expenses, what car expenses can i deduct, how do i determine my deduction, keep good records, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Images By Tang Ming Tung / Getty Images

If you operate your business from your home, you can deduct business-related car expenses for travel back and forth from home to business locations for business purposes. These expenses include all of the costs of running your car, provided you can meet Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements.

• In general, you can deduct mileage resulting from business-related trips.
• Driving to the home of a client and making a business-specific trip to the bank to deposit money are examples of trips that may rack up deductible mileage.
• Keeping meticulous records of the business mileage you claim is a good way to protect yourself if you're audited.

Commuting expenses are generally not deductible because they are considered personal expenses. But driving from your home business to a client location or for business errands is not considered commuting, as long as you can meet the principal-place-of-business qualification.

Also, your mileage to work sites and back are business miles that must be supported by written documentation of where you went and how many business miles you traveled. Trips to the bank and post office for business matters also qualify as business mileage if documented. Trips for personal errands do not qualify.

The result of your records should be business miles for the year (with backup written or digital records) and total miles that were driven for the year. To document your total miles driven, take your odometer reading at the beginning and end of the year.

There are multiple mileage apps designed for business owners that can automatically track the miles you drive for business each day.

The IRS looks very carefully at car expenses for small businesses. They want to see that the expenses were truly business-related because non-business expenses for use of a car are not deductible. The IRS requires that you have detailed records that are:

• Noted at the time of the expense (not weeks or months later)
• Detail the date, the reason for the trip, and other information to show that the car travel was business-related

You don't have to include these records with your business tax return, but you should have them in case of an IRS audit. Since you can't make them up after you are notified of an audit, you will need to keep good travel records for your business from the very beginning, making it a habit of tracking the information noted above.​

During an audit, the IRS may check mileage totals listed on maintenance records it requested.

You can deduct all ordinary and necessary expenses related to business travel, but no personal travel.  If you have met the qualification noted above for your home business as your primary location, you can then deduct expenses from your home for car travel to and from locations where you do business. For example, you can deduct travel to and from: 

• The home of a client
• The office store where you buy office supplies
• Temporary job sites where you work for clients
• Places where you meet with clients, customers, or business advisers
• Your warehouse or the place where you keep your business inventory
• A convention center where you participated in a business seminar

In general, you can also deduct expenses for overnight business travel to and from your home-based business, just as you can for other business travel, including mileage or airfare, lodging, meals, and entertainment expenses, so long as those expenses aren't considered "lavish or extravagant" and aren't part of an indefinite work assignment.

You can use the standard mileage deduction rate set by the IRS , which changes every year, or you can keep track of actual costs for all car-related expenses.

Both the standard mileage and actual cost methods have advantages and drawbacks. Using the standard mileage rate is less trouble because all you have to do is set out the miles traveled for business purposes, but the actual cost method sometimes results in higher deduction amounts.

You must use the standard mileage deduction for the first year the car is available to use for your business.

Remember, although business travel to and from your home-based business is deductible, it must be documented and recorded at the time of the trip. Don't get caught shorthanded without these documents in the event of an IRS audit of your business.

What counts as business mileage for home office?

Generally speaking, miles you drive for business-related reasons count for the mileage deduction. For example, you can typically deduct travel to the home of a client, or trips to an office supply store for materials related to your home business .

Can I deduct mileage for my commute to work?

The rule of thumb is that you cannot deduct mileage for your commute to and from your workplace.

Wolters Kluwer. " Business Use of a Car Can Be Deductible ."

IRS. " Business Use of a Car ."

McGuire Law Firm. " IRS Audit Tip on Mileage Deduction ."

IRS. " Topic No. 511: Business Travel Expenses ."

• Forecasting

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Traffic Impact Study Improvements: Part 5 – When is a Trip Not a Trip?

By   Mike Spack

October 27, 2015

Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice President at Spack Consulting

Earlier this year, I detailed how our standard process for a Traffic Impact Study has several points of assumptions at best or guesses at worst. This post continues that discussion.  Check out the “ Top 6 Ways to Pick Apart a Traffic Study ” for more on the general topic and expect more posts to follow on this subject.

Trip generation is the process of estimating the amount of traffic a proposed development will have once it is built and operating. Trip distribution is the process by which we take the raw projected traffic for a development (trip generation) and add it to the existing volumes on the transportation network. The step in-between is determining whether all the trip generation will be new to the roadway.

To start with, there are several types of trips as follows (with definition summarized from the Institute of Transportation Engineers or ITE). The figure below illustrates the different types of trips.

• Primary or New.  Traffic with the specific purpose of visiting the site being studied.
• Pass-By.  Traffic already on the way from an origin to a primary trip destination that will make an intermediate stop at the site being studied without a route diversion.
• Diverted. Traffic attracted to the site being studied from adjacent facilities without direct access to the site. A diverted trip example is a through trip on a freeway that diverts to an exit and a development, adding traffic to the local road but removing traffic from the freeway.
• Internal.  Traffic associated with multi-use developments where trips among various land uses can be made on the site being studied without using the major street system. These trips can be made either by walking or by vehicles using internal roadways.

These different trip generation options, combined with so many different types of land uses, leads to virtually limitless possibilities for the amount and type of traffic a particular site could generate on the roadway system. As with our trip distribution column, we initially thought about testing multiple scenarios, which would be relatively easy with today’s software. At least, theoretically. To restate our collective conclusion – While interesting on a pure research level, a thicker actual traffic impact study report covering multiple results leads us down a path no one wants to go.

