Travolution Autumn Conf: The independent travel agent perspective

Global Travel Group product development and e-commerce director Jason Edwards had the unenviable task of representing independent travel agents to the crowd of assembled online travel types, and came out bullish, stating immediately that

The independent sector has been massively underestimated - travel agents have been multi-channel distributors for a long time.

The formula for success in the ITA space, according to Jason? It's the product and development provided by the consortium, and the mentality and initiative provided by the agent.

Putting my Travel Weekly hat on for a second (just for a second, Kev...) it was nice to hear knowledgable salespeople brought into the equation.

Global's grasp of where agents need to be is obvious, but as Jason says channels such as affiliate or SEO marketing and social networking are difficult when resource and understanding are lacking - and it's here that many (though far from all) ITAs are vulnerable.

Nathan Midgley