The Advantage Travel Partnership, the UK’s largest travel agent consortium is continuing to support its travel agent members in advance of the Traffic Light list announcement and has created a toolkit for members ahead of the expected reopening of international travel on 17 May.
The travel agent consortium has collaborated with several destination partners to launch a series of country campaigns that will dovetail into its wider ‘Say hello again to…’ campaign, providing aspirational content to help agents engage with their customers. With a particular focus on popular destinations, Advantage has already partnered with Italy, Madeira, Morocco, Tenerife and Gran Canaria to create a range of B2C and B2B assets in order to maximise enquiries and is in discussions with other tourist boards to incorporate them in the campaign too.
Advantage has created customer magazines and short format bookazines, providing inspiration on where to stay and what to do, plus email marketing opportunities for members, including hot offers and solus emails which will be distributed to customers to engage and inspire them to travel to the various destinations in the campaign. Advantage has also produced ready-made blog content and digital assets for agent members to share across their own social media pages, as well as video content that can be used on in-store televisions and on travel agents’ websites and social media channels.
To help prepare agents for their clients questions about specific destination requirements and what to expect on their trip, Advantage has created destination spotlight videos, which consist of interviews with country representatives to showcase the region, which can be used as a training tool for members. All the activity is underpinned with the strap line “Count on Us”, to highlight how a customer can count on their travel agent members.
Having a global network has allowed Advantage to work with local partners in key destinations to provide invaluable information on what a customer can expect when travelling there. Advantage will also host ‘supplier buzz sessions’ to help expand agent product knowledge which will be available from early May. Agents will also have access to the member product communities through email and digital magazines, reaching segmented member groups for products such as touring, cruise, luxury and the over 50s market.
In addition, Advantage has produced a checklist for its members so that they can provide accurate advice to their customers. The checklist includes items such as checking each destinations’ entry requirements focusing on testing, quarantine and vaccinations. It also lists sources where agents can look at local restrictions around social distancing and wearing of masks.
Kelly Cookes, Leisure Director at Advantage Travel Partnership commented: “As we await the details of the country classifications and Green List announcement, we want to ensure our members have all the tools needed to handle any travel enquiries and bookings. There’s never been a better time to book with a travel agent, as they will be able to guide their clients through the booking process, testing requirements, travel and in-destination protocols and be on hand to answer any queries or handle necessary changes.
“As we saw last year, destinations can move on and off the Green List, and we expect this will be the case this summer too, so flexibility is key from agents, suppliers and consumers alike. We would urge anyone thinking about booking a holiday to think about their requirements and start those conversations with their local travel agent now, so that they can provide a range of options. Ultimately, when planning a holiday, my recommendation would be to think about the criteria of what the client needs rather than the specific destination.”
