I was recently asked to contribute to a major feature for Travel Trade Gazette's July 2024 issue as to whether term 'travel agent' may be outdated and not totally reflective of what I do.
As reluctant as I am to grab the opportunity to share my views, I kindly agreed to participate...
‘Why are we not perceived as experts and influencers in our field?’
I’m not sure if it’s a result of spending 12 years stewing in my own juices over the term “homeworker”, but I actually rather enjoy the bland, matter-of-factness of a job title which does exactly what it says on the tin.
The term “travel agent” has existed since the 1800s. One definition reads: “A person engaged in selling and arranging transportation, accommodation, tours or trips for travellers.” Sounds good to me.
The bigger problem, in my view, is the public’s perception of the services travel agents provide. Why is our time not valued? Why are we not perceived as experts and influencers in our field? Why does the average punter think it’s OK to suck up our time, knowledge and hard work only to play us off against each other, or just take their business elsewhere?
So how do we change the way we are perceived? Firstly, let’s stop dressing our retail colleagues as cabin crew – nothing says “please use and abuse me” quite like a neck scarf and fully logoed blouse.
Secondly, we should introduce minimum standards of competence. It’s frightening how many folk in the industry still cannot grasp the new EU passport rules, for instance. Finally, we need to educate our clients, and consumers more widely, about what it is travel agents are and what they do. That’s on us.
For giggles, I asked AI to come up with some creative alternative job titles for us – how about “journey jugglers”? Or “odyssey organisers”? Maybe “passage planners”, or even “wanderlust wizards”. I could go on...
Me? I call myself an independent travel expert, and I’m happy to continue doing so.
Jo Shayler-Tarrant is an independent travel expert with Travel Counsellors.