I learned my lesson about the amount of additional money travelers
spend once they arrive at their destination even before I got into
this field.
Joining some friends for a long weekend in the Bahamas, I
discovered that I was spending nearly as much once I was there as I
had prepaid for the trip. There were the sightseeing trips, the
drinks, the shopping, the tips.
Soon after becoming a trade reporter here, I was in Hawaii and
watched as members of a tour group descended on the sightseeing
desk of a Waikiki hotel to buy everything in sight: Pearl Harbor
cruises, Polynesian Cultural Center visits, the Don Ho show, luaus
and more.
Travel agents weren't making money on these expenditures because
the extras hadn't been sold in advance. Perhaps they weren't
included in the packages or perhaps the agents hadn't taken
advantage of opportunities presented to them to add prepaid
components that would reap additional commissions.
Many tour programs are sold in a "stripped" fashion with minimal
arrangements that make it easier to offer an attractively low
package price. But the reality is that people often end up spending
a great deal more when they arrive at their destination and
discover how much more there is to do.
Selling a more complete prepaid program requires travel agencies
to do additional research to understand what's available and then
to "sell up," to convince clients that they can get a better deal
buying in advance or that they can ensure that they will have at a
ticket to an event that might be sold out when they arrive.
The amount of additional commission income resulting from these
"extras" is significant, especially in this era when you consider
how much commission income has been lost in the air category.
What's more, if an agent can convince customers to prepay for a
greater proportion of what they ultimately will spend anyway, the
client is less likely to be troubled by unexpected increases in the
total cost of a trip.
So what needs to be done to improve travel agencies' ability to
sell more of what their clients eventually will buy?
That's not a rhetorical question. I'd like to know your
answer.