In this assignment I am going to be talking about business travel agents and what role they play in the operations of every day businesses when I come to do with business travel. What is business travel? Business travel is when an individual or representative travels from one location to another for business purposes. These are normally short trips that are paid for by the company in which an assigned member of staff will travel to a specific country to do presentations, attend conferences and complete or continue negotiations with other companies or businesses. History of Business Travel Business travel has been around since the beginning of time where regions and empires exchanged goods. The great empires of Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome The rise of great empires including those of Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome, among others, further improved this growth of trade-based business travel For example, in the Roman Empire, well-established trade routes developed across the empire, transporting goods in all directions. The museums of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa are full of evidence of this fact. A local museum of the Roman period in the UK, for example, could well contain pottery made in Italy, olive stones from Spain, wine jars from Greece and precious stones from Asia and the Middle East. However, once these empires fell, there was often a period of economic and political instability, and as ever such instability was seen as undesirable and tended to temporarily reduce the volume of business travel and tourism. By the medieval period business travel for trade was well established and its infrastructure included a number of massive trade fairs in strategically located towns and cities. These were vital days in the calendar for medieval merchants. The fairs might last for several weeks during which time great use was made of local accommodation, eating and entertainment facilities. One of the most famous of these fairs was the Beaucaire trade fair on the Rhone River in Southern France, which attracted tens of thousands of visitors. The silk route was a major route in the older days where all nations used to use in order to get a product from A – B. there were also major stops through the silk route which stretched from the far east of Asia into the western territories of Rome. One of those major stops is the famous city of Istanbul which still remains a major hub for trade as turkey is known as the link between Modern Asia and modern Europe. Incentive Travel Incentive travel can be described as a form of travel that helps to motivate staff. This is because incentive travel is given to those employees who work very well and therefore get rewarded by going or holidays. This then builds morale for the employee and will make them feel part of the companied and therefore valued. It is proven that when people’s morale is good and they are happy, they will be able to work more efficiently and get the job done. It’s used as a tool to increase productivity because a happy workforce will bring in more capital for the business. Incentive travel is still organized by businesses because it is still being funded by the company. So all costs will still be provided by the company. "Incentive Travel Programs are a motivational tool to enhance productivity or achieve business objectives in which participants earn the reward based on a specific level of achievement set forth by management. Earners are rewarded with a trip and the program is designed to recognize earners for their achievements." This is completely different to the other types of business travel because this helps productivity by building staff morale and confidence which will later resolve in income capital. It’s an indirect sort of business by getting the people to do the business.