Are Travel Agents Still Relevant?
Dear Team
This is a speech by the head of UFTAA at a joint UFTAA IATA conference. Frankly I think it says a lot and at the same time it says nothing. The sad thing is that in the entire document the word “Internet” is held in the same breath and sentence as a threat – right there with “Terrorists”. (Page 1 last paragraph). The word “Distribution” is never used.
I still harbor a sadness that the Online Travel revolution of which most of us have been involved and in many cases enabled/accelerated resulted in so many Travel Agents going out of business and losing their jobs. However I am incredulous that the “Head in the Sand” mentality STILL persists.
Need we say more than this?
Cheers
Timothy
Wednesday 28th June 2006
Mr. Chairman, partners in trade, ladies and gentlemen,
It is indeed my pleasure to address you today at this very important
gathering and I would like to say “Thank you” for receiving me. Our
organizations - IATA and UFTAA - go way back together: It was in 1969
when we held our first consultative meeting, shortly after IATA installed
itself in Geneva. I hope, therefore, to be seen by you as an old friend and
ally.
Our industry has come a long way since then and has been made to
accept changes to survive; some were planned and others were imposed
on us because of the situation prevailing at the time. We have learnt to
diversify and we have learnt to change our way of doing business. All
this has come to us, both airlines and agents, with the introduction of
the Internet and with the threatening terrorist attacks – at times targeting
tourists- taking place all over the world. Sadly, many agents and not a
few airlines have fallen by the wayside. Meantime, we all have fought
with determination to bring back the industry of travel and tourism to
former healthy levels. However, from the outset, we have been walking
hand in hand since 1969, but we are now, regretfully, running on
different tracks, at times even at a tangent – definitely not a healthy
situation. I am confident that with close cooperation of all those
concerned, Travel Agents, Airlines, IATA and UFTAA, we will increase
the momentum for improvement for the benefit of us all.
This is your annual business meeting and although adjustments to your
Resolutions can be effected by Mail Vote between meetings, this
Conference is your principal opportunity to deal with the main business
of the year. It is a significant event for you, for the trade in general and
the travel agent in particular. So, time is of the essence to you and I will
try to be brief.
It is now clear to us all that our industry needs to simplify itself and cut
costs. Your Board of Governors has committed IATA to that goal, in no
uncertain terms, principally through technological innovation and across
the entire spectrum of activity. We are now only 549 days from E-Day.
Make no mistake, we your main retail sales arm, are convinced that the
cause is good and justified. We also know our survival largely depends
on its success; hence we are supportive to its implementation and
progress.
The trouble for us agents is that when you airlines sneeze financially, we
tend to catch an economic cold. That risk can be reduced by frank and
open consultations between us, ahead of time, on matters of shared
concern and interest. We have always been available for discussions
and we will continue to be so to pave the way for a more harmonious
environment between us.
UFTAA is closely monitoring the work of the PAPGJC and to show our
professional involvement we have enlarged our own back-up group with
six proficient persons from various sectors in order to give the needed
advice and appropriate input for the future.
Professionalism remains a key ingredient for our future success. More
than twenty years ago, IATA and UFTAA together pioneered the industry
vocational training scheme for agents and together we have set the
industry training benchmarks. Over the years, the IATA/UFTAA diploma
has acquired the status of being the travel agent qualification. More than
200,000 such diplomas have been earned by travel agent professionals.
UFTAA has taken a pride in its supportive role in that success. Although
there is still a Resolution on the Passenger Agency Conference books
mentioning the IATA/UFTAA Training programme, (Resolution 886a), and
several versions of the Travel Agent’s Handbook prescribe the
IATA/UFTAA diploma as the standard for IATA staff qualification, the
Conference gave up control over the programme six years ago. The
activity is now in the hands of the ITDI, an IATA body, and to UFTAA’s
considerable disappointment, that body has removed all reference to
UFTAA from the training materials. I thought you should know.
In Europe, however, the situation on the position concerning the
suppression of staff criteria as foreseen in resolution 818, is different to
the rest of the world. I will not go into detail at this juncture but just to
sum up, IATA and PAConf agreed to remove all detailed staff criteria
requiring the validation of various IATA trainings, and to replace it by a
general statement that agencies must have qualified staff in their
employment.
