Zane Kerby made his public speaking debut as ASTA's new president and CEO at the UATP Airline Distribution Conference earlier this month. Afterward he spoke with Kate Rice about airline cooperation and the Society's new approach to trade shows.
Q: Is ASTA reaching out to airlines?
A: I see a need to build bridges. The board of directors of ASTA and I feel that it is appropriate at this time for us to re-engage our airline partners. We're selling most of their product. We want them to feel at home with ASTA.
Q: What was the goal of your presentation?
A: The goal was to help airline executives understand the value of working with travel agents. John's [Pittman, ASTA's vice president of industry and consumer affairs] presentation showed the progression of smaller agencies, and how they are booking far less air than they used to. There's opportunity there. Agencies of all sizes and interests respond to incentives. They are selling cruises, they are selling hotels. They have preferred providers in every segment, but they don't always have a preferred supplier in air.
Q: What's the value that agents can provide airlines?
A: I was at a lunch yesterday, and Tony Tyler [IATA's director general and CEO] was the featured speaker. He said that the U.S. airline industry on average last year made 21 cents in profit per passenger. The ticket takers of yesterday are gone. What you have today in the retail travel agency space are demand creators. You have a sales force out there, and they are selling other products, and I was telling airlines that agents can sell their product, as well. There is an opportunity to re-engage the airline sector. Some airlines are already doing this, to their credit. I talked to Simon Bradley [vice president of marketing] at Virgin Atlantic, and he said they have a very extensive agency program. They're looking to expand it, and we're exploring working together.
Virtuoso is an example of how relatively small players volume-wise can be a big player when it comes to selling high-margin tickets. It doesn't take much to reach small and medium-sized agencies, and we can help airlines reach them.
Q: What can you tell us about the just-announced ASTA Global Convention?
A: Yes, TheTradeShow is over in terms of that brand, name and format. We've replaced it with the Global Convention, and that has broader implications. It's not just having a keynote speaker like Hillary Clinton. Richard Fain [chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.] has accepted an invitation to speak. We have reached out to the CEOs of an international airline, an international hotel company and another cruise line. We think it's important for industry heads to speak to what is a very important distribution channel for them.
At the same time, we want agents to walk away with hands-on, practical experience. That is why we have a new senior director of education on staff here, Kristi Long. She is a former travel agent and teaches tourism as an adjunct at George Washington University. We're going to have great practical tutorials on marketing, social media and sales etiquette. We'll offer training for agents at the managerial level and the owner level.
Q: What attracted you to ASTA?
A: ASTA has a great board with very passionate people who love the industry. That attracted me at the beginning. But then I saw the dedication of the members, how they will go to state hearings and sit for hours just to testify for five minutes about how a tax will affect the industry. Those things are inspiring.
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtravelweekly.