UFTAA World Congress Damascus October 31 November 3, 2003 Educating the Travel Agent

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UFTAA World CongressDamascus October 31
November 3, 2003Educating the Travel Agent

• Lars Karlberg
• UFTAA Training Work Group
• Travel Education Centre AB
• Stockholm, SWEDEN
• Authorised IATA/UFTAA Training Center

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Why do you need Education?

• To be able to serve your clients in the best way
• To be able to perform according to company
  objectives
• To promote staff for a carreer within the company
  

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But Education is not a static thing .
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. the World is evolving

• The Consumer is evolving
• The Industry is evolving
• The Internal environment is evolving
• . so the Education has to evolve in
  syncronisation with the Needs of the World!

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The Consumer

• Our consumers are becoming more demanding
• Higher expectations
• Higher quality
• Higher standards
• Better service
• Lower price

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The Consumer

• Shifts in Consumer Travel Environment
• Bookings
• Through travel agents ? through Internet
• How people use travel agents
• For advice, booking, ticketing, rebates ?
  ticketing and rebates
• How people travel
• Part of a large group ? as individuals or
  families
• Where people go
• Traditional (New York, London) ? Adventures (New
  Zealand, Thailand, Tibet)

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The Industry

• Powerful trends
• New markets
• New supplier-agent relations
• New products
• New distribution channels
• The travel industry must adopt to changes, or
  perish!

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Key Industry Trends
Globalisation
Evolving consumers
Deregulation
Supplier strategies
Taxation
Alliances
Cost pressures
Economic Crises
New technologies
Immigration patterns
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The Industry

• Supplier-Intermediary Relationships
• Disintermediation due to efficiency of electronic
  ditribution
• CRS ? CRS Internet Booking Engines
• Internet
• 200 mill users
• 140 countries
• Growth 15 annually
• Forecast USD 500 mill year 2002
• Revolutionalises travel and information
  distribution

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The Distribution

• Airlines
• Reduction of overall distribution costs
• Direct distribution airline consumer
• E-tickets and internet as distribution methods
• Direct contracting with corporations
• Preferred agreements with intermediaries
• Alliances affect the relation supplier agent
  consumer

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The Industry

• Agent Renumeration
• The entire base and source of compensation is
  undergoing a change
• Commission Cuts and Caps
• De-bundled commission
• No Commission Policy
• Net Fares
• Transaction Fees
• Reevaluates the relation between agents and their
  suppliers

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The Role of The Travel Agent

• The way we do our job is changing
• More Customer Service
• More Business oriented
• More Sale than Order processing
• More Specialist than Generalist
• More Information Knowledge based
• More Knowledge about Products, IT etc.
• More Added Value for the consumer

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Your Staff

• Desired Qualifications
• Interpersonal Skills
• The Extra Touch
• Professional Integrity and Ethics
• Multi-cultural experience
• Commitment and Team Spirit
• Language Skills
• Organisation Skills
• Good Knowledge of Geography
• Finance and Accounting Skills

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Your Staff

• Educational Requirements
• Agency mission and goals
• Service skills and orientation
• Sales skills
• Intra-agency (team) communication
• Knowledge and competence
• Products
• Information Resources
• IT
• Equipment
• Facilities

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Your Managers

• Educational Requirements
• Agency mission and Goals
• Commitment to job
• Marketing skills
• Knowledge and competence
• Financial skills
• Employee issues
• Supervision
• Communication
• Compensation and conditions
• Empowerment
• Negotiation skills

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Thank you for your attention!