The Path Ahead For Travel Consultants

From Sir Thomas Cook to full fledged Travel agencies , then finally now to OTA’s.

It all started from a short walk by Sir Thomas Cook from Market Harborough to Leicester to attend a meeting of the Temperance Society of hotel that he realized the potential & prospects of a great Industry. Within a short span growing to one of the fastest growing industries in the world it  now offers almost   100 million jobs of global workforce. It is true that from the normal ticket booking agents Travel Consultants have gone far, far ahead .But off late the career and the job has been a bit more challenging due to the advent of online Travel agencies.

These days the clients would compare the rates from online booking engines & would call travel agents to get the same rates for them. Here it is clear that the clients still are not confident to book online due to various reasons. They know that if all goes well the online might be an option to save money in some cases(which is rare these day due to the hidden taxes ,fees etc payable at the hotel at the time of check -in for online bookings).But being aware of  the benefits to book through a travel agent like credibility, local destination knowledge ,entrances /VIP access to certain tourist spots ,their wide strong network, option to hold the booking without payment to give time for you to decide ,flexible amendment policy in case if required and the most important local assistance while being in the destination they would seldom prefer to the risk.

 He can ensure that a cake is delivered on the important day if there is a client’s  wedding anniversary or birthday as a pleasant surprise from his  side, or try for a free upgrade to higher category rooms if available etc. If the client is arriving late to a hotel due to flight delay in most cases without even the client informing the same, the  message would have already passed over to the hotel to ensure smooth check in.

Any client could book a Hotel from online (booking.com) and get his Jurong Bird park tickets (through viator) for his Singapore trip; but to tell him that ‘Sir please do make sure that you stay at Orchard Parade road which would be convenient for your wife’s shopping  & also do ensure that you see the Bird’s and Buddies show at 11:00 am  when you are at Bird Park , I am sure your kids would enjoy  the show ,especially the talking parrot for sure’ is just a few of the professional advise you can expect from a travel consultant.

They never realize that these staffs have literally spent their major period of life & career to update their destination knowledge, increase contacts to get the best holiday/rates for their clients. It is a passion for them to design the best Holiday for their clients at the best rates. Also always as a matter of practice travel agents would always try their best to sort issues and unexpected problems arising with the human side focused. So even if it is midnight when the irritated clients calls up the travel consultant would pick up the call( even if he might be seriously sick or if his/her kid has been sleeping  soundly) to greet the client with the same positive energy when he/she had first met the client to know the reason for the call. Also without doubt we can say that he/she would stay awake and alert till the reason for call has not been sorted; since they know that Holidays have a priceless value in a person/s life.The client might have been saving years for a perfect holiday with his family. A travel consultant would  ensure that it is much more than what the client had expected in terms of memories & experiences.These are just a few of the key concern areas highlighted  to reassure that the travel Industry would go on and so would the careers of the dedicated travel consultant be safe as long as humans would love to travel.

 Even today during this OTA era if clients  still call us for their Holidays and are willing to pay that nominal service fees for the add -on credibility that the travel consultants carry is the proof that things are not as scary  as perceived.Just a couple of years ago, headlines were about the demise of the travel agent,a few had compared or said about to go the way of the Dodo or dinosaur. Guess what? Travel agents are not only still here, they are experiencing a rebound – despite (or because of?) the myriad travel tools available online.

To conclude we just need to be a step ahead, brushing up our knowledge & widen our database with better battle gears & the best soft skills to serve our clients .Rest assured all is well till date the Online agents would not be able to replace the most important priceless factor ‘THE  HUMAN TOUCH  EFFECT’  which the travel agents provide .The  industry would always need more and more travel professionals with the right attitude and passion.