Retaining the youth in travel

Travel agencies are facing the challenge of getting newcomers to stay, according to Ryan McGredy, president of ASTA’s Young Professionals Society.

In an interview with Travel Market Report, Ryan said that while growing numbers of young people are joining travel agencies, they are not sticking around.

According to Ryan it is not necessarily a problem drawing young people to the industry, but rather a training, integration and retention problem. Ryan was quoted by Travel Market Report as saying: “A lot of young people who join the industry don’t really stay for the long-term, and a lot of agencies don’t really know how to bring people into their organisation.”

We would like to hear from you. Do you find the same challenge arising within the local South African market? What are you doing to retain ‘newcomers’ to your agency? Let us know by posting your comments.