Trish Shepherd, senior vice president and general manager of Ensemble's newly formed Australia and New Zealand division, spoke with Travel Weekly's Kate Rice about the Australia market's importance and the company's agent recruitment process.
Q: Why Australia?
A: Australians spend per capita eight times as much on international trips as Americans. Their travel spending per capita is second only to the Saudis. Outbound travel has gone up 50% in the past 10 years. And our economy is quite strong. We had reforms in our banking industry that occurred in the 1980s that basically prevented us from having a crash during the [global financial crisis]. We basically came through unscathed.
Q: Ensemble has been discussing this for about three years. Why move now?
A: The Australian market is in an upheaval from a partnership perspective, and that creates opportunity. Seven years ago, the marketplace started to consolidate. One major brand started to consolidate into a single company, and they have rebranded as a single company. Harvey World Travel, Jetset Travel, Travelworld and Travelscene American Express consolidated under a new brand name, Helloworld. Some agencies had spent 30, 40 years investing in one of those brands, just running that brand's office in their area. So some are deciding to invest in their own brand. Flight Centre continues to do well, and there are other great brands, but a lot of agencies have broken away -- kind of like how Giants [Ensemble's original name] started. Agencies formed their own group because they wanted to be in charge of their own supplier negotiations. In that middle ground is an opportunity.
Q: What is your timeline?
A: We have an extensive list of agents with whom we are already in negotiations and more that have expressed interest. We expect to start signing agents for a Jan. 1 contract start date. We don't have a specific number in mind, but we are very clear about the quality and ethos of the members that we want to attract. Within six months, we hope to make a considerable dent in the prospect base. Over the past months, we've been preparing for this launch so that our new members can start to benefit from their relationship with us from day one. We will gain momentum early and expect that we will bring on enough new members to gain buying power in a short time.
Q: Who are you targeting?
A: We are targeting travel agents who are like-minded in their ambition to grow their business, those who are looking for an added level of sophisticated consultative business support, and expect their needs to be at the center of every decision that we make. Ensemble built its business and its reputation on providing transparency and partnership with its members.
Q: You spent 27 years with American Express: What was your history there?
A: I started with American Express when I was 17 years old in foreign exchange. Then I moved into travel administration, running an office from a travel administration standpoint. I managed seven offices and then moved into the network because I had so much background on the company. I loved every moment I worked there. It taught me everything about structure and budgeting and business.