Furthermore, sub-dividing the raw trip generation into parts is not something that can be quantified into a “one-size fits all” equation. Given the possibilities and the limits of our collective traffic research to date, ITE provides the best procedure to follow. So this article is dedicated to reviewing that procedure, which is spelled out in ITE’s Trip Generation Handbook and Trip Generation Manual, Volume 1 . That step-by-step process is as follows:

• Raw Trip Generation.  Using ITE or other land use information (try tripgeneration.org !), calculate the raw trip generation for the site.
• Pass-By and Diverted Number of Trips. Use either local data or ITE data to determine a percentage of the reduced trip generation that is pass-by or diverted. Similar to the ITE Trip Generation data, both pass-by and diverted trip percentages are available by average rate or an equation for many land uses. Use this percentage to calculate the total pass-by and diverted trips for the site.
• Pass-By and Diverted Trip Patterns. Use the existing traffic to determine how the pass-by and diverted trips will access the site.
• Pass-By and Diverted Trip Volume Adjustment. Apply the existing traffic patterns to the pass-by and diverted trips to establish the impact on the roadway system for these trips.
• Remaining Primary/New trips. Determine the remaining trip generation after reducing for internal trips and then removing the pass-by and diverted trips.
• Primary/New Trip Pattern. We discussed factors to consider for the primary/new trip distribution in Part 4 of this series.
• Primary/New Trip Volume Adjustment . Apply the trip distribution to the primary/new trips to determine the impact on the roadway system for these trips.
• Final Volumes. Combine the pass-by, diverted, and primary/new trips at each study intersection to determine the final impact of the site being studied.

We can demonstrate this process on a theoretical study site with the following characteristics:

• 17,000 square feet of office, 3,000 square feet of fast food with a drive-thru, and 10 vehicle fueling positions at a gas station with convenience market
• One driveway accesses the site off a busy road (1,000 vehicles in the p.m. peak hour)
• A highway interchange with the busy road is located just east of the site
• Trip Generation (PM Peak)
• General Office, Land Use 710 – 98 raw trips
• Fast Food with Drive Thru, Land Use 934 – 98 raw trips
• Gas Station with Convenience Market, Land Use 945 – 136 raw trips
• Internal Trips

4. Pass-By and Diverted Patterns (per the theoretical roadway data)

6. Remaining Primary/New trips:

• Office – (98 raw – 5 internal – 0 pass-by – 0 diverted) = 93 primary/new trips
• Fast Food – (98 raw – 21 internal – 43 pass-by – 23 diverted) = 11 primary/new trips
• Gas Station – (136 raw – 22 internal – 57 pass-by – 26 diverted) = 31 primary/new trips

7.  Primary/New Trip Pattern (per knowledge of theoretical area)

8.  Primary/New Trip Volume Adjustment

9.  Final Volumes (add the pass-by, diverted, and primary/new trips together)

We don’t include all of the above example graphs in our reports. Instead, our short-hand method is a trip generation table that looks like this:

As a final note, the internal, pass-by, diverted, and new percentages are often adjusted from the base ITE information. ITE itself notes the limited amount of data available and the inherent variability in surveyed sites. The best approach, if possible, is to discuss the percentages with the governing agency to achieve agreement and buy-in before you get too far down the path in your analysis.

Did you miss the other installments of the  Traffic Impact Study Improvements series? Here are the links to the other articles:

• Part 1 – Traffic Counts
• Part 2 – Would Multiple Results Help Us?
• Part 3 – All Trips are Equal, But Some Trips are More Equal Than Others

At what point would you apply a reduction for non-SOV trips such as transit? It looks like ITE would have you apply internal capture, transit and then pass-by.

very precious and informative post…thanks so much..I had found the answer of one of my question in another post of yours..thanks for sharing your experiences

Sometimes I drive right by a coffee shop and then think, hmm, I could really use a good cup of black coffee and then I turn around and go back. Is this a pass-by trip or a diverted trip (or both?). What about a cappuccino?

If the need for java hit as you approached the site, and you turned right in, this would be a standard diversion. But since you passed the driveway and turned around, ….you need to take public transit and stop burning up our resources.

Hey Mike, After you do trip gen. calcs (let’s say for a built-up year 2029) but you want to consider design year (typical 20 years) and you want to design/improve nearby roads for the design year 2049 (2029 + 20 years); do you apply same growth rate on trip generated as you would do for existing traffic? or you apply the growth rate on existing traffic, and use trip gen numbers without applying a growth rate?

No – the growth rate is not applied to the trip generation. For instance, the trips generated by a single family home isn’t going to keep growing over time. They’re assumed to be static.

My mission is to help traffic engineers, transportation planners, and other transportation professionals improve our world.

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How to Become a Home-Based Travel Agent: Everything You Need to Know

Nothing feels better than being your own boss. ​In most fields, you need the infrastructure and support of a reputable corporation to reach anything beyond the low-hanging fruit. In the travel industry, things are changing—and if you move now, you can catch the wave.

While the industry used to be dominated by travel agencies, it is increasingly the domain of independent agents. Experienced agents already have the knowledge, training, and qualifications they need to professionally book travel arrangements for clients. According to a 2018 survey, 61% of these independent travel agents make between 10-30% more than when they worked for an agency, and 23.5% earn more than 30% more! The most attractive part of starting your own independent travel agency is the freedom to work for yourself, on your own hours, with your own clients, in your own home. But like all good things, independence comes with risks. As an independent travel agent, you have to assume the risks of entrepreneurship. You must also develop a personal brand that distinguishes you from other agents and from corporate agencies. The right tools and partnerships can empower you to overcome these obstacles and start working for yourself. Once you learn how to become a home-based travel agent, you will truly be able to enjoy your freedom and earn top commissions working directly with clients. You will be free to decide when, where, and for whom you work—and this guide will show you how.

How to Become a Travel Agent from Home in 3 Steps

If you have experience in the travel industry, then you're at a great advantage, however even if you're just starting, becoming your own agency breaks down to five crucial steps:

1. Find Your Grove

Customers look to independent travel agents for individualized customer service and niche expertise they can't get from a corporate agency. Although you may have experience with cruise lines, scuba trips, honeymoons, and adventure trips, you need to choose the types of travel experiences you're most familiar with and focus on them. Once you know what your preferred niche is, you need to learn everything there is to know about it. This could mean being an expert in a specific destination—in its local customs, cultures, languages, and tourist attractions—or being an expert in a particular type of vacation. In today's travel environment, we usually see the best results when independent agents combine different travel specialties to create a niche. For instance, combining scuba and cruise ship trips, or adventures and honeymoons. Whatever your combined niche is, your clients will expect you to have answers for all of their questions, so be prepared to deliver. The key to thriving as a home-based travel agent is knowing what your clients want and being able to deliver before they have to ask for it. Focusing on your niche allows you to deeply understand your clients and create a personal brand that speaks to their needs. Young, adventure-minded travelers, for instance, will respond to edgy, exciting brand messaging. Retired veterans, on the other hand, demand different treatment—you must know your client. As a home-based travel agent, you are directly responsible for your income. If you haven't brushed up on your sales skills, you may want to. Travel Quest World, EDGE, and regional travel conferences can help you create a solid foundation for your future. Not only must you make sales without the large corporate team backing you up, but you also have to tend to the needs of a more demanding customer base—people willing to pay extra for premium service.

2. Consider a Host Agency

Independent travel agents still need to use state-of-the-art technology to manage their customer relationships, make timely bookings, and track commissions accurately. You still need a top-shelf insurance policy to handle potential liabilities. Partnering with a host agency gives you access to these important tools and benefits. This is a secret that large corporate travel agencies don't want you to know. The truth is that becoming an independent travel agent doesn't mean you're completely on your own. The key to starting a successful travel agency while working from home is choosing the right host agency to collaborate with. The travel industry has evolved. Home-based independent travel agents are becoming the new norm because much of the time-consuming legwork that goes into making travel plans for clients can be streamlined and scaled using new technology. The same Internet that enables travelers to book their own flights and make their own travel arrangements also makes travel agents' jobs easier. And although it may seem counterintuitive, the hyper-connected Millennial generation actually relies on travel agencies more than previous generations do. This means that independent agents will spend less time typing code into a Global Distribution System (GDS) and more time talking to clients about exciting opportunities off-the-beaten-path. In fact, one in three leisure travel agents and one in five corporate travel agents prefer using the Internet to using a GDS. But there are still certain things you need to assure your new career as an independent travel agent is a successful one. Host agencies lay the groundwork for you to showcase your expertise and deliver value to travelers while retaining 100% ownership of your travel brand.

3. What to Look For in a Host Agency

Not many people will tell you that when you learn how to become an independent travel agent, what you're really learning is how to become your own sales team, your own customer support service, your own commission manager, and your own marketing expert. That's where having access to the powerful, intuitive tools host agencies make available becomes useful. Some of these tools include:

Web Development and Design. Having a state-of-the-art website is an absolute necessity for today's independent travel agents. Potential clients will be browsing your website to determine how professional and trustworthy you are. Host agencies can provide you with destination-specific content, booking engines, and special trip information that boosts your online presence significantly.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software. You can't run your own home-based travel agency on Microsoft Excel. A professional host agency will provide you with a customized CRM solution that enables powerful, intuitive management of client profiles according to a variety of unique, indexed factors.

Commission Management and Accounting Tools. Independent travel agents need 24/7 access to an accounting platform that shows open invoices, close invoices, unpaid commissions, and more. Customized reporting lets you be your own accountant and stay on top of your financial situation with ease and accuracy.

Travel Agent Networking. When you work in a niche, your competition isn't so competitive anymore. Through your host agency, you can connect with other independent travel agents to cooperate, share contacts, and forge new relationships.

Which Host Agency is Best?

Choosing between host agencies for independent travel agents is one of the hardest decisions to make. Many organizations offer technical and marketing support to home-based travel agents, but not all of them represent an equal value. Dozens of these agencies exist, and each one offers different benefits and drawbacks to its network of independent travel agents. To choose the right one for you, follow these guidelines:

Identify What You're Looking For. Your host agency should complement your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. If you're great at connecting with clients but not so experienced with customer management support and marketing, those would be the areas you want to focus on.

Ask for References. Remember that as an independent agent, you are interviewing hosts, not the other way around. Find other agents who are working with the host in question and find out what they have to say about the host's resources and offerings.

Look Beyond the Commission Split. Your commission split is just a small part of the overall equation that will determine your success as a home-based travel agent. The best host travel agency is not necessarily the one that offers the best split, but that offers the best value.

Choose a Pure Host Agency. Not all host agencies are really host agencies. Most retail travel agencies offer a few home-based travel agent jobs with commissions. A few of them believe this lets them describe themselves as host agencies—which they are not.

If an agency runs its own internal sales process parallel to yours, that creates a conflict of interest.

Is Travel Quest Network the Right Host Agency for You?

When you want to learn how to become a travel agent from home, you need to approach every relationship you build from a place of honesty and professionalism. When you run your own company and put your name on the line, your reputation takes the hit when things don't go as planned. As a result, it pays to spend time interviewing host agencies and finding the right one to fit your needs. When you're learning how to become a home-based travel agent, remember that the best host travel agency is the one that gives you the tools and knowledge you need to maximize the success of your independent business. Ready to take the first step towards financial independence as a home-based travel agent? Talk to Travel Quest Network today and we'll show you how to get started.

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Community-based tourism: how your trip can make a positive impact on local people

Community-based tourism can reap great rewards. Done well, it enables local organisations to protect precious habitats, preserve unique culture and empower grassroots employees.

