NEW ORLEANS -- A new public relations effort and the creation of
"broader and deeper" curriculum are two areas of focus for the
Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA) in the coming year.
The aim is to lay the foundation for a doubling of ICTA members
and holders of the Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) designation in
the next five years.
Today, there are 7,000 ICTA members. The public relations drive,
by newly hired firm of Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown, is
designed to increase awareness of travel agents holding CTC
designations as "expert" professionals that are the "cream of the
crop" of the trade, said Jack Mannix, ICTA president.
"We've never really had an effectively focused PR campaign on
the consumer side," he said during an interview at the ICTA
National Forum. "The consumer press is looking for travel experts
as sources so there is a lot of opportunity out there for us."
The PR effort will be led by YPB's account executive Gary Sain,
former senior vice president at Premier Cruise Line.
ICTA also unveiled at its annual forum a redesigned ICTA Web
site that is more interactive than in the past, allowing consumers
to search for agents based on geography and specialty.
The site's address, at www.icta.com, remains the same, but has a new look,
with members' features that are easier to use, Mannix said told the
350 conference delegates.
The member directory now allows members to update their own
profiles and provides a news page with media coverage of CTCs and
CTAs, a member message board and ICTA course program
information.
Mannix said the redesign will be further enhanced in the coming
weeks through the addition of a Web-based service that will allow
ICTA to host conference call seminars on the telephone while
members simultaneously watch a Power Point-style presentation on
their personal computers while linked on the ICTA Web site.
The service will allow ICTA to conduct some educational programs
by conference call more frequently and begin other types of
programs, such as sales seminars by industry executives such as
Carnival Corp.'s Bob Dickinson, Mannix said.
In the next weeks, ICTA will start assessing how much of its
curriculum should be installed on line, which would enable members
to complete their CTC and CTA coursework using the Internet rather
than through hard-copy textbooks.
The complete transition to on-line curriculum is an expensive
undertaking, said Mannix, and it has not been proven whether
students will prefer that method over old-fashioned textbooks, so
ICTA will proceed cautiously before moving forward with a
comprehensive program.
However, ICTA has begun work on a much larger effort to broaden
its curriculum, said Mannix, who joined ICTA in January, after six
years as managing director of AAA Travel Related Services.
ICTA is restructuring its course modules, offering greater
choice and flexibility of topics. In the next few months, three new
modules are being offered: Selling All-Inclusive Vacations, Selling
Escorted Tours and Preventing Credit Card Fraud.
ICTA also is looking at making its Destination Specialist
courses more detailed and specific, Mannix said.
For example, the Western European program, may be divided into
countries, so that an agent may become a France specialist after
taking a course with "broad and deep" information on that
destination.
As consumers become more educated and sophisticated about travel
there is "more pressure" for agents to become better trained in
destination information, he said.
ICTA 'testing waters' of on-line sales
NEW ORLEANS -- ICTA is testing the waters of the on-line selling
world.
Through an agreement with NetgenShopper.com of Fairfax, Va., ICTA members
can join the on-line service and receive sales leads from on-line
shoppers.
NetgenShopper.com is a "reverse auction" site that allows
consumers to request services anonymously from a select group of
sellers in a number of areas, such as travel.
Through e-mail, ICTA members who sign up to participate will
receive requests for vacation plans from consumers using the travel
area of NetgenShopper.com, which is linked to 85% of on-line Yellow
Page directory searches for travel services.
ICTA president Jack Mannix said the nonprofit educational
institute is "testing the waters" with the agreement with the
on-line company.
Like brick-and-mortar travel agencies and agency consortia, ICTA
is receiving many requests for alliances with on-line companies
that want to add travel services to their mix of offerings, Mannix
said.
ICTA decided to enter an agreement with NetgenShopper.com as a
test and because the company seemed to be in a position to help
ICTA increase awareness of CTCs in the on-line travel arena.
But he said ICTA agents who participate should do so with "the
right expectations."
Consumers using NetgenShopper.com will be using the service for
shopping, so not all of the leads to result in a sale, he said.
Mannix likened participation in the service to an agency
advertising in a Sunday travel section and then receiving phone
calls from consumers asking for more information, but perhaps not
serious buyers.
ICTA members can join the service through a free 90-day trial
membership. After that, the price is $10 a month and 50 cents per
lead pursued.
For more information, ICTA members can access www.icta.com and click on
the members page.