Getting into the travel business is easy enough. Travel agencies usually don’t require any formal training or certification. At most, a new travel agent may need to get a state license. But state licenses are typically a formality. What does this say about continuing education for travel agents?
Also known as travel planners, travel agents bring together travellers and service providers with the goal of making travel as seamless as possible for customers. But arranging travel can be extremely complicated. For the agent, there is a lot to know. ProTrain encourages would-be and current travel agents to take a travel and tourism certification course.
Learning and becoming certified can make any travel agent a better agent. Training teaches agents things they would otherwise learn only through experience. Learning by experience isn’t bad, but it is considerably more time-consuming than taking a self-paced online course.
Delivering Quality Services
Today’s travellers want more from their travel agents than mere booking services. After all, they can book on their own through any number of online engines. Travelers work with travel agents because they want enhanced services.
They want help booking tours and making reservations. They want advice for navigating airports, cruise ship terminals, and car rental options. They expect quality services that allow them to choose a date and destination and then leave everything else up to an agent. Without proper training or years of experience, delivering quality services is quite challenging.
Marketing Is Critical to Success
Travel and tourism are among the largest industries globally. As such, there is plenty of competition among agents and brokers. That competition calls for successful marketing that brings new clients in and keeps current clients interested. A travel agent who does not know how to market will struggle.
A solid travel and tourism course introduces agents to the marketing concept. It exposes them to the most successful marketing strategies and how to leverage them. One could make the case that the marketing module is the most important part of travel agent training.
Getting a Handle on the Options
Marketing gets clients in the door. Encouraging them to book requires an in-depth knowledge of all the options. As such, a good training program teaches travel agents about cruising, all-inclusive packages, individual destinations, guided tours, theme park holidays, and more.
It covers transportation to and from a traveller’s destination. It covers food and beverage options, different types of attractions, entertainment opportunities, outdoor adventures, and the like. Simply put, the options are almost endless. A training program cannot cover them all in detail, but it can give a travel agent a good idea of what’s out there.
Leveraging Technology as an Agent
Today’s travel and tourism industry runs on technology. Agents rely on a selection of online booking engines to book trips, manage payments, and interact with service providers. It is not unusual for agencies to require all agents to work in a centralized portal through which everything can be better managed.
From the agent’s perspective, having a handle on the basic operations of a travel portal never hurts. If nothing else, travel agents don’t want to be intimidated by the technologies they use. Those technologies should make them better agents by facilitating more efficient service.
There are more things covered in travel agent and tourism training not discussed in this post. Needless to say a good training program reduces the learning curve for new agents who will learn a lot through hands-on experience. Training is also a good fit for existing agents striving to be better at what they do.
