A NEW website that promises you
can become a travel agent in a
few hours is doing the rounds. It
invites inexperienced people without
proper training and formal support
into the industry, placing clients at risk
and giving agents a bad rap, industry
players say.
The website, Evolution Travel, allows
anyone to sign up, do a short training
course and immediately sell travel
products which the site offers via its
partner, Archer Travel Services, based
in Las Vegas.
Evolution Travel appears to be a
multi-level marketing company. People
pay a joining fee of US$50 (R647)
and a further $70 (R890) monthly
administration fee. Commission is paid
out on a monthly basis for new recruits
and products sold. According to the
US Federal Trade Commission, pyramid
schemes recruit people and charge
them subscription fees without ever
selling a real product.
A local woman, who preferred to
stay anonymous, says she finds the
Evolution Travel model to be a great
way to supplement her income.
“I have a full-time job but just sell
some travel packages on the side.
The training only took me four hours to
complete,” she says. She was given a
white-label version of the website so
that she could sell herself as an agent
after she signed up. She has no direct
communication with the company and
has only received communication via
email. The anonymous ‘agent’ could
not comment on whether the company
offered any support in the event of an
issue.
“Selling travel is not the trivial
thing these people make it out to
be,” says Mladen Lukic, gm of Travel
Counsellors. He says established and
qualified agents are in a position of
trust as they have intimate knowledge
of clients’ personal details, including
their credit card details. “Any fall-out
from a negative experience will have a
negative impact on the entire industry.”
“Some inexperienced people think
it’s easy to book travel. They often then
mess up and give the really good and
dedicated agents a bad name,” says
Chantelle Pearson, owner of Travel
With Options.
Garth Wolff, md of eTravel, says
he would be wary of sites that aren’t
based locally or offer local support for
agents or customers.
Marco Tomasicchio, gm of XL
International Travels, says people
looking to become ITAs should rather
go through a registered and trustworthy
consortium. “This goes to show why
a regulatory body is vitally needed
in South Africa to sweep out any
potentially dodgy operators,” he adds.
Asata has appointed a consulting
firm to assess the merits of formally
regulating the travel sector. A vote on
whether next steps should be
taken will happen at Asata’s
AGM in September, says ceo,
Otto de Vries. “Ultimately, the
consumer must be protected
from companies that do not
act in their best interests,
knowingly or unknowingly,
whether this is because they
lack the travel knowledge
and professionalism required
to assist the customer, or
whether they pursue unethical
business practices,” says Otto.
Both Evolution Travel and
Archer Travel Services had not
responded to enquiries for
comment at the time of going
to print.
