ATIA: Travel agencies continue to thrive in the digital age
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The Australian Journey Business Affiliation (ATIA) issued an announcement rejecting claims in KPMG’s newest analysis report right now, 2nd Could.
The brand new report declared that the journey agent career is in decline, a declaration that ATIA decries as deceptive and disconnected from each real-time trade exercise and government-backed projections.
Certainly, ATIA chief govt Dean Lengthy proclaims the current time because the golden age of journey professionals, as extra Australians, lots of whom had been burnt by COVID-travel experiences, flip to professional advisors for advanced journey wants and disaster assist.
Lengthy mentioned: “KPMG’s report sadly fails to replicate the devastating affect of COVID on our sector, when the worldwide journey ban pressured the lack of greater than a 3rd of our workforce. The 2021 Census which KPMG has relied on displays a time when the borders had been closed and the trade in survival mode given this the majority of the bookings made via our members are for Worldwide Journey. This era of in depth job losses has continued to affect because the sector rebuilds however the job losses aren’t as a consequence of lack of traveller urge for food for professional journey assist.”
Misguided sources
The KPMG report references a ten-year discount in journey agent roles, claiming the career has skilled the most important decline of any main occupation and attributing the decline to the affect of on-line.
Nonetheless, the trade snapshot captured within the August 2021 Census which is likely one of the sources for the KPMG report was on the top of COVID-19 lockdowns and worldwide border closures.
At the moment, the trade had recorded income losses exceeding 90 %, and greater than a 3rd of the workforce had been let go as worldwide journey floor to a halt.
Whereas that shortfall remains to be being felt right now, with accredited journey companies throughout the nation reporting persistent expertise shortages, the demand for journey professionals is stronger than ever, and Australians are utilizing accredited brokers at file ranges.
Whereas the KPMG Report additionally depends on Jobs and Abilities Australia (JSA) information from Could 2024 together with the truth that greater than 17,000 Australians are working as Tourism and Journey Advisors, it appears to disregard JSA’s accompanying forecasts that the sector will develop by 4.3 % over the following 5 years and practically 10 % inside the subsequent decade.
On the best way to restoration
Over 70 % of worldwide air gross sales and greater than 90 % of company journey bookings are nonetheless made via brokers proving that journey professionals aren’t solely related, however central to how Australians journey right now.
In 2024 alone, ATIA members booked $13.5 billion in retail journey, $11.8 billion in company journey, and $5.6 billion in land operations.
The career remains to be rebuilding following COVID-19, however the fundamentals have by no means been stronger: travellers need personalised recommendation, professional assist in occasions of disruption, and steerage in an more and more advanced international journey panorama.
As Lengthy places it: “The demand for journey brokers and advisors has by no means been greater and the most important problem we face will not be declining relevance, however an pressing workforce shortfall that we proceed to work exhausting to have addressed so Australian journey companies can meet this rising demand.”
The publish ATIA: Journey businesses proceed to thrive within the digital age appeared first on Journey Every day Media.