Opinion: Agents must work together
TravelMole Guest Comment by Barry Moxley, Traveltime and Chairman of AITO Specialist Travel Agents
Tough times, but no need to panic – in this difficult economic climate, there are many concerned agents and operators. Some are worried, many are desperate but…
It is interesting and encouraging to see from Thomas Cook’s recent trading statements that their travel agent business is ‘the most profitable business of all’. TUI also has recently confirmed that though it will review its size, the retail travel agent branch network will continue, albeit possibly in a smaller capacity. Thomas Cook envisages having an ongoing network of around 700 travel agent shops.
So, if they can make it work, why cannot we independents?
One common threat that we read much about is direct sell/online discounting. Every week we see letters in the press from travel agents complaining about this – so why not do something about it rather than just complain?
AITO Specialist Travel Agents recognised this issue three years ago and did something about it. We decided the best approach was to demonstrate to tour operators the very positive benefits of working even closer with agents rather than ignoring them.
More than 70 quality AITO tour operators have now signed up to an agreement called ‘Closer Ties’ which commits them to selling their holidays through agents at the same price as any direct sales. So we have a level playing field and, as an agent, this gives us a fair fighting chance. Why deal with any other suppliers?
The majority of my own company’s holiday sales are for AITO Closer Ties companies and my fellow agents are in agreement about supporting those companies that support us. I urge other agents to do likewise. Why support tour operators that will undercut you and try to put you out of business? That’s akin to self destruction, which is the last thing any of us wishes to do.
At the AITO Specialist Travel Agents’ conference in Gdansk in June we have a series of working sessions to develop programmes to build more profitable business for those agents and operators attending. We will also be preparing activities to increase Summer 2009 sales and to promote the second AITO Week in October.
We have external speakers bringing practical tools and tips to help us add significant profits to the bottom line of a typical travel agent.
Working together, we can be stronger and offer greater expertise and more added value to our customer – just what they require in a busy marketplace, as it makes their holiday decision easier and means they’re more likely, with our advice, to book the right holiday for them as individuals. That in turn means more recommendations and more repeat business; just what the doctor ordered.
Jeremy Skidmore
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