January 28, 2008
Musings From The Weeds
Just watched in amusement the interview with one of the elephants in the room, defending their position, and I suspect will add capacity if he views his market is threatened.
Can’t wait to see Europe air fares tank for the summer.
T Cook will attempt to grow their direct bookings as it will reduce costs and will marginalize independent agents. The Brits will work diligently to clone the British model, that I have no doubt.
On the acquisition side, Sears has been rumored for some time, but with an over inflated price tag. (The itravel2000 – lets make a deal kind of price.) This would give T Cook approx 100 retail branches across Canada, and replace the 200+ plus they flogged to Transat. There could be others up for grabs, but you guys have bigger ears, so you may know who or what may be in play.
The big guys are going to defend their turf, and will spend millions, none of which will find its way into the agency community.
8% is the new 15, and given the state of the market, 5% will become the new 8.
One can get a cue from the anemic and anorexic travel section of the Star. Not a whole lot dollars blowing their way is there? One could say we're already in the recession... been there for the last 9 months.
The politicos have failed to grasp – “It’s the economy stupid”. The steam roller from the USA is on the way! We’ll stay tuned for OJ to break the news, right?
We offer these musings on the current and suspected future state of the industry without prejudice as submitted by an anonymous viewer.
October 19, 2007
MLM Host Agency Petition Protesting Card Mills
There is a petition online at http://www.petitiononline.com/NOMLM/petition.html to protest the continuation and allowance of the MLM model as a means of selling travel. Allowing MLMs to provide "instant accreditation" to anyone signing up is demeaning and belittling to actual travel agents and agencies.
There are several Multi Level Marketing "host agencies" that have either moved from the US into Canada or have started new programs here. These "host agencies" provide no actual travel training and no support. Their focus is to sign up "Referral Travel Agents" (RTAs) who purchase into the program for several hundred dollars, pay a monthly fee, and in return receive a website with a booking engine and promises of instant accreditation, travel industry discounts (supposedly 50%) and free travel. Their financial records show that most of the income is derived from signing up RTAs and "downlining" than from actual travel sales. As these "agencies" are expanding in Canada so is the threat against REAL travel agents, not because we fear our clients will book with these RTAs instead of us, but because of the bad reputation that is brought by these "instant travel agents". Anyone foolish enough to book through them receives absolutely no support, and is told to call the vendor directly.
Because the vast majority of the income is generated by signing up others these RTAs quite aggressively solicit people, telling them quite explicitly that there is no training, no skill, no qualifications required to be a travel agent. The RTAs themselves show up at vendor presentations and trade shows demanding freebies, and attempting to recruit agents into their "downline". The fact that this kind of process is allowed to continue is not just objectionable, it is unconscionable. Travel is a service industry, where the welfare of the client is of utmost importance. These MLMs and their RTAs could not care less about the client. Their existence is diametrically opposed to the ACTA code of ethics (http://www.acta.ca/whyuse.htm).
I sent the email above to both CITC and ACTA last week, but I haven't really heard anything back from them on it.
I encourage agents, vendors and clients alike to sign the petition as a show of support and belief in the value of using a real, professional travel agent. Royal Caribbean has already issued a statement that they are in the process of terminating business relations with card mills (http://dailycruisenews.com/artman/publish/article_4534.shtml).
August 27, 2007
Ready And Willing
I'm not sure if I'm writing to the right department or not, but I was just looking at your poll for "how can we attract young folks to the travel biz" and wanted to share my views with you. I'm a 19 year old travel agent myself who was fortunate enough to have a travel and tourism class in high school that sparked my interest to become a travel agent.
I went through college, took the CITC test and graduated with honours. I was ready to start working in a travel agency and building a clientale of my own. Little did I know how hard it would be for me to actually get into the travel industry. Most agencies I applied at, immediately let me know that they were looking for someone with 2, 3 or 5+ years of experience. After a little while, I gave up on trying to get into an agency and started working at a hotel. I found this to be the trend among most of the people in my class. They simply could not find an agency that was willing to give them a try and let them gain the experience they needed. Most of these people are now the receptionists that greets you at a local business, or the cashier that rings in your groceries. I was fortunate enough to later finally find a travel agency, after almost a year of looking, that would give me a chance and helped me gain experience.
I think that if we are all so concerned about trying to attract young folks to get into the travel business, we actually need to give them a try as well. We do have young people who have been attracted to the travel biz and we do have young people who have gone to school for travel and have been trained, the only reason we don't see them in the travel business is because no one is willing to give them the chance. Luckily for us young people, there are still some agencies out there who take us in and give us the experience and I thank those agencies. Don't bother attracting us young people to the travel biz if you're not willing to hire us on after all of that.
Thanks and have a great day!
Esther Zuidema
Travel Consultant
July 11, 2007
Will ‘Wonders’ Never Cease?
Steve Gillick
Traveller
This past week news services around the world picked up the announcement that the “new 7 Wonders of the World” had been determined.
It’s a funny world we live in. Or perhaps, more accurately, it is a fast food world we live in. Instant gratification. Consumer opinion polls for just about everything. American—then Canadian Idol-and now World Attraction Idol. Voting for your favourites, as if it were a beauty contest. There are winners and runners up. There are honourable mentions. There are losers.
I can say that I saw 6 of the 7 “new wonders”, before they were wonders. To me each one was an adventure in witnessing history; travelling to exotic places; learning about new cultures; sharing in the spirit of discovery; marvelling at what past generations had conceived; understanding the reasons why a landmark existed and understanding the people who built that wonder. When I visited these heritage sites, I did so out of a sense of respect and yes, wonderment.
The current beauty contest of world heritage sites demeans the very sites that should be admired and honoured. In the ancient world, the figure of ’10,000’ was applied to distance, to connote an unbelievably long journey that would take perhaps a lifetime to complete. Today a trip to Asia from Canada will cover that distance in 12-14 hours. Our sense of wonder and journey and discovery has changed with the times. The ancients were fascinated with the beauty and complexity and mystical quality of wonders such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Great Pyramid of Giza. Times have certainly changed when riveted metal structures such as the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty are listed as “finalists” in a 7 Wonders pageant.
The contest organizers claim to have received 90-100 million votes, but surely most of these are unquantifiable in terms of personal background, travel experience, literacy, duplicate voting. And one need only to go to the 7 wonders website to test this out. There, under the Great Wall of China, is a picture of some people holding a banner at Bedaling, asking contest participants to vote for this site. Bedaling is as artificial as they come. It is a tourist attraction, befitting an amusement park. Aside from the steep climb from watchtower to watchtower, it is a clean, sanitized attraction to give tourists the opportunity to challenge themselves by walking up a steep incline, perspire, huff and puff, take a photo and claim that they have climbed the Great Wall of China. They know that the Wall was built to keep out ‘invaders’, but that is it. Very few dare to venture to a place called Simatai (or similar places) where, at least when I was there in 2000, the wall was in its natural state: In disrepair, steep crumbling steps, natural surroundings(and only a few T-shirt sellers). So which Wall did the voters vote for? The nice clean version or the rugged natural version?
Will tourists now start to flock to these new Wonder destinations? Perhaps. The Baby Boomers and Generation X’s are looking for adventures that include going off the beaten track; more spiritual experiences and more educational adventures. They are already (with families in tow) visiting Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat and the Great Pyramid. They are ruining the sites by acting as tourists do. It is a gang mentality. We would not throw a cigarette butt on the grounds of Parliament Hill in Ottawa but if everyone is doing it at Chichen Itza, then ‘I guess its ok to do it here’.
Much has been written about the effects of tourism on these sites and others, and yes, it is up to local authorities to stop pandering to the almighty dollar and to the inconveniences that tourists must endure, and start imposing regulations that will restrict visitors and safeguard the very wonders that they want to use to attract tourists. It is a vicious cycle but it is up to each country to keep their Wonders, wonderful.