In the mid-1990s, the remote community of Klemtu in Canada’s British Columbia had to make a choice. Hit hard by the collapse of the fishing and forestry industries, unemployment was rocketing, and options were running out. But they knew there were two things in the Great Bear Rainforest that you couldn’t get anywhere else: their own Indigenous culture and the rare, ghostly-white Kermode bear, also known as the Spirit Bear. And that’s how Spirit Bear Lodge was born: a showcase of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation, and an entry point for exploring the extraordinary wilderness of the largest temperate rainforest on Earth, with the added benefit of spotting those elusive bears, along with wolves, whales and brown bears. Today, the lodge is a blueprint for conservation-based, community-based tourism, with a string of successes under its belt: the surrounding rainforest is now protected from logging, bear hunting has been banned and the community has a steady income. It has also, they say, fuelled a cultural renaissance. “The lodge has created opportunities for young and old to thrive in their homelands, while educating people from around the world with our rich culture,” explains Roxanne Robinson, guest services manager at the lodge. Guests learn about Kitasoo/Xai’xais culture from the lodge staff and their guides on wildlife expeditions, kayaking tours and cultural visits, while younger community members drop by as part of the Súa Educational Foundation programme. “Súa means ‘thunder’ in our language, and they come to share stories, songs and dances with guests in our traditional big house,” says Robinson. Guests not only have an incredible experience, but they can also sleep easy knowing that their tourist dollars are doing good. Doing good, if reports are anything to go by, is something we all want to do more of. According to an American Express poll last year, 72% of travellers want to help boost tourism revenue in local economies. And the latest sustainability report by Booking.com showed that 73% of travellers would like to have authentic experiences that are representative of the local culture; 84% believe that preservation of cultural heritage is crucial; and 76% want to be sure that their economic impact is spread equally throughout society. So, being a responsible traveller is no longer just about protecting the environment or reducing our carbon footprints. It’s about how our tourist dollars can do good in the places we visit. It’s about communities. It’s taking the ‘buy local’ mantra — supporting your neighbourhood bookshop instead of buying on Amazon, say, or eating in a local restaurant instead of McDonald’s — and using it on your travels. When travelling, though, buying locally can be more nuanced. It could mean eating out in a local restaurant — but who owns the restaurant? Are the staff local but the profits going abroad? Does the restaurant support local producers and farmers, or are the ingredients imported? Is the attached gift shop a showcase of Indigenous craftsmanship, or are the souvenirs all made in China?  

It is, in other words, complicated. “Is it tourism that takes place in a community?” asks Dr Albert Kimbu, head of tourism and transport at the University of Surrey. “Or is it tourism that’s actively engaging and benefitting communities?” That’s the key. That’s the question we, as travellers, need to be asking. “My take on community-based tourism, or CBT,” explains Dr Kimbu, “is that it has to be by the community, for the community.” In other words, if a hotel or lodge takes guests to visit a local school, or to see a cultural dance in a local village, which might be taking place in the community — is the community genuinely benefitting? They might be getting paid, but it could also be straight-up cultural exploitation. Jamie Sweeting, CEO of Planeterra, the non-profit partner of G Adventures, which specialises in community tourism, agrees: “It needs to be owned, led and run by the communities themselves.” Why? “Because,” explains Dr Kimbu, “When communities become aware that what they have is a product that can be sold, then they have a stake in protecting it.” Take the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge in Rwanda. The saleable product here is the mountain gorilla that inhabits Volcanoes National Park next door. Visitors will pay a high price to see them in the wild. Working with Sacola, a local non-profit, the idea of a lodge that’s 100%-owned and -run by the community was born, with all profits going back into social and economic projects, as well as conservation within the park. It’s worked a treat. Since opening in 2006, US$4m (£3m) has gone into community and conservation projects, while the gorilla population in the park now includes 10 different gorilla groups. So, the community recognised the financial benefits of their neighbouring gorillas and now benefit by protecting their environment. But CBT at its best goes way beyond employing locally. It means the community gets to decide how to protect the culture and environment on which it depends. So, the community benefits, the environment and local culture is safeguarded, and the resulting economic benefits stay within the community. Win-win-win. There are ripple effects, too. Spier, a wine estate in South Africa’s Stellenbosch region, has a Growing for Good programme, which includes mentoring and assisting local entrepreneurs to create businesses that can then be used by Spier. This has worked with a local laundry service, for example, as well as a taxi service used by its guests. And Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland, Canada is all about the ripple effects, having been created entirely for the benefit of the local community. This 29-room luxury inn was built by local philanthropist Zita Cobb through her Shorefast Foundation, and 100% of operating surpluses are reinvested in the community — a community that was in dire straits just a decade ago, thanks to the collapse of the global cod market.  

Power in partnership

Sabyinyo, Spier and Fogo are examples of when it works. When it doesn’t work, community involvement is nothing short of exploitation. As Amanda Ho, the co-founder of Regenerative Travel, puts it: “In many cases, what we’ve seen is communities around the world angry that their health, wellbeing, and priorities are not being recognised or respected by tourism.” Jamie Sweeting tells me about a particular lodge in Botswana — he won’t name names — which was ‘talking the talk’ about working with the Indigenous San. “The website was shouting about empowering the local community,” he says. But when Planeterra did some digging, it found that while the San were used to put on cultural shows at the lodge, they were earning below the living wage and staying in poor accommodation with barely enough food. Planeterra worked with the local San people to promote and upskill the community-owned Dqae Qare San Lodge nearby, helping them gain direct access to the same markets the other lodge was benefitting from.  

“Community-based tourism can be especially beneficial in empowering women, who are often responsible for the homestay or dining components of a trip” Francisca Kellett

That lack of access to market — and the lack of the knowledge, skills and infrastructure needed to run a successful travel business — is key. As Justin Francis of Responsible Travel puts it: “Being able to access the distribution chains of the tourism industry — to get guests through the doors — is difficult without the partnership of an established tour operator.” When CBT first appeared around 20-25 years ago, he says, NGOs and donors would pitch up at communities, build beautiful ecolodges, but allow the communities very little say — and then fail to provide the training, infrastructure and business know-how to lead to any kind of success.  

