05/05/2022
Happy Global Travel Advisor Day! To all our clients, thank you for the trust you put in us. Thank you for letting us make your travel dreams come true! It’s been a tough time for all of us in the travel industry but we’re hopeful for brighter days ahead, thanks to you. The following is an ad in The New York Times, published by Internova Travel Group, the parent company of my agency’s consortium (Travel Leaders Network).
Where to from here?
The travel industry is a business of change. Always has been, really. Since humans began putting one foot in front of the other, we’ve seen unbelievable new destinations. Planes that can get you there faster than ever thought possible. Ships resembling entire cities traversing the globe.
And while overall our industry has changed for the better, we’ve endured a tremendous amount of difficult change as well—with most in recent memory. Constantly changing rules and restrictions. Changes to schedules, itineraries, and stock prices. Not to mention an exhausting race to the bottom with a customer experience to match.
But there’s one thing I believe will never change: the importance of personal connection. The past two years have exposed the flaws of a system designed only to sell, not to care. How many were left stranded when that system failed? It’s been made quite apparent
that in times of turbulence, we don’t turn to robots and computers, but to humans. Travel is a deeply human experience, and it’s at its best when it starts with the wealth of firsthand knowledge and connections that only humans can have. The relationships, advice, and ingenuity of a travel advisor fundamentally change how you travel—and how travel changes you. It’s a superior experience that a machine will never replicate.
That’s why we’ve staked our entire company’s future on our people. More than 70,000 travel advisors around the globe to whom I owe my most sincere gratitude. Today marks Global Travel Advisor Day, but it deserves to be said year-round. I want to personally thank every one of our incredible advisors who have thrived through times of exceptional change—and prepared us for what I believe will be the best year travel has seen.
Through everything, we can all agree that the most important change isn’t within our industry—it’s in the lives of the travelers we help see the world.
