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Be the Buyer's Agent to Beat Competition
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Travel agents face competition from many sources, from online search and booking engines to suppliers who market directly to their clients even while claiming they don’t, said travel industry consultant Bob Joselyn, who is also president and CEO of TAMS, a travel agency financial benchmarking and networking company.
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Agents Say Business Plans Key to Success
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Without some type of plan to steer by, travel sellers are flying blind. And the plans should be quite specific in terms of goals and timeliness, while allowing for flexibility as opportunities present themselves. This is the general consensus of agents that Travel Market Report recently spoke with about the importance of having a business and/or marketing plan.
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Travel Sellers Say Mentoring Encourages New Entrants
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Most long-term, successful travel sellers, both on the retail agency and supplier sides, will say they had someone they viewed as a mentor when they started out in the industry, and most agree that those who are mentored are more likely to stay in the industry than those who are left to figure it out on their own.
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Report: Agency Employees Generate Average $150K in Revenue
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In one of the few analyses of the retail travel industry in the U.S., a new report from First Research states that the average annual revenue generated by each employee at a traditional agency amounts to more than $150,000. The report also states that travel agencies are part of a $40 billion travel services industry in the U.S.
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Affluent Expect More Value for Money, Service From Agents
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On Thursday, TMR's article on Selling to the Recession-Shocked Affluent discussed the need to help their clients focus on why it is permissible and even important to travel. Here we look at the changes in customer expectations, booking windows, the use of social media and the value of agency/supplier partnerships, subjects discussed by a panel of luxury suppliers and a travel agent, at the recent Virtuoso Travel Mart.
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Mexicana Is Purchased by Investment Group and Pilots
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A group of Mexican investors called Tenedora K purchased a 95% stake in Nuevo Grupo Aeronautico SA, the holding company for the airline Compania Mexicana de Aviacion, according to reports by Reuters and Bloomberg. The pilots union now holds the remaining 5%.
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Selling to the Recession-Shocked Affluent
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The recession has irrecoverably changed the affluent client, and agents need to help their clients focus on why it is permissible and even important to travel. This was the message delivered to several hundred attendees at Virtuoso's recent Travel Mart in Las Vegas.
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Mexicana Resumes Ticketing, Some Service
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Last week, Grupo Mexicana reported that talks with its pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions had progressed, and that flight schedules, while reduced, would be reinstated and posted on Mexicana’s Web site.
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Virgin's Branson Offers Travel Sellers Insight to Success
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In difficult times, it is especially important to invest and “create companies that people want to deal with,” Sir Richard Branson told nearly 6,000 delegates at the National Business Travel Association Conference in Houston. Answering questions from award-winning journalist Alexis Glick and in his blog at the Virgin Atlantic Web site, Branson shared insights that can be applied by travel sellers large and small.
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