ATA: Helping Ethnic Agencies
by Michele McDonald /Navigating the ins and outs of the travel agency business and all its technology can be complex under the best of circumstances. And if you live and work in North America and English is your second language, you may find yourself outside your comfort zone.
In the U.S. and Canada, there are more than 1,000 ethnic travel agencies that serve large immigrant populations from China, the Philippines, India, and other countries.
The agents tend to be of the same ethnicity of their customers, who travel frequently between their new homes and their native countries to visit their families.
Mom and pop agencies
But ethnic agencies tend to be small, mom-and-pop operations, according to Kenn Sum, who with his brother Allan operates ATA Travel Consortium in Toronto, a company that helps ethnic agencies make the most of their business potential.
A few agencies have branch offices, but they are primarily single-location operations, and are very focused on the bottom line, he said. So they often feel constrained when it comes to calling a GDS help desk, for example, which may result in fees.
Small agencies also may lack the time and the expertise to deal effectively with the technological side of their businesses, Allan said.
Consolidating buying power
In 2004, the Sum brothers, who themselves immigrated to Canada from China, saw an opportunity in the ethnic market and founded ATA to consolidate ethnic agencies’ buying power.
The company partnered with Amadeus and became a distributor of its products to the ethnic agency community.
Allan, a former consolidator, understood the difficulties that the agencies encounter, and “I can provide a personal touch,” he said.
Most of them are using only 40% of their GDS’ capability, he said. In addition, “there are a lot of products out there that can help them do more business, and no one is telling them about them.”
Kenn added, “They don’t want to be the first to try out a product, so we scope it out for them. And nothing gets lost in translation.”
The comfort level
The brothers initially focused on Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking travel agents. They have since expanded their resources to support speakers of Hindi, Farsi, Arabic, and Urdu.
“It’s all about being comfortable,” and getting technical information and training in one’s native language greatly improves the comfort level, Allan said.
When an agency converts from one GDS system to another, ATA is there. “We’ll spend a week with them to help them through it,” he added.
Beyond the technology
The relationship with Amadeus goes beyond a technology partnership, Allan said.
“When we go into agency offices, we get a chance to sit with the business owners and listen to their concerns,” he said. “We take that back to Amadeus. We like their willingness to listen to the small guys.”
This year, ATA plans to expand in the U.S., which is home to 80% of North America’s foreign-born population.
The company opened an office in Los Angeles in December, and “I’m amazed at what I see,” Allan said.
The U.S. is “a much larger market. And in cities like Los Angeles and Houston, it’s very diverse, with a lot of new immigrants.”