Changing Agency Biz Seen as a Plus for Young Newcomers

Faced with a chronic shortage of young newcomers, travel agency owners and industry leaders are understandably worried.

Who will comprise the next generation of leaders and innovators?

Does the travel agency business have what it takes to attract the best and the brightest among today’s young people?

When Travel Market Report posed these questions to business and thought leaders in the industry, they agreed that the challenges are real, even daunting. They also see a number of factors – especially the increasingly entrepreneurial nature of the agency profession – that bode well.

“We can’t approach the need to attract young agents with a defeatist attitude,” said Jackie Friedman, president of Nexion.

Here’s what they said.

Does the travel agency business offer the kinds of opportunities that will attract the brightest, most ambitious young people?
Jackie Friedman: Our industry is all about developing strong entrepreneurs. There’s a lot of training, a lot of opportunity for developing your business skills.

When you look at today’s travel agent, more and more of them are on pay-by-performance, which is attractive to young people. That kind of compensation model develops entrepreneurs – and creates tomorrow’s senior leadership.

Young agents have a different mindset – they don’t see themselves as travel agents but as marketers of travel. If they have a clever idea or passion for something like music or diving, they tend to use it to develop a niche and then promote it through a strong social network. They can be tremendously successful.

Elaine Osgood, president, Atlas Travel: The industry is much more of a real business now, so it is attractive to people with business goals. It’s not about commission checks showing up in the mail. Now we get paid from our customers. It’s a real business. If you don’t view it as a real business, you shouldn’t get into travel.

Pamela Wright, owner, Wright Travel: I strongly believe that travel has a lot of potential. A lot of agency owners need someone to energize the agency. They need someone to take over in terms of strategic planning. So there is a lot of opportunity in the industry for young people, but we have to do a better job in reaching them.

How important is workplace flexibility in attracting new talent to the travel agency profession?
Friedman: It’s important to emphasize this aspect to young people – that they can have flexibility in their lives.

And they can transition into travel by being an independent contractor, They can see if they like it before they take the plunge. You don’t have to take a huge risk and quit a job to go into the travel industry.

Andi McClure-Mysza, president, MTravel: We get people who are starting up their own travel agencies for a variety of reasons, including because they have had a child and want to work from home. A lot of people are drawn to the flexibility you can have in the travel business.

What trends do you see among newcomers to the travel agency business?
Osgood: We are hiring young people right out of school. Not necessarily out of travel school, but those with education in hospitality and technology.

Younger people, women as well as men, are so comfortable with social media and anything that has to do with the Internet. They live their lives on that space. This is a great benefit to the agency because we have to understand millennials and embrace them. They are our customers now.

Wright: I’m not sure the industry is attracting the best and the brightest. Some newcomers don’t have the ambition that I would like to see. They may just want to travel. We need to get beyond this.

McClure-Mysza: Our message to people is that if they are truly serious about wanting to build up a business clientele, we will help them do that. We push people away if they are not coming in with that mindset.

How can the industry attract and nurture young new talent?
Lalia Rach, associate dean, School of Hospitality Leadership, University of Wisconsin: The travel industry needs to reach out to the high schools and colleges. They need to present the fact that there is a career ladder here. And that it’s an industry that combines people skills with technology.

You have to present your organization as a 21st century organization. That doesn’t mean you have to throw out your core values. But if you are stuck in the last century, you will not attract college students.