The pandemic forced our hands on things that now just make sense. Like telehealth and virtual meetings. Technology got better and we got better at using it to connect when we couldn’t. But how has that impacted the local, community travel agent?
Before the pandemic, the uninformed may have used travel agents as an example of a dying industry. They are certainly not saying that now. Travel advisors wouldn’t be working into the wee hours if their services weren’t now deemed a necessity for Aussie travellers. But has the means of accessing and searching for an agent changed now that we’re all so comfortable with connecting virtually?
We chat to Travel Agent Finder’s Anna Shannon to find out.
Location! Location! Why it isn’t everything
“The pandemic certainly showed us that we can do business over phone and email, just as well as we can in person,” she tells Karryon.
Many agents were already experts at running their businesses remotely pre-pandemic, Shannon says. Consumers just got better at trusting virtual dealings.
“The pandemic has taught consumers that working with their agent over phone or email can be done efficiently.
“And now that consumers know how to use FaceTime or Zoom (from catching up with the grandkids during the lockdowns), it’s not so scary!”
“We don’t think twice about online meetings anymore.”
And, according to Shannon, location shouldn’t be a barrier to finding your perfect travel agent or client.
“A traveller should be able to access the perfect fit for their travel plans, no matter where that agent is based.
“If the best agent to book their particular type of trip happens to live on the other side of Australia, to me there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to find each other and work together!”
There’s no place like home
For awhile there, it looked like the pandemic effectively ended the great globalisation experiment. Many of us were locked into our postcodes, not just our countries. And for those bounded by a five kilometre radius, we understood how small that actually was. Then, bit by bit, the world opened.
But some people had drawn their lines. Thanks to being able to work from home, we were no longer leaving our communities at the beginning of the day, only to return at night. We were and are in our communities most of the time. And we want to see them flourish.
Tina Pizzoni is the owner of Helloworld Travel Rochedale in Queensland. She moved her office from Roma Street in Brisbane in September 2018 and tells Karryon they were just gaining traction and standing in the community when covid hit.
But the community were big supporters. And now that travel has come back in such a big way, Pizzoni is busy with people who want to come instore.
“They prefer to do face to face dealings,” she tells Karryon.
“And we’re actually getting a lot of new business because people don’t want to book things online or via the phone anymore. They want to see the person that they’re talking to.”
Though, while she loves spending the days talking to people, the reality is that usually means, “you’ll spend most of the night booking travel because you’ve just talked all day”.
Anna Shannon says that despite Travel Agent Finder being set up with the intention of connecting travellers with agents by destination or travel style expertise, they still have a lot of travellers searching the site by location. A clear indication they’d like to use a local agent.
If you build it, they will come
With many Aussies wanting to support local businesses (another trend that exploded throughout the pandemic), Shannon says building up a local presence is crucial.
“A local presence whether online or offline is imperative for your business,” she says.
“Offline examples for community-building marketing could be community notice boards, your local paper, local networking or business groups, or being a fountain of knowledge in the comments section of your local suburb Facebook group.
“All are helpful ways to build your profile as an authority in the travel space and get your name out into the community.”
