ne goes to a guru for enlightenment.
In some cases, the guru comes to you. In this issue, we bring you
10.
We didn't expect 10 gurus to agree on everything, and they
didn't disappoint. If nothing else, the exercise that begins on
Page 1 proves there are at least 10 ways of looking at a
problem.
But it shouldn't take the alert reader very long to notice one
theme that occurs repeatedly in these presentations: the necessity
of focusing on the customer and the customer's needs, or, as
Marriott's Roger Dow put it, "understanding what's important to the
client at that moment."
Although the Internet works in real time, this kind of
understanding takes face time. It is not something that easily is
achieved with e-mail or mouse clicks.
It has been said over and over that agents must add value to the
transaction to attract and keep customers. Part of that value is
the inherent value of being in the same room, and we don't mean
chat room.
That, we believe, is the advantage that travel agents have and
always will have, particularly in stressful times such as
these.
• • •
A painful choice
proud tradition of financial
stability has been part of the legacy of the National Tour
Association for decades, dating back to the days of federal
licensing when the group was known as the National Tour Brokers
Association. In fact, the old NTBA used to warn that an end to
licensing could usher in an era of tour operator defaults and
bankruptcies.
It may have been right, as protection plans for the patrons of
tour operators became something of an industry fad in the 1980s,
when different programs sprang up at USTOA, ASTA and the NTA.
ASTA discontinued its program in 1993, on the grounds that its
maximum payout in the event of an operator bankruptcy, $250,000,
was not enough.
The NTA and USTOA soldiered on, but the liability limit in the
NTA's Consumer Protection Plan didn't keep pace with our troubled
times. Before the NTA's decision to terminate its plan, its maximum
liability was $200,000 per bankruptcy, less than what the ASTA
program offered a decade ago.
Even with its limitations, the NTA was rightly proud of its
plan, and it is unfortunate that the association and its members no
longer can afford it. Without the plan, NTA membership dues will
fall 43%, from $700 to $400. With the plan in place, and with the
prospects of more trouble ahead, the pressure on dues most
certainly would be intense.
We hope NTA members can continue to build confidence among
consumers and travel sellers, and we hope the NTA continues to
involve the nation's travel agents in its efforts to promote
consumer welfare.