Having a voice, Francis says, is key where elected community representatives participate in the decision making: “The driving force behind successful CBT projects is local people setting the terms. It’s about them making informed decisions around how tourism develops.” In the case of the Ccaccaccollo Women’s Weaving Cooperative in Peru’s Sacred Valley, it was three women that had that voice. “When they first came to us, only a handful could do traditional Inca weaving,” Sweeting says. Led by those women, Planeterra assisted with training, infrastructure and marketing, and the co-op has boomed, now owned and run by more than 65 individuals, with an attached homestay attracting overnight visitors. CBT can be especially beneficial in empowering women, who are often responsible for the homestay or dining components of a trip. Dreamcatchers, a tour operator in South Africa, recognised this over 30 years ago, and helped launch a range of CBT enterprises including ‘Kammama’, a selection of nationwide, women-run homestays and experiences, from cooking courses in Soweto to an overnight stay with a family in the Cape Winelands. In the case of Ccaccaccollo, the ripple effect has been a huge uptick in education in the community: all the women involved are now fully literate in Spanish, the first generation to achieve this locally, and most have children in tertiary education — another first. “And there has been an uplift in the pride in their culture. They’re embracing it. They can see that people from dozens of countries travel to visit them because they have something special to offer,” says Sweeting. That special offering is what’s in it for us. “For travellers, CBT offers a genuinely authentic experience and insight into local life,” says Zina Bencheikh, at Intrepid Travel. “Travellers are welcomed into a community and have the chance to immerse themselves.” Intrepid now aims to bring a degree of CBT into many of its sustainable, small-group adventure tours. “Our clients often talk about our CBT experiences as one of the unexpected highlights of their trip,” says Bencheikh. So how do we spot the good guys? How do we know whether a lodge or restaurant or experience that claims to benefit a community genuinely is?   “Ask questions,” says Dr Kimbu. “Have a discussion with those organising your trip.” Bencheikh agrees. “Do your research. Before you visit, ask questions about how the project is run and where the money goes from your visit.” Travelling with a trusted tour operator is also sensible, as is looking out for any certification programmes such as B Corp. Covid-19, of course, has had a dreadful impact on CBT. Planeterra recently launched the Global Community Tourism Network, providing online training, promotion and marketing, to help organisations prepare for when tourists come back. “Many communities don’t have internet or phone access,” explains Sweeting. “So, we also have 16 strategic partnerships, mostly local non-profits with their own network. Our reach is now more than 800 community tourism enterprises in 75 countries.” On the flipside, Covid-19 has also changed how we want to travel. “There’s been a definite shift, with more travellers wanting to find purpose in their trips,” says Sweeting. “We need to take advantage of that. When you’re able to experience something owned and run by a community, it’s much more rewarding, and a more equitable experience for the host and the guest.” As Dr Kimbu puts it, “CBT has a sense of fairness and justice.” It’s that sense of fairness and justice that’s been behind the success of Spirit Bear Lodge for more than 20 years and one that the community hopes will last for generations. “I do hope that my children and future children continue with Spirit Bear Lodge,” Robinson tells me. “Seeing the growth in this company has been amazing. It’s a great way to learn and grow and thrive in our homelands.” You can’t say fairer than that.  

Published in the   May 2022   issue of   National Geographic Traveller (UK)

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Your First Steps to Establishing a Home-Based Travel Agency

In recent times, there's no denying the skyrocketing interest in the tourism industry – changing economies, evolving market trends, and the allure of fresh experiences have all played their part. One trend that has emerged from these changes? More and more people are opening their home-based travel agencies. But how does one become a travel agent from the comfort of one's own home? Below, we break down the steps to establishing a successful work-from-home travel agent business with Gateway Travel.

Exploring The Potential of A Work from Home Travel Agent Business

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, it's crucial to understand what you're getting into when you decide to start a travel business. The world of tourism is an ever-evolving beast, and becoming a travel agent offers a unique opportunity to tap into this exciting industry – from the comfort of your own home.

Working as a home-based travel agent not only provides amazing flexibility but also opens a world brimming with potential. You get to design unique travel experiences, collaborate with industry leaders, stay updated on latest trends, and carve out a profitable business without stepping out of your home.

Understanding What Becoming a Travel Agent Entails

To set up a home-based travel agency, you need more than just a love of travel. It involves an understanding of clients' needs, knowing your travel products, mastering sales strategies, and being a problem solver.

Firstly , you need to know your customers. Understanding their needs, tastes, and budget is key to providing a service that will leave them thrilled.

Secondly , understanding the travel products holds particular importance. This refers to knowing the details about various accommodations, modes of transportation, local attractions, travel insurance, and more.

Thirdly , you need to master your sales strategies: how do you sell your products to potential clients in a manner that's convincing but not pushy? How do you negotiate the best deals for your clients?

Lastly , being a problem solver is important. Travel plans can have hiccups, and you need to ensure you're there for your clients' when they encounter any problems on their trip.

Gateway Travel: Your Partner In This Journey

Starting a home-based travel agency might seem like an overwhelming task, but you don't have to do it alone. With Gateway Travel, you're supported every step of the way.

Gateway Travel offers a comprehensive partnership program that guides you through establishing your own business, providing an extensive resource database, marketing support, tech tools, and a robust, user-friendly booking portal.

The Road to Becoming a Travel Agent

Now that we've covered the basics, here are the practical steps to setting up your home-based travel business:

1. Get educated: Before you start your travel business, it's essential to build a foundation of knowledge in the industry. Various courses and certifications can equip you with the skills needed to excel in this field.

2. Choose a niche: The next step is to decide on your niche – your area of focus or specialty as a travel agent. Your niche could be anything from luxury cruises to hiking tours, destination weddings, or eco-tourism.

3. Create a business plan: Once you've identified your niche, formulate a business plan. This document will serve as a roadmap for your business, outlining objectives, strategies, budgeting, and other crucial aspects of your venture.

4. Register your business: Register your home-based travel agency with your relevant local and national authorities. Each country and region may have different laws and regulations regarding this.

5. Partner with Gateway Travel: At this stage, joining a host agency like Gateway Travel becomes an essential step. They’ll provide you with the tools, resources, and guidance needed to kick-start your business successfully.

6. Market Your Business: Finally, create a brand, set up a website, leverage social media platforms, and employ other digital marketing strategies to make your services known to potential clients.

Final Thoughts

When you're all set up and running, you'll quickly see how rewarding and exciting becoming a travel agent can be. Yes, it's a challenging journey, but thanks to companies like Gateway Travel, it's a journey that can be navigated smoothly. They provide all the resources, including their in-depth knowledge, accessible tools, and a supportive community, helping you every step of the way.

Working from home as a travel agent is a promising and flexible opportunity in the dynamic tourism industry, combining a love for travel with a profitable pursuit. Ready to embark on your journey? Start building your successful home-based travel agency today!

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Home » Online Shopping » Flights / Hotels » TripAdvisor Course » What is TripAdvisor and How Does It Work?

What is TripAdvisor and How Does It Work?

Using online travel websites can sometimes be daunting, as you are constantly overwhelmed with information. That information is usually provided by hotels or property management staff, and so is sometimes dishonest or just not up to date. Deals are offered, showing images from other sections of a resort, to trick consumers into making quick purchases without fully researching where they are traveling.

