What worries advisors right now?
We asked travel sellers what keeps them up at night and whether their outlook for the year was positive or negative — and they answered.
Geopolitical tensions. The U.S. economy and presidential election. The public’s perception of travel advisors.
Advisors’ concerns are many and varied in 2024, but one issue stood out among a group of 400 agents surveyed by Travel Weekly: the cost of travel.
In an online survey fielded in February and March, advisors identified a number of issues when asked about the top concern for their business in 2024. Far ahead of any other issue was the “increased cost of travel,” garnering more than 18% of responses. The next highest was “high airfares and fees,” with 13.2%.
Combining those two selections, nearly one-third of advisors identified costs associated with travel as their top worry.
“Clients are shocked at how expensive it is to travel these days,” wrote one respondent, Kim Covert, the owner of Silverleaf Travel in Phoenix. “Yes, flight prices are higher, but everything in general is higher.”
CLIENT EXPECTATIONS ‘UNREALISTIC’
More than half of respondents, 57.2%, reported they were “very” or “extremely concerned” about the increased cost of travel. Even more, 63.5%, reported being “very” or “extremely concerned” about high airfares or fees.
The U.S. Travel Association tracks travel prices over time via its Travel Price Index. In December, travel cost on average was up 19% over the same month in 2019 and 1.3% higher than it was in December 2022.
Airfares were actually down 3.5% in December compared with 2019, according to the index, but overall transportation costs were 11.9% higher. Lodging prices were up 15.8%, recreation costs were up 14.5% and food and beverage prices were up 25.2%.
Elizabeth Henn, founder of LBAC Travel in Sayville, N.Y., said that among her 60 advisors, cost is their biggest concern.
Airfare, in particular, is a sticking point: LBAC Travel advisors are now leading conversations with the cost of air to ensure clients understand what portion of their budget it will take.
At Well Traveled Texan in Houston, clients often come in with “unrealistic expectations,” owner Jeanne Polocheck said.
Some are unaware of the cost of travel, she said, and will make unreasonable trip requests; for example, a family of 12 that has never been to Europe asking for a 10-day itinerary to see all of Italy and all of Greece. “What happens is that we end up spending a lot of our time — which we should, we are travel advisors — but we spend a lot of our time sometimes talking clients out of trips,” she said.
‘What happens is we spend a lot of our time sometimes talking clients out of trips.’
BOOKINGS STILL STRONG
But clients are still traveling, advisors said.
“I feel in some respects, [2024] is starting off a little quieter than 2023 did, but I think the ones who are traveling, they are spending,” Henn said. “That’s going to be interesting to see in the end; we’ll have, maybe, less passengers traveled but the same if not greater sales numbers.”
‘We’ll have, maybe, less passengers traveled [in 2024] but the same if not greater sales numbers.’
A number of agencies are still outpacing 2023 sales.
Departure Lounge in Austin, Texas, did around $30 million in sales this January, compared with $16 million in January 2023, according to founder Keith Waldon. Last year, the agency doubled its 2022 sales.
“There’s just no way we’re going to double our sales again this year, but I would say we’re on pace to add $100 million to $150 million to our bottom-line sales,” Waldon said.
He is starting to see what he described as a “pushback” from clients on value. Last year, he characterized clients as “blazing guns — whatever the price is, they’d pay it.” This year, clients are pushing back against prices they feel aren’t indicative of the value of the travel product. Booking hasn’t slowed, though.
“So far it feels like maybe a little bit more normal of a year, but only compared to the last couple,” Waldon said. “Not compared to what we would say [were] normal years coming into 2018 and ’19 — it’s still crazy high booking requests.”
‘So far it feels like maybe a little bit more normal of a year, but only compared to the last couple.’
Travel Experts in Raleigh, N.C., is also seeing strong booking trends for 2024. The host agency (No. 24 on Travel Weekly’s 2023 Power List) ended last year with total sales of $715 million, 35% higher than 2022. And sales this January were 42% higher than for the same month last year.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS
Geopolitical tensions was the top concern for 12.9% of advisors, making it second to cost-related issues. Just over 42% of respondents said they were “very” or “extremely concerned” about geopolitical tensions.
Thus far, agencies have not reported significant disruptions to clients’ travel based on conflicts around the world.
Henn said that when Hamas first attacked Israel in the fall, some clients did call the agency. A few cruisers shifted their Mediterranean itineraries as a result. Largely, though, the impact from that war has been limited to the drying up of travel to Israel.
