As most already know, it was announced at the beginning of February that I would step into the role of Executive Director of the World Travel Agents Association Alliance (WTAAA). The role is one I’m particularly excited to take on as it will enable me to make a global impact through the WTAAA which also benefits Asata’s members locally and the broader travel trade community worldwide.
At WTAAA, we are driving a unified approach to strong advocacy, strategic resource allocation, and effective collaboration between travel agencies and suppliers to navigate the evolving landscape of the travel industry. My goal is to ensure that our global impact through the WTAAA trickles down not just locally, but to all the associations advocating for the travel trade. This will be focused on the following key areas:
• Airline Passenger Agency Joint Council : From an Asata perspective, engaging with carriers in the South African market to discuss and address the financial criteria for agent accreditation with IATA.
• Global advocacy: Contributing to the global resolutions affecting the Passenger Agency Programme through the Passenger Agency Programme Global Joint Council (PAP-GJC), where WTAAA plays a significant role in representing Iata-accredited travel agency interests.
Under the PAP-GJC, we provide input on the global resolutions that inform the Passenger Agency Programme. Over the years, there have been numerous changes in developing the PAP-GJC’s resolutions to have a more global one-size-fits-all approach and bring some standardisation around travel agency sales channels. It presents a number of challenges when local market conditions are not fully understood.
At this point, the WTAAA is only one of two associations globally that appoint representatives to speak on behalf of the travel agency community in the PAP-GJC discussions. Having been part of that delegation for the past 11 years, I hope I have been able to represent the voice of the agency community, even though we don’t have any voting rights.
From an advocacy point of view, of the 18 seats available for travel agents at the PAP-GJC, the WTAAA has 12 seats, so we have a sizeable delegation going into those discussions.
In line with what the WTAAA is initiating, a key part of our strategy is to support and strengthen the relationship between the travel agent community and suppliers. There’s been a fundamental shift in the change around the value proposition of travel agents. Unless we engage with these suppliers in the right way, they won’t fully understand what that value proposition is.
We see this as a critical opportunity to work together to create win-win outcomes for everyone in the value chain, ultimately benefitting the travelling public.
