REPORT - LONDON - WTM 2007: The most ambitious travel agents training day ever held in UK has been oprganized by World Travel Market 2007 on Thursday 15 November. The WTM Travel Agents Day offered the opportunity to meet 202 representative countries and regions, combined with skills and product knowledge learning and participation from leading trade educational organisations, destinations and travel companies.

 

This year, partners included the Institute of Travel & Tourism’s Skills Zone, The Association of Cruise Experts (ACE), the newly re-christened name for PSARA, the UK and Eire learning and development body, Seatrade, with more than 30 years of experience organising events and publishing for the shipping industries, the UK Chapter of PATA, Germany, Holland, Jordan and Sandals.

“There is nothing to rival WTM’s Travel Agents Day programme simply because no one in the UK has the muscle to bring together so many educational and networking opportunities under one roof that specifically caters for every travel agent, regardless of what stage they are at in their career”, said Craig Moyes, World Travel Market’s Exhibition Director.

“There are many online and face to face educational events up and down the country, but this one beats them all because of the range of subjects and the emphasis on learning with a healthy dollop of fun thrown in to make it more enjoyable and entertaining.”

Dynamic Smart Start

As dynamic packaging becomes a way of life rather than a sudden trend, World Travel Market’s Travel Agents Day is more important than ever, claims Deena D’Wala, Marketing Manager and the woman behind the dedicated learning day.

“The challenges facing travel agents have always been considerable. But now it’s just got even trickier! The demand by customers for dynamic packaging has been around for a couple of years now and it has changed the lives of every single agent.”

“But creating your own holiday packages, identifying which companies supply you with the tools to do it, which components work together means that agents have had to shift their work practices and knowledge to stay ahead of the game. More than ever before, agents have to be prepared for almost any question under the sun to be fired at them and be expected by the client to have an instant answer,” added D’Wala.

“That’s where the value of WTM’s Travel Agents Day kicks in. And even if there is still confusion out there about whether or not an agency needs an ATOL Licence for customer protection, there is still a pressing need to for every agent, particularly independents to exploit the competitive benefits that this day brings.”