Travel Experts Summit participants enjoying Seabourn’s Caviar in the Surf experience on Seabourn Ovation – but poolside! (Photo Credit: Claudette Covey)
Sometimes when I tell people that I’m an editor and writer for publications whose readership is travel advisors I get this response: “Travel agents still exist?”
It’s the response that invariably amuses me, but now more than ever. Not only do travel advisors still exist, but many are also thriving like never before.
That fact was underscored at Travel Experts’ third Summit, which brought together 160 of the luxury host agency’s advisors and 60 suppliers on a five-night charter of Seabourn’s Seabourn Ovation roundtrip from Barbados.
Travel Experts’ agents aptly illustrate today’s demand for professional advisors, as evidenced in hard numbers.
In 2019, Trave Experts’ advisors produced $382 million in comparison – which rose to $534.9 million in 2022 – and with an average commission per booking advisor of $95,000. In all, the average sale per booking advisor stood at $1.05 million, and a total of 48.3 million commission was paid last year.
That business continues to grow exponentially for Travel Experts’ advisors, but that growth comes with a caveat. Suppliers are being stretched to their limits to state unprecedented demand.
(Look for my TravelPulse story on this subject coming month.)
The Summit served as an ideal venue for travel advisors and suppliers to come together to address these issues and a range of others.
One of Travel Experts’ hallmarks, after all, is its focus on collaboration and networking among members – something I saw clearly during the Summit.
“Because Travel Experts is made up entirely of ICs, we often work in our own little bubbles, said Margot Kong of Journeys Unparalleled. “This event is an excellent opportunity for advisors to break out of those bubbles and share with one another, commiserate about similar business challenges, and compare, and potentially even partner, on resources, strategies, and practices.”
Added Jeffrey Traugot of Traugot Travel, “The Summit was an incredibly valuable experience,” he said. “The opportunity to meet with over 160 colleagues/peers to discuss best practices, get to know each other better, meet new people and see old friends in an isolated environment gave us the opportunity learn more than if we were just running in and out of meetings.
“And the time spent to meet our suppliers/vendors and get to know them on a personal level was great. Our business is relationship based and the stronger relationships we have, the better we can work and interact.”
Suffice it to say that the Summit enabled both advisors and suppliers to strengthen their relationships – which will invariably result in superlative vacation experiences for their mutual customers.
Topics From This Article to Explore
