Travel agents are now more important than ever, says Lorraine Simpson

COVID-19 has definitely been a setback for travel agents here at home and abroad.

When the world closed down almost a year ago, governments mandated lockdowns, social distancing, use of masks, and an array of strict rules and guidelines to combat the growing pandemic.

We have now also just experienced new travel rules coming back into Canada and the rules are changing by the minute.

While all of us are waiting for more details on the vaccination rollout, travel agents are bracing for a massive uptick in business.

And they deserve it.

The global crisis has put travel agents in a place no one ever wants to go financially and emotionally. Like the aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors, travel agents have pretty much spent the last year offering refunds to clients. With no money coming in, every single one of them have been scrambling to put food on the table, and they have been in dire straights to pay for other necessities: kids clothing, haircuts, mortgages, rents, car payments – and the list could go on.

Sure, the government has provided support, but COVID-19 literally crippled business for travel agents. Even the “best of the best” in the industry went from making $300,000 to $0 in a matter of days. Receiving $2,000 a month from our friends in Ottawa has helped a bit, but it just hasn’t been enough.

The Association of Canadian Travel Agencies has long been advocating aid and support for agents and organizations, and now they are shifting their attention to the big boom that is about to happen. The national member-based association represents the retail travel sector of Canada’s tourism industry. Over 12,000 travel agents across the country work in its member agencies that represent more than 80% of the travel business booked through a travel agency in Canada.

“The value and safety net that travel agents will be able to provide in a post-pandemic world will be invaluable,” says Lorraine Simpson, the Cityline TV Travel Expert and Travel Personality, who also works tirelessly for ACTA and its members.

“I have people calling me all the time, asking me questions that they would not be able to ask an online travel company. I am inundated with inquiries about safety protocols, vaccine passports, travel restrictions, and endless questions,” adds Simpson.

Travel agents were important before the pandemic, and they will be even more important now and well into the future.

With the arrival of the internet, many of us assumed that travel agents and agencies would be a dying business. Think again. As of last year, it was reported that 43% of travelers still preferred to use an agent when booking flights, and the number of people relying on agents still remains high for older people 65+. Recent industry reports also show that a large number of travelers overall rely on travel agents for bookings involving group tours, weddings, historic sites, cruises, safaris, and multi-location trips.

As we are soon ready to enter the “new normal,” agents will be busier than ever, and perhaps wealthier too.

“All this chaos and uncertainty is what will leverage business for travel agents and agencies,” explains Simpson. “Most people are not going to want to book travel without a support system in place, that being the travel agents. They know the business, and they know travel rules and guidelines and they are there to help get you home safely in the event things turn awry.”

Travel agents and agencies will also become a main hub of communication sources between travel businesses and travelers, and they will also be in the know when travel rules change on the vaccination or closure fronts. Most of all, they will get you the right cancellation insurance and they will advise on best destinations that meet the health and safety needs of today’s new traveler.

“It’s been a long year and travel agents are poised to rise to the top in a big way,” says Simpson. “It’s been a year of doom and gloom and agents are ready for business to help travelers discover the world again after being in lockdown for almost a year.”

Simpson says that travel agents and agencies have also been busy on the reinvention front.

“I have worked with a large number of agents and agencies over the last while who have been busy rebranding and who want a new digital footprint,” she says. “Everyone has had time to reinvent their business, rethink what they are doing, where they are going, and now they are ready for travel to explode.”

The wait has been long for agents and agencies, but in a few months they will agree on one thing: it was worth it.