The U.S. Tour Operators Association celebrated its 25th
anniversary amid discussion about big changes, namely consolidation
within the industry and pressures on the retail trade. San
Francisco bureau chief Laura Del Rosso talked with Van Nuys,
Calif.-based Brendan Tours president James Murphy, who was one of
the founders of USTOA and the only chairman to have served in that
position twice.
TW: What was the aim of the 10 tour operators that founded the
USTOA in California 25 years ago?
JM: It was to raise the awareness of tour operators in the eyes
of travel agents.
TW: Were travel agents using tour operators?
JM: Yes, but they were nervous about it. A lot of travel agents
themselves were new. And the customers were new to travel.
Ninety-five percent were using a passport for the first time. It
was incredible.
TW: What do you think of all the talk about tour operator
consolidation, companies buying others and merging them?
JM: I wake up at 3 in the morning thinking about it --whether to
be in on it or outside of it. And, I imagine a lot of my colleagues
are doing exactly the same thing. Brendan Tours has to think about
whether to become part of the consolidation or, if we don't,
whether we will be locked out. We've got to think whether five
years from now, will there be a reason for Brendan Tours?
TW: Have you decided which way to go?
JM: No, but the fact that my son [Gary Murphy, vice president]
has come back into the business with me indicates that the
independent route will be the way we probably go. Eventually he
will take over for me, I imagine.
TW: How often do you get phone calls from people wanting to buy
Brendan?
JM: Sometimes weekly, but at least once a month.
TW: Do you think consolidation is good for consumers, for travel
agents and the industry?
JM: I think it's bad for consumers. For the travel agents, the
chains and groupings of agents are already working with fewer
companies because of preferred vendors. From a bottom-line point of
view it can be a good thing for agents.
TW: What of the future of travel agents?
JM: In these days of pessimism for the future of retail travel
agents, I think their future is quite good -- for agents who know
the business. The good agents, those who can tell you the
difference between a good hotel in London or Paris, will
prosper.
TW: If the future of the industry involves consolidation, and
there are fewer and fewer companies, maybe some of which are big
public companies, what role will USTOA play?
JM: Even if they become bigger companies, it's still useful. In
the past, even some of the biggest companies, doing tens of
thousands of passengers a year, have gone bankrupt. They
overexpanded.
TW: Is consumer protection as important now as it was 25 years
ago, when USTOA was founded?
JM: More important. If a travel agent loses the money from say,
two Brendan bookings, it is a big hit in a year's business.
TW: What do you think of the future of packaged vacations?
JM: As long as we can package them as competitively as people
doing it themselves, the future is very good. In terms of Europe,
we think that a day's traveling, with transportation, escort, meals
and hotel, is roughly the equivalent of what the client would pay
for hotel room alone if they were doing it on their own.