And what about the Wonders that were runners-up in this pageant or did not receive enough votes to even qualify? Do they fall by the wayside or do they get a second kick at the can in 5 years when the 7 Wonders organization needs a cash infusion and holds a second contest? Will Wonders never cease?
While the 7 Wonders may be in fact wonderful to visit, there are a whole slew of unknown wonders that adventure travellers have known about for years. Small wonders hidden in a cave in Laos or atop a mountain in Sri Lanka or in a monastery in Mongolia or in the hills of the Philippines, and more and more.
Let’s not bow to the latest trend to reduce the awesome pleasure of travel and discovery to front an off-beat, misguided commercial enterprise.
Lastly, judge the suitability of travel to certain countries and landmarks by the way that country shows respect to it’s own local cultures and customs, how they treat the people displaced by tourists visiting their Wonders, how they educate travellers about their actions and how they safeguard these precious legacies of times past.
It is a wonder-ful world out there. Confucius extolled his followers to ‘read 10,000 books ….travel 10,000 miles’. If we all did it in that order, then we would not need contests. Now how wonderful would that be?
May 8, 2007
Letter to ACTA CEO Christiane Theberge
from Mike Hill, Travel Masters, YYJ
Dear Ms. Theberge,
Thank you for finally explaining ACTA's position on a couple of these important items. I do find it unfortunate that you waited until today to communicate this information to the membership at large.
I am also disappointed that you did not make yourself available to attend the CTAC meeting in Toronto today. While you may have seen the meeting as potentially confrontational or an occasion for a CSTAR vs ACTA showdown, I think I speak on behalf of many travel agency owners when I say that I have been looking for a clear statement from ACTA on a number of important issues in order for me to decide whether ACTA's position is naive or CSTAR's position is a total overreaction.
By missing today's opportunity to have an open & frank discussion with agency owners about why your views are so different to CSTAR's concerns, you failed to seize the moment to demonstrate once & for all that ACTA is the best organization to represent Canadian travel agents. I have to assume that your concern about losing a debate with CSTAR was a higher priority than making sure that travel agents fully understood the positions which you have taken on our behalf with IATA. How can I be assured that you act in the best interests of the agent community if you do not communicate why you take certain positions with different IATA proposals, do not respond openly to widespread industry concerns, and do not make yourself available for candid debates or discussions especially if CSTAR is involved? Even ACTA must acknowledge that, from time to time, CSTAR asks tough, valid questions which need to be addressed.
Yours truly,
Mike Hill
President
Travel Masters Victoria
May 3, 2007
Carbon Offsets Akin To Selling Indulgences
David Biltek, The Vacation Store
we have all seen a lot of news lately about the sale of carbon offsets to reduce the impact of flights, cruises etc. In fact many airlines, travel agencies, and others are offering carbon offsets that customers may purchase.
The Vacation Store is not going to do this and I'll tell you why. After several months of consideration and investigation I have come to the following conclusions about carbon offsets:
- They do not help “offset” carbon emissions…some of the projects are offering to plant trees…just how many trees would it take to “offset” even a simple trip from Grande prairie to Edmonton, especially since trees need to be much more mature than seedlings to have any impact.
- High costs of administration…some offset projects are asking between 25% and 30% for administration…or in the words of a spokesperson at easyjet, one of Europe's leading discount airlines: “There are a lot of people who have dived into the market who are desperate to make a margin out of it. There are too many snake oil salesmen in the business.”
But the major reason is: buying carbon offsets is simply a balm to the conscience and will distract all of us from the real issue. Buying offsets is akin to the practice in the Catholic Church in the middle ages of selling indulgences. For those who are not Catholic or not familiar with this old teaching and practice: the Church of the day, (and in some forms, as late as my childhood, which does not quite go back to the middle ages, despite what my daughters say) preached that souls would suffer in purgatory for sins committed here on earth. However you could earn “indulgences” which would take off time in purgatory; so doing good deeds or saying a few Hail Mary's might remove “300 days” from your time in purgatory.
