The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) has rejected new claims that travel agents are in decline, arguing demand is soaring and true data paints a different picture.
The claims were made by KPMG, whose new report asserts that the travel agent profession is on the way out.
The KPMG analysis suggests a long-term drop in agent numbers and blames online trends for a shrinking profession.
But ATIA argues the report leans heavily on outdated census data from August 2021, collected during peak COVID-19 restrictions, when travel was largely grounded and the sector had lost over a third of its workforce.
Fast-forward to today, and the association asserts the story looks very different.
ATIA says demand for travel professionals has never been stronger than now. According to the organisation, accredited agencies continue to report skills shortages as Australians turn to agents in record numbers for everything from complex itineraries to corporate trips.
Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) data backs this up. While the KPMG report does reference JSA’s May 2024 stats, it omits important views, including projections that the travel agency sector is forecast to grow 4.3% in five years and nearly 10% by 2034.
By the numbers
Remarkably, over 70% of international air sales and 90% of corporate bookings still go through travel agents. In 2024 alone, ATIA members booked over $30 billion in travel, which includes $13.5 billion in retail, $11.8 billion in corporate and $5.6 billion in land operations.
According to ATIA, these figures speak for themselves and show that travellers value expert guidance, especially in today’s ever-changing, and oft challenging, travel landscape.
“We are in the golden age of travel professionals, as more Australians, many of whom were burnt by COVID-travel experiences, turn to expert advisors for complex travel needs and crisis support,” ATIA CEO Dean Long said.
“KPMG’s report unfortunately fails to reflect the devastating impact of COVID on our sector, when the international travel ban forced the loss of more than a third of our workforce.
“The 2021 census, which KPMG has relied on, reflects a time when the borders were closed and the industry was in survival mode.
“This period of extensive job losses has continued to impact as the sector rebuilds but the job losses are not due to lack of traveller appetite for expert travel support.”
With demand for travel agents “never higher”, Long adds that “the biggest challenge we face is not declining relevance, but an urgent workforce shortfall that we continue to work hard to have addressed so Australian travel businesses can meet this growing demand.”
“This demand is reinforced by Jobs and Skills Australia data, which projects the sector will grow by nearly 10% over the next decade,” he says.
