Preparing travel advisers for the ‘Renaissance’ of travel was a core theme of this week’s Asata Live Summit, open to members of the association only.
A three-day virtual event comprised presentations about the real skills required for travel advisers, the global airline and travel payment landscape, and how to leverage data effectively.
Kicking off the summit with an overview of the consumer and travel environment, the Business Index session related current consumer trends such as the ‘me mentality’, hyper-fatigue and digitisation to the travel environment, highlighting the small window of opportunity that travel advisers have to forge their value proposition in this space.
Paul van Alfen from Up in the Air, a Netherlands-based travel payment consultancy, shared his knowledge relating to the global airline and travel payment landscape, while Claudia Unger delivered a highly interactive session teaching Asata members how to leverage data to achieve their business goals and strategies.
Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism revealed new and exciting developments and NCL’s Nirosha Sidatexplored the increasing global demand for cruises.
What separates thriving organisations from struggling ones are the difficult-to-measure attitudes, processes and perceptions of the people who do the work – often called soft skills, which are at the heart of what we need today to thrive. Tapping into the intersect between human and tech, OKOMO’s Ralf Aring took the audience through six steps to humanise a brand, the key takeaway being: “Customers don’t buy from companies. Humans buy from humans.”
The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa discussed how travel advisers could select properties that were officially graded and what signs to look out for when properties were not legitimately graded.
Asata’s legal adviser, Elizabeth Stadler, unpacked the association’s Code of Conduct, which is not only compliance-driven but has been modernised and is also ethics driven. The session ‘You & the Law’ was an important reminder to review business processes, ensuring that documentation, inclusive of terms and conditions, reflects your business and ensures that customers are armed with vital information, informing their decision-making.
The Consumer Goods & Services Ombud (CGSO) discussed its mandate and its jurisdiction over travel agents. Complaints about the travel industry had increased during the COVID pandemic, mostly related to the supplier chain and refunds. This was an incredibly informative session which shed some light on the roles and responsibilities of the CGSO, the consumer and the travel agent.
Says Otto de Vries, CEO of Asata: “This is our second summit of the year and we took the opportunity to build on the learnings of our 21st century travel agent study to inform our selection of topics, which were varied but aimed at providing practical advice that can inform travel advisers and travel businesses on how to deal with the here and now, but also to prepare them for the immediate future. We are looking forward to hosting our next one in person on the side lines of World Travel Market in Cape Town in April.”
Recordings of the sessions will be available to Asata members from November 18 on the Asata Resource Centre. If you would like to become an Asata member, please email hannie@asata.co.za.
