TORONTO — When you’re a travel retail group with thousands of Canadian travel advisors coast to coast, what your members see in terms of sales, bookings and more reflect wider booking trends across the country.

That’s certainly the case for Transat Distribution Canada, now with close to 2,100 agents.

Anecdotal reports of a gradual slowdown in travel demand, in conversation with agency owners and managers as well as tour operators during this fall’s whirl of industry events, are echoed by TDC’s General Manager, Karine Gagnon, and Sr. Director, Marketing, Communications and Events, Marc Pelletier, in a recent interview with Travelweek.

TDC’s Karine Gagnon and Marc Pelletier

“REVENGE TRAVEL IS BEHIND US”

Gagnon and Pelletier note that TDC agencies say 2024 is no 2023 – the record-breaking good times could only last so long – but adds that “business is good and bookings are coming” nonetheless.

“We’re seeing a fair degree of stability in sales at our members’ agencies and our own. A few are up or down by 5-10%.”

TDC recently surveyed its agency owners “and the majority say they are confident about the future and the year ahead.”

They’re realistic though : “The fact remains that revenge travel is behind us, and agencies need to get back into development mode.”

Travelweek’s interview with Gagnon and Pelletier coincided with TDC’s high-energy annual conference, held in Montreal and then Toronto. The theme for the 2024 edition, ‘Ignite Your Inner Athlete’, reflected this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, and provided an ideal tie-in for many of the presentations.

As the duo explain, “to ‘ignite your inner athlete’ means being able to perform when it counts the most. Like Olympians, travel professionals have the potential to accomplish amazing results. It’s by tapping into their internal motivations and forces that they can accomplish extraordinary things.”

They add : “It also means getting to know ourselves, so we can build on our strengths and improve our weaknesses. And setting goals, so we can continue to evolve. And once you’ve identified that, you’ve got to keep learning, keep training. That’s why we organize events like this. Like athletes, our travel professionals need to find the motivation within themselves to keep performing every day, and especially when it counts.”

LUXURY & CRUISES DOMINATE

Travelweek wanted to know what’s selling particularly well for TDC agencies. And is there anything about 2024-2025 booking trends that’s surprising?

“Of course, all-inclusive packages with Transat and other big tour operators like West Jet Vacations and Air Canada Vacations are always popular,” say Gagnon and Pelletier.

“But the two major trends that are emerging are luxury and cruises.”

TDC has been a member of the Virtuoso network since 2022 and now has more than 30 luxury partners, available to all travel advisors of the network who want to sell luxury.

For the conference TDC in collaboration with Virtuoso developed a customized workshop panel, showcasing the expertise of several TDC members who specialize in luxury: Peggy McKnight from Marlin Travel Cambridge; Mary LaRocque from Marlin Travel Peterborough; and Gina Afan from Transat Travel.

“Luxury is the travel sector that has seen and that will continue to see in the coming years the most important growth,” say Gagnon and Pelletier.

TDC has created a five-hour free and bilingual training course focused on luxury travel. Travel advisors who complete the course become Certified Luxury Specialists.

TDC is also riding the wave of the second big trend, one that’s been around for decades but somehow manages to keep growing in leaps and bounds : cruising.

No matter how consumers feel about travel – especially in these cost-aware times – it seems as though cruising is virtually foolproof. No doubt it helps that cruising offers a wide variety of price points, from budget-friendly three- and four-day sailings on mass-market cruise ships, to sky’s-the-limit sailings on ultra-luxury lines.

“On cruises, TDC is also well positioned to answer the demand, with 23 preferred partners specialized in cruises. What’s surprising is the increasing popularity of cruises with the younger travellers,” they say.

TDC recently signed two new preferred partners that are cruise lines as well as Virtuoso members : Explora Journeys and Ponant. “We’re always looking to add more, to complement what we already offer.”

“LET GO OF CUSTOMERS WHO ARE ONLY LOOKING FOR A PRICE”

This past summer TDC released the results of its study showing a strong percentage of Canadians intending to book travel with a travel advisor.

We asked Gagnon and Pelletier, what are clients saying now that they finally realize the benefits of booking through an agent?

Since the pandemic, a growing number of customers have seen the benefits of dealing with a travel professional, as many travel retail groups have noted.

It’s good news for travel agencies in more ways than one.

“What our owners are telling us is that they choose to concentrate their efforts on working with customers who see the added value they bring, and they’re increasingly choosing to let go of customers who are only looking for a price, and therefore don’t see the value of booking through a travel advisor,” they say.

Gagnon and Pelletier are quick to note that this isn’t a negative. So-called ‘tire kicker’ customers and price hounds who’ll go down the street – or online – just to save a few bucks have long been the bane of travel advisors. “This is not a bad thing. Agency owners and travel professionals were just so busy last year, the situation was not necessarily sustainable long term.”

In TDC’s survey, consumers consistently cited three main reasons for doing business with a travel advisor : the ability to book everything from a single location; less stressful travel planning; and “talking to a real person and having the opportunity to really verbalize needs.”

This article appears in the Oct. 10, 2024 edition of Travelweek; click here.