Just a heads-up that some of the services we’re reviewing here have affiliate partnerships with us, so we may earn a commission if you visit one of them and buy something. You can read more about how this works at https://techboomers.com/how-to-support-techboomers .

Imagine a website that gives you information about accommodations straight from the travelers who have actually visited those places. You could learn everything about the experiences of people just like you before booking a stay at a hotel. You’d never again be disappointed by false advertising or misrepresentations of hotels! This is what you get with TripAdvisor, but what exactly is TripAdvisor?

TripAdvisor is an online travel information and booking website that has reviews, photographs, and informative forums about various hotels and resorts all over the world. Users review the places they’ve stayed at for other users, so you can learn everything about an accommodation before you book your stay there.

By visiting www.tripadvisor.com , you can search for a hotel you’re thinking of staying at, and learn everything about it from people who have stayed there previously. If you’re not sure where you want to go, you can also search areas and learn about all of the available accommodations nearby. That way, you can figure out where the best places to stay will be.

In this article, we’ll outline how TripAdvisor works, and how you can start using this website effectively to improve your travel and vacationing experiences.

How TripAdvisor works: 5 ways to get started

1. book travel with tripadvisor.

TripAdvisor is not actually itself a booking website. Instead, it began as a website that offered information about travel destinations. As it grew, TripAdvisor began partnerships with existing booking websites, so that it could add prices and availability to the information it presents its users.

You can view prices and see instantly the best deal with TripAdvisor partners, as well as the other available deals at the same price or higher. Click on any link to be taken directly to a partner website and book a vacation, knowing you have found the best deal!

2. Read TripAdvisor traveler reviews

TripAdvisor has millions of reviews written by everyday travelers just like yourself, so you can learn everything possible before making a decision about where to book your next vacation. Filter through reviews and select options that apply to your traveling lifestyle to find out which hotel will be perfect for you!

3. Help other users by writing your own review

After staying at a hotel, log back into TripAdvisor and make your own contribution! You can help other travelers avoid bad accommodations, or give them tips about the best places to stay on a resort (or the best time to visit the beach)! Anything you say will help future travelers, just as they helped you before you took your trip!

4. Instant message other travelers about their experiences

TripAdvisor offers its users a messaging service, so you can communicate with other TripAdvisor travelers. If you read a compelling review online or want more information from a traveler who has been where you’re going, feel free to click on their profile and message them. Learn as much as you can and feel free to ask questions or get tips from those who have done it before you!

5. Save your favorite places and locations

While browsing through TripAdvisor, you can save locations so that you can go back and view them again. This is a great tool, because it helps you remember places you’re interested in as you plan your trip. It can also keep a record of the places you’ve been, so you never forget!

That’s our introduction to TripAdvisor and how it works! In the rest of our TripAdvisor course , we’ll review TripAdvisor, we’ll show you how to sign up for a free account, how to use all of the functions of the website, and much more. Consider reading our next article on how to stay safe while using TripAdvisor.

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10 of the Best U.S. Road Trips for Families

Create memories with your kids on these short but sweet journeys that feature stunning scenery and unique landmarks.

Elizabeth Rhodes is a special projects editor at Travel + Leisure , covering everything from luxury hotels to theme parks to must-pack travel products. Originally from South Carolina, Elizabeth moved to New York City from London, where she started her career as a travel blogger and writer.

A road trip is a classic American vacation, but it takes planning to make it great — especially when little ones are involved. To help you plan your family's next journey, we've rounded up some of the best road trips around the United States for families with kids, from single-day jaunts to journeys that can take more than a week. With stops the whole crew will enjoy, these drives are sure to create memories that will last a lifetime.

Charleston, South Carolina, to Savannah, Georgia

Explore two popular Southern cities on one trip with this short-distance getaway. The drive from Charleston straight to Savannah takes just under two hours, but we'd recommend extending your itinerary over a few days so you can stop to enjoy the outstanding hotels and beaches along the way. You can stay at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island an hour south of Charleston, or fill up the tank for a beach day at Hilton Head , only an hour farther. Once you've passed through Savannah, drive one more hour south for a stay at The Cloister at Sea Island . This five-star resort is another good option for families, with plenty of swimming, fishing, and nature walks.

San Diego to Los Angeles, California

At around two hours, this drive is easy for parents and just long enough to be exciting for the kids. San Diego, Los Angeles, and the stretches of coast between them are packed with beaches and a plethora of crowd-pleasing attractions. Explore the San Diego Zoo, Legoland California, and Disneyland, about a 30-minute from downtown L.A. in Anaheim.

New York City or Boston to Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Whether you choose to stay in a shingled cottage or beachfront apartment, your kids will fall hard for the Cape . Wellfleet is a particularly great destination for families, reachable in two hours from Boston or five hours from New York City. You'll want to stop in other charming towns along the way, like Falmouth and Chatham, before settling in the sands of the Outer Cape. Once you're there, no trip is complete without a visit to Mac's on the Pier , where you can gaze out at the harbor and feast on whole belly clams. Exploring one of the Cape's kettle ponds, which families often have all to themselves, is also a must, as is checking out the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary , home to five miles of trails and salt marshes.

Pacific Coast Highway, California

Beginning in Orange County's Dana Point and reaching north to San Francisco, this popular drive can be completed in under eight hours. But why keep it short? With many major stops — from Los Angeles to Carmel-by-the-Sea — you could make this road trip last for days. Driving northward, head to the top of the Topanga Lookout in Malibu for incredible views of the San Fernando Valley. A few hours north in Santa Ynez wine country, relax with a glass of vino as you plot your visit to Hearst Castle. Kids and adults alike will marvel at the media magnate's vast estate, with its sprawling gardens, Roman-style pool, and extensive art collection.

New York City to Philadelphia to the Poconos

At Woodloch Resort in the Pocono Mountains, you'll feel like you're back at summer camp — in a good way. On and off the property, there's plenty to do, including golf, paintball, fishing, and more. A variety of accommodation options are available, too, perfect for families of any size. Whether or not you're headed to the Woodloch, though, the Poconos are an easy getaway for East Coasters. New York City is about a two-hour drive and Philadelphia is about three hours; the two cities can easily be combined with a Poconos visit for a fun multiday adventure.

