DALLAS -- ASTA enhanced its Web site with sections where
consumers can post requests for vacation arrangements and where
agencies can post help-wanted notices.
The consumer feature, called Trip Request Service, enables users
to ask ASTA agents for help with travel plans. "We're bringing
customers in and trying to ship them out to you," Stephanie Kenyon,
the Society's vice president of government affairs and travel
technology, told agents at the ASTA Tourfest and Specialty Travel
Showcase here.
The enhanced Web site's purpose is to give agents more tools to
compete in the burgeoning market of on-line travel sales, Kenyon
said.
Under the new service, consumers post anonymous requests,
detailing information about themselves, their families, their
budgets and their interests. They specify how many responses they
would like and indicate a deadline. Agents respond and provide them
with their phone number or e-mail address, leaving it up to
consumers to choose from among the responding retailers.
According to Kenyon, "Many new competitors are coming online and
we've all heard that [Microsoft's] Bill Gates is coming after us.
They see the $8 billion to $10 billion in on-line sales on the
Internet, $2 billion of which is in travel. "But corporations like
Microsoft have not addressed the issue of service. The Internet is
ripe for those who provide individualized service."
The new section for help-wanted postings is designed to enable
agencies looking for staff, and professionals looking for jobs, to
find each other.
In addition, the site has a revamped directory that enables a
search of ASTA members by ZIP code and by specialty.
The ASTA site, which is located at www.astanet.com, received 3.2
million hits in 1997, Kenyon said.