Over time, the Church began to sell indulgences…essentially saying…go ahead and sleep with your sister, just as long as you buy an indulgence from the priest, or for such a heinous act, maybe the Bishop.
Carbon offsets sounds a lot like buying and selling indulgences to me.
April 24, 2007
Refuting Passport Horror Stories
Just a quick note to refute (at least somewhat) all these horrific passport renewal stories we keep on hearing and reading about. My passport expired last Thursday (Apr. 19). Realizing this back in January, knowing that I was going to Ireland at the end of this month (April), but wanting to avoid the herds that were going to be applying/renewing in January and February before the U.S. deadline kicked in, I decided to wait until March to attempt my renewal.
In late February I talked to Ciara O'Connell of Tourism Ireland (because we do so much work with them) just to see what horror stories she might have heard from potential tourists to Ireland who suddenly remembered that they'd need a valid passport for any trips to the "auld Sod" this spring. Ciara told me that she'd had to renew her own passport recently and that for an extra payment of $ 100 or so (she couldn't remember exactly how much while on the phone), she'd gotten her new one in less than a week. This certainly re-affirmed my belief that I could wait until the U.S. frenzy was over before applying.
So I waited until Mon., Mar. 19 (giving me sufficient time to clear the Paddy's Day cobwebs away) and then hauled myself over to the Fed. Gov't building on Yonge St (just north of Sheppard) that morning at 7:40 a.m. (they "officially" open at 8:00 a.m. but there are staff there from 7:30 a.m. to put the early arrivals into some order). I had pre-completed the passport renewal forms (downloaded off the internet), so didn't have to do anything but report in, tell them what I was there for, and take a number. The formal "application room" opened at 8:00. I was # 42 and was out of there, having done everything required and paid the regular fee ($ 87 - no extra fee for expedited service), by 8:30 a.m. (so 50 min. in total). The staff person at the counter told me that I could expect my new passport by Apr. 11 (23 days).
It arrived at my home by registered mail on April 6, 14 working days after my application!
No special payments; no special favours; just a normal renewal.
As we all know, governments and "the big boys" of the travel industry, e.g., airlines, etc., are usually the most inefficient bureaucracies out there. Normally, I'd be one of the first storming the barricades if I thought that it would do any good. However in this case, and it hurts to say it, the Passport Canada people seem to be almost organized and to be doing a much better job than is being reported. I'm sure that at least some potential travel industry clients have shelved travel plans because of the passport "horror stories" out there (see today's "news briefs") and that's not a good thing for our industry.
Geez, I never thought that I'd end up giving props to civil servants (at least not publicly)! If that can happen, I guess there's also a chance I'll win the 649 some day!!!!!
Cheers,
Mike Kearney
Managing Director
GOLF-AWAY Tours
April 16, 2007
Weighing In On Agent Websites
I just viewed your survey for website hits.
Anyone who is not getting hits off their website is a lazy bum. You have to keep it updated and work it as hard as the call in or walk in client.
Any travel agency or agent that doesn't think a website can bring them business is living in the dark ages. If everyone is waiting for a walk in, a call in or a referral then their days are numbered in this highly competive business.
I do not have a website with a booking engine as I believe in "personal service" My website bluntly tells the public this. It also reminds them of the dangers in booking online. What are they? Well, are they really buying the right product for them? Is the consumer able to call their web engine booking site when disaster befalls them at destination? I could go on and on to combat why not to use a booking engine.
It's time ACTA and numerous other agencies that most of us belong to stepped up to the advertising plate and promoted why the public should be using travel agencies on a one on one basis. I hear the horror stories regularily from clients who were dissatisfied with their internet booking engine experience. Most say they would never do it again.
There you have it....my comments.
Erleen Kettleson
Owner Our Travel Depot Prince George BC
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