Angie Licea, president of the Global Travel Collection (GTC), the luxury division of Internova Travel Group, the travel advisor network, said the organization’s Path Forward program will provide travel advisors with “a competitive edge.” Speaking at a GTC event in New York, she said the network is implementing an Advisor Success organizational structure as part of the Path Forward strategy it announced in February.
The primary functions of the Advisor Success teams, according to Licea, are to cultivate more sales opportunities and increase advisor engagement, recruitment, retention and portfolio growth. The structure is based on a portfolio management system. Smaller groups of advisors will be guided by a dedicated manager, an advocate for each individual business who will be tailoring resources based on specialized services across all advisor verticals, corporate, leisure, entertainment and production, allowing for support and consultation by business specialization.
The new approach, said Licea, will provide advisors with “a competitive edge.” At present, she said, advisors are managed by office location and don’t have a structure of proactive management. That will now be “flipped on its side,” she said.
Brands under the GTC umbrella are Protravel International, Tzell Travel Group, and Colletts Travel, as well as Andrew Harper, In the Know Experiences, All Star Travel Group and R. Crusoe & Son.
Licea also announced that GTC will be introducing a new luxury magazine called OLTRE for advisors to give to customers as gifts; the first issue will be published in May with an audience of 100,000 to start. It will be different from other luxury magazines, said Licea, “as it peeks out of our windows and into the world.”
GTC launched a new website (globaltravelcollection.com) in the first quarter of this year bringing together all brands in one site. It allows consumers to connect with advisors and to search for advisors by location and expertise, as well as read inspiring travel stories.
An Elevate Conference in October, said Licea, will welcome 400 advisors and 300 partners for engagement, education, fellowship and networking as a way to show that all the brands have come together as one company.
According to Licea, GTC has the greatest reach of any independent contractor association in the travel industry with 55% of market share. The organization, she said, tells suppliers they can go to other agency networks but GTC is all that they need.
What advisors get from being part of GTC, said Licea, is recognition and preferential treatment for clients, as well as insider access. She said that while technology makes for efficiencies, the human connection is crucial. She said that being a travel advisor is now a “sexy and relevant” career, manifested by an NBC show being produced in cooperation with GTC that talks about how advisors provide value to customers. It is scheduled to be aired on May 20.
GTC entered 2023 in a very optimistic mode, said Licea, “and that has not changed.” She pointed to cruising as a particularly fast-growing segment, particularly smaller ships and river ships. When customers are looking for a smaller vessel, she said, it’s important to deal with advisors who can connect them to the right product. She added that the appeal of cruising is expanding to “a much higher psychographic” with millennials the fastest growing customer base and younger travelers a big part of the market for smaller vessels. “Ships have become five-star hotels on water,” said Licea; “you may not even know you’re on a ship.”
On the hotel front, said Licea, GTC has added 105 new luxury properties to its Select Hotel & Resorts portfolio and a new program will be released this fall that will be an exclusive, enhanced product with hotels exclusive to GTC. There are now more than 1,600 premium properties in the Select Hotels & Resorts collection.
J.D. O’Hara, CEO of Internova Travel Group, said the mission of Internova as an umbrella company, is to provide tools to advisors like supplier programs that offer extra benefits to travelers. He said that now is the most important time in history for travelers to use advisors. While there are common misperceptions that advisors are expensive and antiquated, said O’Hara, travelers actually save about four hours of time and $450 in planning a trip.
Another misconception, said O’Hara, is who the travel advisor audience is. He cited a recent study by ASTA showing that 44% of travelers across all generations are more likely to use advisors now than before the pandemic. He said another survey showed that 77% of travelers would rather work with a human to get access to events, discounts, recommendations, upgrades and more with the top reason to use an advisor being to get information.
A panel of GTC travel advisors was also conducted at the event. Among the comments from panelists were:
- Europe is more popular than ever, particularly Italy, and advisors can help clients find alternatives if there are problems with availability. Japan is also extremely popular with tour operators and ground operators occasionally refusing business because they don’t have sufficient, cars, drivers and guides.
- Advisors have an important role in assessing risk because they have relationships with experts on the ground. Clients might be diverted from a destination or assured that it is safe based on local knowledge.
- Advisors recognized that AI has become a major subject of discussion but said it was either unreliable or could be seen as complementary to what they do.
- Weddings are becoming more exclusive, smaller and more themed. In the past, the destination was the theme, but now there is a theme on top of the destination. Weddings have also become more lavish with very specific and challenging requests. One wedding specialist on the panel said that clients don’t believe how expensive things can be. One couple wanted to swim with a humpbacked whale in Moorea in Tahiti but there was no availability for the entire month of August despite “amazingly high” prices.
- Advisors agree that most clients are happy to pay fees for trip planning. One said his agency requires a commitment from travelers about a trip rather than the advisor doing research and the client booking elsewhere.
- One advisor said the idea of a bucket list after retirement is gone. After the pandemic, the thinking is “it’s now or never because life is fleeting.”
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
