Travel retailers have raised concerns about the influx of ‘hobbyist’ agents into the industry, while also highlighting the need for more training.
They were speaking during a panel debate at the ABTA Travel Convention, where delegates also expressed disappointment at the lack of agents attending the three-day event in Mallorca.
Lisa McAuley, the new UK Managing Director of Cruise 118 parent World Travel Holdings said she was worried about the increase in people selling holidays as a side hustle.
“How do you guarantee, with the increase of travel agents, quality versus quantity?” she asked. “We are fooling ourselves if we think we can, and that for me is a concern.
“It’s incumbent on all of us to invest in our people and to ensure that they stay with you as long as they can, because you know longevity equals productivity.
“And what we don’t need is hobbyists and people just coming in for their own needs and purposes because that doesn’t do anybody in the industry any good.”
Judith Anderson, Commercial Director of retail chain Dawson and Sanderson, said: “Influencers are becoming travel agents, and they are then recruiting other people within their network to become travel agents.
“I don’t think it’s a good thing because you can’t become an agent overnight; it takes years of quality training and investment into that person, so if that’s a business model some companies are adopting, then for me that’s not working.”
However, Not Just Travel co-founder Steve Witt said the increase of agents in the industry was driving up standards.
“There is more and more competition for us, so that means we’ve got to get better and better, and our training gets better, our hunger for knowledge gets better.
“The quality of the training from tour operators is getting better, so I think across the entire industry, we’re all just upping our game all the time, so the likes of AI and online competition are simply driving us to be better and better at what we do.”
In a Q&A session at the end of the ‘Reasons to be cheerful’ panel debate, Your Holiday Booking agent Neil Smith pointed out that there were ‘probably fewer than 20 agents’ attending the Convention.
“Where a lot of operators have spoken about recognising the performance of agents, it just seems there is a dearth of actual people on the ground selling holidays attending such a wonderful event.”
Neil attended after spotting a promotion advertised in Travel Gossip, where ABTA was offering discounted tickets for £45 instead of the usual £750 (plus flights and accommodation) for up to 10 agent members. Only seven were sold.
Judith said she was ‘was quite surprised at how low the travel agent community was represented’.
“I don’t think it’s any kind of misrepresentation. It comes down to the cost. A lot of travel agencies are now single-branch travel agencies, so taking themselves out of the business for such a long time is difficult to do,” she added. “You’ve got to pick and choose which conferences you can come to.
“I do think tour operators and suppliers should recognise the value in their agency partners and actually get behind the places more; I also think travel agents need to accept those places more. It’s a two-way street.”
Barrhead Travel Managing Director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell said: “I think numbers are a lot lower than they should be.
“I think you can go back to your respective businesses and obviously talk about the content. I think the content is definitely relevant for more of our retail staff and homeworkers.”
Gold Medal Director of Trade Partnerships Karen Fletcher said it had attempted to sponsor six places but was only able to fill two spots, despite approaching various consortia. She said Gold Medal ‘can offer help, but head offices need to let those staff join’.
Craig Goodridge of Craig Goodridge Travel was one of 12 homeworkers sponsored at the event by easyJet holidays.
The Independent Travel Expert from The Travel Network Group told Travel Gossip: “I genuinely enjoyed it and attended about 90% of the talks. The only ones I missed were due to some personal calls and work I had to do.
“I found it really informative and lots of humour and fun interjected into the conversations. I particularly enjoyed the update on politics and the economy, and then the chats with Sally Gunnel and Simon Rimmer.
“If there’s an opportunity to come again, I would definitely do it and would say for any agents thinking about it, there is lots to take away and beneficial to your business.”
Cruise boss Paul Beale, who was attending the conference for the first time, said: “This was my first ABTA conference and was proud to have the opportunity to be on the panel and talk to both suppliers and travel agents alike about the future growth opportunities in cruise and the sustainability aspects that have been implemented.”
Paul, who is Vice President Sales Oceania Cruises & Regent Seven Seas Cruises UK & Ireland, added: “I was impressed with the calibre of the audience at ABTA, with senior leaders from the agent/operator and supplier communities and will be attending again next year as a result.”
