No easy walk from employee to ITC – agent

OVER the last decade
and a half, the industry
has seen a stream of
consultants leaving
formal employment
positions and signing
up as ITCs. While the
benefits of working as
an ITC have been widely
publicised, the risks
and consequences
involved when an
ITC does not turn a
sufficient profit have
seen less focus.
Canvassed ITCs report
that while overall ITC
numbers in the industry
continue to grow it
is not uncommon for
consultants to try out
the ITC model for a year
or two before re-entering
the formal job market
seeking the benefits of a
stable, fixed income.
Rudy Botha, a former
ITC advised that he
had worked as a fare
specialist for most of his
30-year career. However,
as travel agency margins
had shrunk together with
technological advances
in booking engines,
many fare specialist
positions had been
made redundant and
only a handful of similar
jobs remained for a
position that was now
largely obsolete.
Rudy made the
decision to start
out as an ITC a year
ago, inspired by the
success stories from
colleagues. While Rudy
was extremely positive
about the structure
and support systems
offered to ITCs who were
starting out, he also
spoke out about how
difficult the reality of
starting a company from
scratch had been.
Among the challenges
that Rudy faced as an
ITC, was starting out
without a single client.
Sales and marketing
functions were also new
to him. His own circle of
acquaintances have little
disposable income to
spend on international
travel and generally book
direct.
When it came to
corporate clients,
Rudy found that larger
corporates tended to
sign two to five year
fixed term contracts with
their TMCs. He did not
have enough working
capital to wait out
these periods until the
accounts in which he
was interested came up
for tender.
Rudy says ITCs should
try to save up working
capital to last them
for more than a year
before making the
move towards selfemployment.
Increasing
internal competition
from a growing ITC
market has also resulted
in unrealistic turnaround
time expectations from
corporate clients who
demanded quotes within
2 hours for international
trips and within an hour
for domestic trips.
After persevering for
nine months, Rudy
finally threw in the towel,
but has since found
that re-entering the job
market after a period of
self-employment comes
with challenges of its
own. He is currently
considering leaving the
industry entirely.