Jamie Biesiada
LAS VEGAS — It's been a year.
As Arnie Weissmann, Northstar Travel Group's explorer at large summed it up, there has been a war. Impacts on fuel prices. Weather events. Plane crashes. Inflation. Cartel violence in Mexico.
You might, Weissmann posited, think that would mean a disastrous year for travel.
Arnie Weissmann (left) and Ensemble president Michael Johnson at Ensemble's 2026 Horizons conference. Photo Credit: Ensemble
"But in fact, it can be to your benefit," Weissmann told travel advisors at Ensemble's 2026 Horizons conference last week. The more complicated the world is, the greater a travel advisor's value, he said.
Weissmann recently stepped into his new role at Northstar after 25 years at the helm of Travel Weekly as its editor in chief (Northstar is Travel Weekly's parent company). At Ensemble, he was in conversation on stage with the consortium's president, Michael Johnson.
While the K-shaped economy has caused some segments to travel less, luxury travel is strong. Weissmann said there are joys to be found in budget travel, too.
According to Johnson, travel is one of the last things that advisors' clients will cut out of their budgets.
Johnson also made a case for diversification: whenever something happens in one area of the world, an advisor versed in selling different categories or destinations can effectively shift their travelers to an unaffected location.
Sales data reveals areas of opportunity for travel advisors.
The case for booking air
Weissmann shared data on agency sales by segment for 2024, compiled from Phocuswright, Travel Weekly and ARC research that shows air is the largest percentage of total sales for leisure and corporate agencies. For leisure agencies, air represented 57% of sales, and for corporate, 56%.
Weissmann said that indicates the importance of belonging to an agency network like Ensemble that has bargaining power from volume.
"If you're on your own, your air commissions are pathetic," he said.
Hotels only account for 7% of leisure sales. There's opportunity for that number to increase, Weissmann said.
Ensemble's agency sales consist of around 40% cruise and just north of 40% tours, Johnson said, with the rest spread across air, hotel and other.
It's a "huge opportunity" to add air, especially with Ensemble's proprietary ADX platform that offers a simple interface for air sales.
"Your clients need to get there anyway," he said. "Why give that sale up?"
Personal relationships are key
Weissmann and Johnson discussed some statistics from Travel Weekly's Travel Industry Survey, an annual research project for which Ensemble has been a partner for several years. They talked about the main reasons clients book with an advisor.
The top reason was personal relationships (40%), followed by customer service (29%) and expertise (27%).
"This is an industry of extroverts, and this is a group where you and who you are really matters to your clients," Weissmann said.