e know no travel agents who've gotten
rich selling luggage as a sideline, but in our Page 1 feature
today, you will meet a few agents who, in the interest of keeping
their customers satisfied, have branched out to offer personal
services for their travelers, such as grocery shopping or arranging
for pet-sitters.
Well, why not?
Thanks to the airlines, agents have gotten used to the idea of
selling services for no remuneration and passing on the cost to the
client. So why stop at travel? If you can sell a commodity like an
airline ticket and not get paid by the supplier, you also can sell
a wax job for the car or a paint job for the deck while the family
is away.
These supplemental services may never become important enough to
make or break an agency, but the entrepreneurial spirit that is
driving these developments is a good sign.
Some agents were heard to say the arrival of zero commissions
was a liberating experience. Maybe this is what they meant -- the
freedom to experiment.
• • •
Free Las Vegas
f you're Orlando; Hershey, Pa.;
or even Dubuque, Iowa, and you are seeking to increase tourism to
your town, the National Football League would be only too happy to
allow you to advertise in this manner during the Super Bowl
broadcast on Jan. 26.
But if you're Las Vegas, the virginal National Football League
is too good for you. The league has rejected all Las Vegas travel
advertising for the Super Bowl. Can't be tainted -- gambling and
all that.
What sanctimonious claptrap!
If Las Vegas is good enough to be the host city for a college
football bowl game, it's good enough to advertise during the Super
Bowl. We don't see how a TV ad promoting travel to Las Vegas -- an
ad that doesn't even mention gambling or betting -- is going to do
any damage to the entertainment that we call professional
football.
• • •
The wavering wave
emember "Wave Week?" Remember
when it became "Wave Month?" Then "Wave Season?"
Younger travel sellers may need a history lesson here, but there
was a time when a big chunk of the cruise industry's sales activity
seemed to occur during a few days in January.
For better or worse, that traditional peak is flattening out as
consumers keep cutting into the lead time, but we'd hate to see it
flatten out entirely.
Part of the fun in this game are the seasonal highs.