Just Picture It Now

If you haven't guessed by now that the travel industry is undergoing a revolution that is redefining the rules of engagement between travel firms and consumers I've been mulling over some very interesting reading this week that might clue you into what's going on in the Travel Industry. We've spoken before about how travel is moving to the internet and a whopping $40 BILLION was spent last year with just the top 4 online Travel Agencies. (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and Priceline.com.) A couple weeks ago Travel Weekly posted a report that online Travel Sales have now exceeded offline sales for the first time since comparison tracking started. Online sales now hold 51% of the revenue this year, and is expected to reach 60% of the bookings by 2009.

In a similar report back in April of this year eMarketer estimates that 41.3 million US households will book travel online, representing 52.5% of all US online households. US online consumer travel sales (consisting of airline, hotel, rental car, cruise and vacation package reservations) will reach $94 billion, up 19% over 2006. "People coming of age during the dawn of the Internet have different expectations of the businesses that serve them. They like businesses to come to them, with the right product, at the right time, in the right way."

Traditional Agencies have really been feeling the effects of loosing all this business. So much so, they are starting to look at other avenues to stay in business. Kevin Kelly, a 25-year industry veteran, said "This industry is starving for fresh blood" and he continues "We've been beating our heads against the wall trying to find qualified people, so we're moving outside the box to find people from other walks of life."

What did he come up with? If you can't beat the internet and all the US Households out there, you might as well join them. He announces that he's now looking for customers to start Traveling Like a Pro, enabling the "Average Joe" to have their own membership, book cruises for themselves, friends and family, and get actually get paid the commission for doing so.

You can imagine the uproar over something like this with the other Traditional Agents that have been hanging on to the small thread they now have in this huge market shift. It took no time at all for The Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA) to call out the cruise industry and practically demand that they enforce policies against what the ARTA considers "rebating". However, Mr. Kelly, Cruises Etc. President, clearly doesn't see it that way, it's appears (at least to me) that it's more about survival than anything else.

While he knew there would certainly be critics, he clearly wants to stay in business. (Oh and there are certainly critics if you take the time to read the comments below.) He clearly can't find anyone qualified that's willing to help him, so he's opening doors to those who might like to take a stab at the "Travel Agent" thing.

Kelly finshed up his comments "It's an approach to educate a consumer and help them become our independent contractor. We're all about getting them educated. We have forums, get-togethers with the business development managers from all the lines, webinars, weekly email updates.

It's good to see a verterian like this willing to bring in new blood for the new age of travel. I have no idea if he'll be able to pull it off or if the industry will accept his thinking. If he stays true to his word about training and education however, and the cruise industry helps him, I'd look for this company to be another player in the new age.

Just like another company I know.

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Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
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