What Can a Travel Industry Trade Association Do For You?
byDaniel McCarthy/
The last few years for segments across the industry have been difficult, and while some have recovered quicker than others, the survival of the travel industry was boosted by the work that industry associations did during the pandemic.
Last week, during the opening day of the New York Travel and Adventure Show, members of three vital travel industry associations took the stage to talk about that work, and their collaboration, during the last handful of years, highlighting work that travel advisors need to be aware of.
美国旅行顾问协会(ASTA)倡导副总裁Eben Peck说:“ Covid对该系统感到震惊,我们真的别无选择。”“这是过去几年中我们所有人经历的共同创伤,但它使我们团结在一起。”
ASTA was one of the organizations that lead the charge for travel advisors since the onset of the pandemic. Through its lobbying efforts, it was able to secure vital financial lifelines for so many travel advisors and travel agencies, limiting the damage that the pandemic could have potentially done when the world was forced to close.
尽管如此,ASTA的角色还是通过与克鲁斯线国际协会(CLIA)的合作进行了放大的,该协会不仅代表了50,000名顾问,还代表了邮轮公司和其他顾问利益相关者,包括全球港口。
“我们代表旅行顾问,我们代表邮轮公司,我们代表代表邮轮的供应商,”克里亚总裁兼首席执行官凯利·克雷格德(Kelly Craighead)周五对与会者说。
“We try to influence how the US government makes decisions - our ability to mobilize and activate you as a community was probably the best part of collaboration during the pandemic,” she said.
CLIA和旅行社的合作计划aimed at restoring revenue for travel and travel advisors over the past few years. That includes pressuring government officials in the U.S. and Canada to allow ships to sail once the pandemic was relatively under control.
It also includes pressuring the U.S.政府将大型游轮免税乘客船舶服务法, a maritime law that prevented Alaska sailings from the U.S. even as Caribbean sailings restarted.
它还包括向疾病控制和预防中心施加压力ower its cruise ship warning that was at the highest level despite a lot of evidence that it shouldn’t be there.
如果顾问考虑过去三年来更广泛的旅行贸易的主要里程碑 - 包括在《照料法》中包含代理商的所有者,薪水保护计划,邮轮行业的重新启动,仅举几例 -,很可能有一只手。
对于美国旅游运营商协会(USTOA),与旅行顾问的关系有点不那么直接。USTOA的会员资格不包括顾问,尽管这可能会改变这一线路。取而代之的是,USTOA代表了北美旅游运营商市场的大部分。
But that doesn’t mean that the work USTOA has done is all the less vital for the trade.
“In March of 2020, I personally reached out to the eight largest travel associations in our country and asked them to meet me face to face in Washington D.C.,” USTOA president Terry Dale said. “I felt we didn't know what was coming down the road.”
“我们在一起。我们谈到了彼此对协会的协作和承诺的重要性,只是为了加强我们在这里彼此相处,我们在一起变得更加强大。”
他补充说:“对我来说,最令人满意的事情是看和观察我的同事所做的事情。”
戴尔补充说,USTOA确实具有像Clia和Asta这样的直接支持旅行顾问的“愿望”,但与此同时,它确实通过其他工作来支持ASTA。其中包括一项以旅行顾问为中心的培训计划,该计划于六年前启动,并间接支持该行业。
“We are the newbie and we have a lot of catching up to do,” Dale said. “Two-thirds of all of our bookings come through the distribution systems. This is going to grow. We think we can do more. We want to do more.”
为了advisors new or old to the industry, the bottom line is that joining a trade association allows you to be involved in issues that directly impact your business and your bottom line. Simply put, according to Peck.
“It’s important to think a little bit about why trade associations were formed in the first place,” he said. “It’s a network of private businesses that have problems they can't solve on their own. It’s a best practice in this industry and any industry, frankly.”