Supply Chain in the Travel Industry The travel industry is a constantly changing industry. It's the kind of industry that needs to change with the times, including how it conducts business, how it sells its products and services, and how each link in the supply chain works and connects with the rest of the chain. While each physical location and travel website are similar to their counterparts, each has a different supply chain that it uses to deliver its products and services to the customer. We'll take a look at how a brick-and-mortar travel agency uses its supply chain and how moving to a website location can and will affect its supply chain. Supply Chains Let's start by understanding what exactly a supply chain is and what it does for a company. A supply chain, or supply network as it is sometimes called, is a coordinated system of people, activities, information, organizations and resources involved in moving a product or service physically or virtually from supplier to customer (Wikipedia, 2007) . Supply chains transform raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to the end customer. In this case, the travel agency must be able to connect the airline, hotel, car rental, cruise lines and event tickets to the customer who wants to travel to a particular location and satisfy his individual desires and needs for that trip. Mortar AgenciesTravel agencies began years ago by opening physical locations throughout the United States. They would open offices conveniently located in cities across the country so that many people could use their services when planning a trip. A brickSupply Cha...... middle of paper ...... and added to the chain which includes purchasing website names, links and overall creating your own website to use. Finally, it is necessary to create connections with financial institutions so that the customer can purchase what he wants from the site via an electronic means of money transfer, directly from his bank or via credit card.SummaryComparing the differences in the offer chains used by physical locations Compared to virtual agents, chains are similar in many ways, but also have major differences. Physical businesses rely on personal interaction through agents and agreements with their suppliers. Virtual websites pre-purchase reservations and tickets and offer them directly to the customer at a discounted rate, eliminating the virtual connections of shops and people, but adding commerce connections and Internet availability.