Boston, Massachusetts, to Stowe, Vermont

Stowe, Vermont, is a great destination in all seasons for families road tripping within New England. Just three hours from Boston, the town offers some of the East Coast's best skiing in wintertime and an abundance of outdoor adventure in summer. On your warm-weather visit, cool off with the kids at the Waterbury Reservoir in Waterbury Center State Park , or enjoy the fresh mountain air with a hiking or biking excursion.

There are few roads as iconic as Route 66 , so why not take your kids on this classic American trip? Whether you embark on the full journey from Chicago to Los Angeles or opt for a smaller section, you're bound to have a memorable time. Little ones will love the route's kitschy roadside attractions (world's biggest ketchup bottle, anyone?), while adults will be wowed by the scenery, from the wide-open spaces of west Texas to the mountains of Santa Fe.

Tucson to the Grand Canyon, Arizona

Lauren Breedlove/Travel + Leisure

Take in some of the country's best views on a multiday road trip through Arizona . Start in Tucson and visit Saguaro National Park to see the namesake cacti before heading to Scottsdale. Next up, drive to the stunning, red rock-surrounded town of Sedona. Finally, continue north to Grand Canyon National Park for a couple of days in the great outdoors, reveling in this massive natural wonder.

Rocky Mountain Loop from Denver

If you'd like to swap red rocks for snowy mountaintops, set off on a Colorado road trip through some of the state's incredible national parks and charming small towns. From Denver, head northwest to Boulder and Estes Park, a perfect home base for exploring Rocky Mountain National Park . Drive farther into the mountains to check out towns like Glenwood Springs, Telluride, and Durango, all located in the western part of the state. Spend a day at Mesa Verde National Park , home to ancient Native cave dwellings that will fascinate kids and grown-ups alike before turning back east. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Colorado Springs are great stops en route back to Denver.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Beautiful year-round but especially colorful in spring and fall, the Blue Ridge Parkway makes for an excellent family road trip. Connecting Shenandoah National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park , the Blue Ridge Parkway offers scenic mountain and foliage views across the Appalachian landscapes of Virginia and North Carolina. Plus, there are plenty of great hikes for all skill levels and places to camp along the parkway if you want to spend a few nights under the stars.

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‘baby reindeer’: real ‘martha’ reveals identity in photo with piers morgan.

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Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning in "Baby Reindeer."

The real “Martha” depicted in the Netflix streaming smash Baby Reindeer is revealing her identity in public for the first time in a photo promoting an interview with Piers Morgan.

Morgan posted a photo with Martha on X Wednesday, promoting the “world exclusive” with Fiona Harvey, who is claiming to be the woman the Netflix show is based upon.

“The real-life Martha from Baby Reindeer breaks cover and gives me her first TV interview about the smash hit Netflix Netflix show. Fiona Harvey wants to have her say & ‘set the record straight.’ Is she a psycho stalker?”

The interview is set to air Thursday on Morgan’s YouTube show Piers Uncensored. You can see it in the video below.

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Baby Reindeer is a Netflix limited series based on comedian Richard Gadd’s real-life encounter with a stalker whom he dubbed “Martha.”

The limited series has become a worldwide sensation since its release on April 11, topping Netflix’s Global Top 10 TV Shows chart for the week of April 29 to May 5 with 18.6 million views, equating to a staggering 73.6 million viewing hours.

Jessica Gunning plays Martha in the series opposite Gadd, who plays Donny Dunn. Based on his UK stage play of the same name from 2019, Baby Reindeer has been fictionalized for legal purposes but Gadd has said, “Emotionally, it’s all 100% true.”

The woman who claims to be the real-life Martha recently said she is threatening to sue Gadd .

Jessica Gunning, Richard Gadd and Nava Mau at the photo call for "Baby Reindeer" held at the DGA ... [+] Theater Complex on May 7, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty Images)

Gadd Says He Has Empathy For Martha

In a Netflix panel for Television Academy members Tuesday (via The Hollywood Reporter ), Richard Gadd discussed his “toxic empathy problem” while explaining how bad he felt for Martha.

“I remember in real life when I was getting stalked, it was relentless and felt like it was everywhere, and I felt like my life wasn’t really functioning,” Gadd said during the panel. “I still had these unbelievable pangs of feeling sorry for her.”

Baby Reindeer has found its biggest proponent in legendary horror novelist Stephen King, who recently published an essay to discuss how the series impacted him.

In the essay, he likened the Netflix limited series to his hit novel-turned-film Misery , where a nurse named Annie Wilkes — played by Kathy Bates, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal — holds her favorite author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) captive in her remote Colorado home.

During the Netflix Television Academy panel Tuesday, Gadd said he never “saw someone who was a villain” in Martha.

“I saw someone who was kind of lost by the system, really,” Gadd said during the Netflix panel. “I saw someone who needed help and wasn’t getting it.”

Baby Reindeer is streaming on Netflix.

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Politics latest: Keir Starmer accused of 'rank hypocrisy' by Rishi Sunak after setting out what he'll do to tackle small boat crossings

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer lays out his party's plans to try and tackle small boat crossings if it wins power. Listen to the latest episode of the Electoral Dysfunction podcast as you scroll.

Friday 10 May 2024 18:30, UK

• Starmer says small boat crossings 'one of the greatest challenges we face'
• Explained: What's in Labour's plan to try and tackle problem
• Darren McCaffrey: Will Labour's plan cut it with voters?
• Starmer says no flights to Rwanda will take off under Labour
• Sunak accuses Starmer of 'rank hypocrisy'
• Electoral Dysfunction:  Jess Phillips says Elphicke defection like 'being punched in gut'
• UK exits recession | Economy 'returning to full health'
• Faultlines:   Can British farming survive?
• Live reporting by Tim Baker

Across the UK, anger is brewing amongst some farmers.  

Protests have already been held in London, Dover and Cardiff, with more planned - mirroring similar tensions seen across Europe in the last six months.     

