Jane E. Fraser

The travel agents who come to you August 26, 2010

Sales are soaring for home-based travel agents, challenging the traditional model of a high street agency. Home-based travel consultants are available online, by phone, at people’s homes, offices or coffee shops and tailor-make packages for their clients.

Travel Counsellors says its home-working agents did a combined $23 million in sales in Australia for the first six months of the year, putting it on track for around $50 million for the full year. The sales represent an eight-fold increase on last year’s figures, although 2009 was dampened by the global financial crisis.

Travel Counsellors’ competitor, Travel Managers says its sales were also up more than 80 per cent for the first half of 2010. “This is on top of sales growth of 32 per cent for 2009, which included the toughest period of the GFC,” says TravelManagers executive general manager Mandy Scotney.

Scotney says the concept has taken off because it combines the latest travel booking technology with a very accessible and personalised service. “(It) uses the internet as the engine room of a highly bespoke travel service,” she says.

This article is an excerpt from Jane E. Fraser’s weekly travel column in The Sun Herald, Sydney