Earlier this week, The Cruise & Travel Store founder Belle Goldie shared a LinkedIn post, suggesting travel advisors “are often left behind” by industry associations.
“For too long, I feel we’ve drifted from the roots of being a travel advisor – where we started, what we stand for, and where we’re heading,” she wrote.
Both Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) Chair Christian Hunter and Council of Australian Travel Operators (CATO) CEO Brett Jardine hit back at claims that travel agents are not being adequately represented.
Hunter told travelBulletin that all members – including its travel agents – have a “very loud voice” at ATIA, and that input directly drives the decisions the body makes, and the wins it delivers “every single day”.
“At ATIA, members don’t just have a seat at the table, they set the table,” Hunter said.
“The outcomes prove the point, the voices of our members…have led to real results, from keeping them out of the Aviation Industry Ombudsman Scheme to securing stronger consumer protections through the Aviation Customer Rights Charter, and driving our push for greater airline competition,” he added.
The commentary from Hunter followed an update released by ATIA earlier this week, reaffirming its full value to travel advisors.
Meanwhile, Jardine also warned against Goldie’s idea, as governments do not tend to listen to individual business owners unless they have very deep pockets.
“Rather than reinventing the wheel, I feel a more effective pathway is constructive and direct engagement with the existing framework of industry bodies most relevant to your business,” Jardine told travelBulletin.
“Government is typically only interested in hearing from an industry body, and with the right approach from concerned business owners, there should always be the opportunity to strengthen collective outcomes.
“Starting a new body or council from scratch without dedicated, and funded resources requires a very committed group of volunteers – many of whom are already fully occupied with their own business needs.”
However, Goldie insisted that any new advisor forum created would “not look to take anything away from ATIA or CLIA”, but instead create a forum to narrow the focus specifically on the interests of advisors.
“[The associations] do things so well in their space, but they are advocates for so many different things, for advisors, for cruise lines, for training, for tourism boards – they really have got their hands full already.”
Goldie added that there is a misconception that unless agents have been around for a long time, they should sit down and take their place.
“That is not working because the death of the travel agent in Australia is coming, and unless us mid-level agents start looking at the future, we’re going to be left behind,” Goldie warned.
Agent response
Goldie has already received 50 submissions from interested parties who want to participate in the new council.
“We will start with a founding panel and then have people come and go, because it is really important that we get a range of voices,” Goldie said.
One agent, who wished to remain anonymous, told travelBulletin that she is interested in signing up for the new council, as she feels that her profession is currently “poorly represented” in the existing associations, which are mostly for large consortiums, corporate entities and “the supplier-based boys’ club”.
“I do believe that agents on the frontline do not have protection mechanisms in place for the dissemination of their intellectual property and data bases which suppliers have corrupted for their own profitability and marketing,” she added.
“This should have been looked at and appropriate guidelines put in place years ago. An agent-only council is a solid idea to start a movement that realises the value of the clients point first of contact being agents.”
When asked about the viability of a specialist agent council, Complex Travel Group Director Mark Trim told travelBulletin that while he can understand the reasoning behind the idea, the sector needs to be very careful not to dilute the official channel of ATIA.
“Especially with government discussions, there must be one voice in that respect,” he said. “I would rather work with ATIA to better represent agents commercially and not just with the government agenda.
“I do believe there is nuance in advocacy and clearly there is a game to be played there, so it is best left to the professionals, and as agents we should continue to do what we do best,” Trim added.
Meanwhile, Connected Travel founder Marissa Papas said she is in favour of the idea, so long as it has a clear purpose, genuine representation across all business models, and the ability to influence real change.
“It would need to be action-oriented, goal-focused, and made up of people who understand both the operational and advocacy sides of the role, so it doesn’t turn into a complaints forum for agents unwilling to adapt,” she told travelBulletin.
“It must be built for progress and positive change. There’s a fine line, and getting the balance right from the start would be critical to its success and to avoiding it becoming just another ‘council’.”
According to Papas, there are several issues she would like to see a collective tackle on behalf of agents, as they tend to get lost among broader industry priorities.
These include raising industry entry standards (“anyone can call themselves a travel agent without formal training”), creating standards for training and education and focusing on public awareness of the value that agents bring to the community.
Meanwhile, Trim would like to see the existing bodies address agents’ interests through major technology changes, such as the NDC.
“We’re being force-fed half-baked technology without commercial incentive to cover the huge amount of time being spent fixing problems we didn’t create, while suppliers seemingly are under-appreciative of the heavy lifting we do for consumers,” he said.
“We need a body that will advocate to pay the indirect channel what we are worth for the outcomes we achieve for our mutual clients.”