I trust, however, that this Conference continues to regard UFTAA as your
principal global partner in the IATA/UFTAA Agent Training Programme.
After all, the more effectively our staff is trained to sell and distribute
your products, the more you stand to gain. It is more than just a matter
of drawing profits from the training programme, it is about building for
the future. In addition UFTAA is taking a very close interest in fostering
training for added value.
Another joint product of our longstanding co-operation has been the
IATA/UFTAA ID Card, enshrined in PAConf Resolution 880a. There too,
there has been, I regret, a fait accompli and the UFTAA logo has been
removed by IATA from the card. I do not know if the Conference which
created that product is aware of what has happened but I note from your
Agenda, at Item T6.1 that the Conference is now being invited to delete
‘UFTAA’ because of “a relationship that no longer exists”.
These two occurrences bring to mind thoughts of tails wagging dogs
and I ask the Conference to reflect whether the IATA/UFTAA co-operative
relationship which goes back forty years, really deserves to be cast
aside in this fashion. I am also aware that other geographical partners in
this activity have now been excluded.
On another topic, notwithstanding IATA’s excellent efforts to simplify the
business, external events conspire to complicate the issues. Across the
industry there has been massive downsizing. The good news, however,
is, even with costs of fares, surcharges and the incurable fever of taxes
escalating; the number of passengers continues to increase, and, travel
agents are still contributing a considerable volume of sales to the
bottom–line benefit of airlines
The oil crisis has played havoc with airline pricing and inevitably, the
knock-on effect on managing and accurately communication pricing
through the GDS has been sometimes chaotic. We all know how that
macro trend has impacted travel agents by its by-product, what I call the
‘wise-after-the-event ADM’ which purports to secure collection of
amounts due but which were not shown by or known by the GDS at the
time of ticket issuance or sale.
My point, dear friends, that your sneeze becomes our cold is neatly
illustrated by the locust plague of ADMs which must be put down
without delay. We at UFTAA have started to collect ADM statistics from
various countries and we are seeing alarming figures in some areas.
Wee also see an ongoing confusion both amongst airlines as well as
agents on resolution interpretation. I know your Agenda addresses this
issue and simply ask that the large majority of BSP Airlines who observe
the spirit and the letter of IATA’s rules make their will felt through this
Conference this week, to check the outbreak of opportunistic and
unjustified ADMs which has occurred here and there and which is
creating serious relationship problems
The UFTAA board has expressed its indignation at what it sees as an
artificially created ADM crisis. We all know the reasons and I ask you,
humbly and politely now, to face and tackle the issue head on and to
mend it before real harm is done. The ball is now in your court and I am
sure that you are good players who know how to win the game without
disabling those playing in the other team.
We in UFTAA are reassured by the existence of the institution and by the
work of the Travel Agency Commissioners. However, improvements
could be usefully made and we hope the Conference will recognize that it
is as much to the airlines’ advantage as to the agents’ that the
Commissioners, or their successors - if you adopt the Travel Agency
Arbiter scheme - continue to provide an informative and constructive
interface and feedback in the everyday operation of the Agency
Programme. UFTAA has already expressed its views on the future of the
TACs and has had fruitful meetings and correspondence with IATA on
how it sees the future of this activity. I will not presume to speak on
behalf of the other organizations, but all I can say is that in- depth
discussions have taken place since the last PACONF and common
ground, among agents, has been found. Contrary to the belief of some
airlines, the Commissioners have a big task and do a good job for the
airlines in solving differences that arise and before developing into
conflicts. The office of the TAC should be strengthened to serve even
more efficiently on your behalf.
On that note, I offer my best wishes to you for a successful and
progressive Conference. Your challenges are considerable but you have
the knowledge and experience to meet and overcome them. We, travel
agents, take reassurance from reading your Agenda that you are headed
down the right road. The test of your success will be clear from what
happens in the market place in the coming twelve months.
Thank you
Joe BORG OLIVIER
Timothy J O'Neil-Dunne
Managing Partner - T2Impact Ltd
Global Travel eBusiness
Tel (US) +1 425 836 4770
Mobile (US) +1 425 785 4457
Mobile (International) +44 7770 33 81 75
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www.t2impact.com
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