Travel Agents Group Eyes New Member Transaction Fee

An association for travel agents wants to remind travelers that, yes, travel agents still exist and have a useful service to offer. And it may ask its members to kick in a little extra to help cover the cost of getting that message out.

Last week, at its ASTA Global Convention, the American Society of Travel Agents announced it was considering a new transaction fee for its members that would generate funds to pay for consumer-awareness efforts.

“We’re tired of hearing, ‘Are you guys still around?’” said Jay Ellenby, incoming chair of ASTA’s board, in comments reported by Travel Pulse  (opens in a new tab). “It’s like nails on a chalkboard.”

According to Travel Weekly  (opens in a new tab), Ellenby said ASTA hadn’t decided how much the fee would be, but he compared it to a passenger facility charge, meaning the fee could be quite small.

“It could be 10 cents, it could be a quarter, it could be 50 cents, it could be a dollar, depending on what we come up with, what makes sense,” Ellenby said.

Agents could either eat this cost or pass it on to their clients, he added.

A New Video Foray

So, what would a more aggressive marketing strategy look like?

Possibly something like the online program Travel Agents Taking Off  (opens in a new tab), a 32-minute news program, produced by ITN Productions, that’s designed for travel agents to promote their industry and share on their websites. Along with ASTA, the video was created with the help of Princess Cruises, Travel Experts, Travel Planners International, and Expedia CruiseShipCenters.

The program debuted during the ASTA convention last week.

Other ways that ASTA plans to beef up its marketing game in the coming months, according to Travel Market Report  (opens in a new tab), include a commercial, expected to run on the Travel Channel’s website starting this month, and upgrades to its TravelSense.org  (opens in a new tab) website.

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