Similarly, Well Traveled Texan and its advisors aren’t sending clients to Israel or neighboring Jordan right now, but it hasn’t seen a wider impact.
“I don’t feel like anybody’s nervous,” Polocheck said. “It’s very strange, because I expected it.”
Recently updated travel advisories to some Caribbean destinations had only minor effects on agencies. In LBAC Travel’s case, Henn said, only two clients shifted destinations.
CARD MILLS ON THE RISE?
While Travel Weekly’s survey did not directly ask about card mills and multilevel-marketing (MLM) companies, respondents revealed they are a real and growing concern among advisors.
In a section of the survey that encouraged respondents to write in additional concerns they had about their business in 2024, one respondent said, “the general public’s view of travel professionals.”
“Sadly,” the advisor wrote, “due to many MLM-type agencies proliferating out there and their extreme lack of education, training and business ethics, the travel industry is getting a black eye, so to speak. They are making a mockery of our professionalism and touting that you can do this ‘as a side hustle’ with no training. This is so damaging to the legitimacy of our industry.”
Multiple respondents said they were concerned about untrained advisors ruining the public’s perception of the travel agency community. Several also noted MLMs’ aggressive recruiting strategies that hawk unrealistic expectations of the profession, including “fly for free, enjoy free trips.”
One advisor suggested the industry needed to tighten requirements to be called a travel advisor, including potential licensing of advisors.
“You should have a basic understanding of geography and travel rules,” one advisor wrote. “Card mills are killing our industry.”
Polocheck shared their concern. She, too, has seen increased messaging stating “anyone can be a travel advisor.”
She argued that that kind of messaging dilutes the work that trained advisors have put into certification and education.
“To say that someone else can just hang their hat out and say, ‘I’m a travel advisor today, but I’ve never booked a trip in my life or been to any of these destinations I’m talking to you about,’ is a major issue,” she said.
NDC, AMERICAN ON AGENTS’ MINDS
NDC, and American Airlines’ distribution strategy in particular, is also a concern for advisors. While the survey did not expressly ask about it, a number of respondents identified it as a pain point.
American has been in a protracted public battle with ASTA since it changed the way it distributes fares. A large number of fares were removed from the GDS channel and are now only available via NDC connections. ASTA has taken the issue to the DOT in hopes that the agency might step in; the airline has maintained its course.
One respondent echoed some of the Society’s complaints, saying NDC readiness has been overstated and that the technology does not work well enough for agencies. Some suggested concerns about other airlines following suit.
One simply said, “NDC and AA are destroying the booking of air travel.”
Travel Experts has been one of Virtuoso’s top air producers for years. President and owner Susan Ferrell said its advisors who heavily book air “are really wringing their hands” over American’s NDC strategy, especially those based near the Dallas-Fort Worth area where American is by far the largest carrier.
The host agency is backing ASTA’s efforts as well as seeking meetings with American, Ferrell said.
“We’re just kind of sitting on pins and needles, seeing what develops and what kind of pressure can be exerted, if anything, and how it unfolds,” she said.
‘We’re just kind of sitting on pins and needles, seeing what develops’ with American’s NDC strategy.
HELP WANTED
Few advisors indicated that hiring additional agents or assistants or onboarding new independent contractors was their top concern, but it is on their minds.
“The dearth of likely candidates to hire is a real issue since Covid,” wrote one respondent, while another said, “I have to find more ways to make the truly successful [ICs] stick around.”
Polocheck also said it’s hard to find new advisors. While the job appears great, many aren’t prepared for the amount of work it takes, especially when advisors are traveling themselves but still need to keep up with clients.
Challenges also arise once new advisors get started in the travel industry.
For Travel Experts affiliates, Ferrell said, the main staffing problem has been finding assistants who can shadow advisors during onboarding while they learn the ropes.
LBAC Travel’s Henn said that her biggest challenge “has been providing the new advisors with that help and support and strength to make sure that we are constantly staying in the forefront.”
In an industry that has been flooded with newbies in recent years, Henn added that it’s important she provide the tools they need to expound their value proposition and stand out from the crowd.
A POSITIVE OUTLOOK
Despite the many challenges advisors face today, only 5.4% of those who took Travel Weekly’s survey said they are negative in their outlook for business this year.
Far more, 64.8%, said they are positive, while 29.9% responded that they are neutral in their business outlook.
“To me, what better job can you have?” Henn said. “You get to help people making those memories, and now more than ever, after everything the world has been through.”
Built with Shorthand