They say they’re annoyed about cheap foreign imports and changes to subsidies forcing them to give up land in favour of environmental schemes.    

But what does this mean for the food on our table - and does British produce risk becoming a luxury product for the wealthy only?    

On the Sky News Daily , Niall Paterson is joined by West of England and Wales correspondent Dan Whitehead to find out why farmers are so concerned, and speaks to Liz Webster, the founder of Save British Farming, about why she believes eating British isn't just good for our farmers - it's good for the nation's health, too.   

In response to our report, Farming Minister Mark Spencer, said: "We firmly back our farmers. British farming is at the heart of British trade, and we put agriculture at the forefront of any deals we negotiate, prioritising new export opportunities, protecting UK food standards and removing market access barriers. 

"We've maintained the £2.4bn annual farming budget and recently set out the biggest ever package of grants which supports farmers to produce food profitably and sustainably."

The Welsh government said: "A successful future for Welsh farming should combine the best of our traditional farming alongside cutting-edge innovation and diversification. 

"It will produce the very best of Welsh food to the highest standards, while safeguarding our precious environment and addressing the urgent call of the climate and nature emergencies."

👉  Listen above then tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts   👈

Following the defection of the Dover and Deal MP Natalie Elphicke to Labour, Beth, Ruth and Jess discuss the surprise move and whether it could have been handled differently by Sir Keir Starmer.

They also talk about Beth's interview with the former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and his warnings about Reform UK.

Plus, how significant was the defeat of former Conservative mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street? Beth and Jess were both there to tell the story.

And they answer a question on Labour and the Muslim vote, and what the party can do to restore confidence and trust.

Email Beth, Jess, and Ruth at [email protected] , post on X to @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.     

👉 Listen above then tap here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈

In January 2023, Rishi Sunak made five promises.

Since then, he and his ministers have rarely missed an opportunity to list them. In case you haven't heard, he promised to:

• Halve inflation • Grow the economy • Reduce debt • Cut NHS waiting lists and times • Stop the boats

See below how he is doing on these goals:

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

With the local elections complete, Labour is still sitting comfortably ahead, with the Tories trailing behind.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the tracker  here .

Speaking to Sky political editor  Beth Rigby , Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision to allow Tory MP Natalie Elphicke into Labour.

Ms Elphicke was on the right of the Conservative spectrum, and previously defended her sex-offender ex-husband, comments which she apologised for this week following her defection.

Addressing Tory voters, Sir Keir says he wants Labour to be a "place where they who have ambitions about their families, their communities, their country, can join and be part of what we are trying to build for their country".

Asked by Beth if he was ruthless, Sir Keir said: "Yes, I'm ruthless in trying to ensure we have a Labour government that can change this country for the better.

"Not ruthless for my own ambition, not ruthlessness particularly for the Labour Party - I'm ruthless for the country. 

"The only way we'll bring about a change in this country is if we're ruthless about winning that general election and putting in place a government of public service, that’ll be a major change.

"Politics, I believe, should be about public service, that's what I've been about all my life."

More now from political editor Beth Rigby's interview with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

She reminded him that he previously ruled out doing a deal with the SNP - but has not done so for the Liberal Democrats.

Sir Keir again ruled out a coalition with the SNP - adding that he is aiming for a "majority Labour government".

He says Labour needs "to keep working hard, keep disciplined and getting our message across, which is something fundamental to me".

Pushed on his lack of ruling out a possible agreement with the Lib Dems, Sir Keir says: "I'm going for a majority.

"That's the answer I gave you a year ago. It's the same answer I'm giving you now."

Sir Keir Starmer was earlier today pushed on whether Rwanda deportation flights will take off if he was prime minister - although it was not clear if he would cancel flights which had already been organised.

Sky News understood that previously booked deportation flights to Rwanda would still go ahead if Sir Keir entered Number 10. 

But the Labour leader has now gone further.

Speaking to political editor Beth Rigby , Sir Keir has ruled out any flights taking off.

"There will be no flights scheduled or taking off after general election if Labour wins that general election," he says.

He says: "Every flight that takes off carries with it a cheque to the Rwanda government. 

"So I want to scrap the scheme - so that means the flights won't be going."

Sir Keir says he would rather spend the money on his own measures to counter small boats.

"No flights, no Rwanda scheme. It's a gimmick," he says.

By Alix Culbertson , political reporter

Scotland's new first minister has told Sky News that the controversial gender recognition reforms "cannot be implemented."

John Swinney,  who became first minister this week , has faced questions over his stance on gender recognition after MSPs voted in 2022 to pass a bill to make it simpler for people to change their gender without having to obtain a medical diagnosis.

The UK government blocked the bill from being made into law and the Supreme Court rejected a request by the Scottish government for a judicial review.

Asked if he would be fighting to push the bill through, Mr Swinney told Sky News: "The reality of the situation we face is that the Supreme Court has said that we can't legislate in that area. We can't take forward that legislation."

The UK economy is no longer in recession, according to official figures.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by a better-than-expected 0.6% between January and March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Economists had predicted the figure would be 0.4%.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it showed the economy had "turned a corner".

He told Sky News's Ed Conway: "I am pleased that while there's more work to do, today's figures show that the economy now has real momentum, and I'm confident that with time, people will start to feel the benefits of that.

"We've had multiple months now where wages are rising, energy bills have fallen, mortgage rates are down and taxes are being cut... I'm pleased with the progress that we're making."

Mr Sunak added: "I am confident the economy is getting healthier every week."

You can read more here:

Rishi Sunak has criticised Sir Keir Starmer's position on Rwanda as "rank hypocrisy".

Speaking to broadcasters, the prime minister says the Labour leader has announced things the government is "already doing".

He gives the example of "punching through the backlog, having more law enforcement officers do more, that's all happening already".

"We've announced all of that more than a year ago," the prime minister adds.

"The question for Keir Starmer if he cares so much about that, why did he vote against the new laws that we passed to give our law enforcement officers new powers? 

"They've now used those to arrest almost 8,000 people connected with illegal migration, sentenced them to hundreds of years in prison.

"And if it was up to him, all those people would be out on our streets, so I think it's rank hypocrisy property of his position."

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