We had an opportunity late last week to talk to Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) president Wendy Paradis, who has been decidedly busy as anyone keeping up with travel news recently is aware. ACTA has been advocating for the industry, urging government support for agents and agencies, supporting efforts of the BC tourism industry and CLIA by urging the federal government to protect the future of Canada’s West Coast Alaska cruise program and collaborating with Tourist Offices and destination representatives on a wide range of issues affecting travel and tourism. We had a few questions on some other topics as well.

We asked Paradis, where she though the industry was going? While we all hope that people will start traveling soon, how realistic is that and what does it mean for travel agents?

Admittedly playing devil’s advocate, we asked whether the various sectors, airlines, cruise lines, hotels and tour operators focus more on their own distribution channels? And if so, what does that mean for travel agents?

Paradis said that direct business is something that travel suppliers have been doing for quite a number of years now. However, she said, travel agents have undeniably demonstrated their value to suppliers.

“There is more recognition from travel suppliers – more than ever – about the important role that travel advisors play. I think that there will always be some direct booking distribution channels, but I think that travel agents are really carving out their niche of the full travel distribution. Certainly with COVID, the one thing that has been very clear, is the tremendous impact and help it is to have a human being at the other end of the line who is knowledgeable and can really help you get through some of the seriously significant challenges that we had a year ago as people were stranded all over the world.”

She pointed out an interesting fact, having done a lot of mainstream media over the past year, she would always need to promote the value of working with a professional travel agent in conversations at CBC or CTV or a radio station.

Things have changed. “Now they proactively say to me, ‘And of course, working with a travel agent is the best defense for travellers.’ So that is something that has really evolved over the last year,” she says, “it is really great to see consumers and the mainstream media actually saying that to me before I can even say it to them. I think that that is very positive.”

At a meeting with the Conference Board of Canada the day before our interview, Paradis said some of the research statistics that they had, reconfirmed polls showing consumers, (who certainly do want to travel once they get vaccinated), are proactively maintaining that you need to have quality information, that they are very interested in safety, security and hygiene at the destination that they’re travelling to, and that they want to work with the travel professional.

“And so, I think that there are some really good indicators that travel agents will play a vital role in recovery and as Canadians, we are more prone to safety and security compared to a lot of other countries, so I think that our travel agents in particular will do well once we’ve got COVID better under control. In the future – and the future is not as soon as we thought it was going to be – but as the vaccines roll out, as some of the protocols get in place, then I do think travel will restart.

We agreed, noting that travellers prefer to have somebody that they can talk to rather than sit on a phone for three or four hours with a supplier as they have sometimes complained of in recent times.

Paradis notes that the situation is not static and very difficult to keep up with, so much depends on how quickly the COVID situation evolves.

“It’s very confusing for sure.” She says, “I think working with a travel professional who is doing this every day, is really researching and staying on top of all of the current trends and issues will be invaluable to travellers.

“For those of us who work in travel, it is challenging for us to stay on top. So, if you can just imagine your average traveller who does not have even a tiny bit of the information that we have working in the travel industry…”

“Are we seeing a paradigm shift in the retail industry.” I ask, “is this the end of mom and pop travel, of independent agencies? Will we see an increase in home based agents, independent agents? The numbers seem to have increased very quickly. Are we going to see more call centres, and how much education are travel advisors going to need to face all this?”

“We are definitely seeing changes.” Says Paradis, “With crisis of course comes change. I think that with the lockdowns and everybody, including travel agents working from home, there’s been a great and quick evolution of virtual technology tools and your average person, your average worker, is now becoming quite familiar with these tools. I think that people will crave in-person interactions, but things like Zoom and GoToMeeting that technology is here to stay, and people have embraced it.

“I think that from a travel agency and a travel agent perspective, that we will see a dramatic change because of COVID. But I honestly believe as things settle, it will be a blend. It’s really important that as sales people and service people, that the travel agency and travel agent community are meeting the expectation and the desires of consumers and travellers.

“And that will mean that there will be in-person visits. There will be sales consulting like you and I are doing through a camera. This is much more personal – rather than just headsets and not seeing each other. So, I think that the change – many of the changes are here to stay.”

Paradis however is realistic, she knows that there are extremes such as we are in now and that the situation will likely settle “somewhere in the middle”.

Storefront locations for travel, she acknowledges, have been significantly impacted in COVID. I know that the highest expense in a travel agency is salaries and the second highest expense is rent. And, of course, some of those locations have been sitting empty for almost a year. So, when they could, many travel agency owners did not renew leases unless they saw them as critical locations for the future of their travel business.

There has definitely been a significant decline of paying rent in 2020 now into 2021 with some of the leaders that ACTA has spoken to across the province and the country some owners have definitely severed lease relationships where they could. Some suggest that as we come out of COVID they will re-evaluate and re-strategize, depending on the needs of the traveller at that point in time.

That definitely is a shift, said Paradis, but she believes there will be a settling afterwards.

“As far as the travel agents themselves,” she says, “we also know looking at past crisis that (at past times) when travel has had to stop, whether it was 9/11, SARS, the economic meltdown due to the housing crisis in 2008 – Canada was less impacted than the United States, but looking back at history and looking back at our colleagues in the States, there were huge shifts in travel industry structure through all of those crises.

“And so, we did see a movement and an increase in the independent travel agent or independent contractor model through each of those crises. And I think that we are seeing that in Canada, as we move through COVID as well.”

She says that whether you are the storefront owner of a travel agency, whether you’re the president of a national travel agency organization, or whether you’re a travel agent, the silver lining is that all of them have been able to really take a look at their business – at their business model – and they are researching and making some informed decisions as to how they believe they would like to personally go forward, or what is best for their organization as they move forward through recovery.

“History has shown us that there are significant shifts in times of crisis, and this is the biggest crisis we’ve faced certainly in our lifetime and so I certainly anticipate and think it’s quite reasonable to expect that there will be seismic shift in our industry.”

We asked about education, and a heavy focus on the technology of the industry rather than an emphasis on the traditional tools currently in practice.

Paradis agrees, “I think that technology for many industries and in particular, our industry, is very important. I also think that we need to make sure that we just don’t shift so dramatically thinking it’s all about technology.

“It’s really important working with a knowledgeable, personable and professional travel agent. Those attributes are going to be incredibly important. And even though we’re in our darkest days of travel right now, the ACTA education team has already in the last year and a half, been working on the progress of travel agents’ education.

“So, we actually have worked with industry. We have worked with the government on updating the Certified Travel Counselor National Occupation Standards. We actually have a new program for new entrance to the travel industry already developed. I think that our travel agency members, whether a host agency, or a consortia, or an independent travel organization, all of us really, have in the last year taken a look at our training programs. The amount of professional development that has taken place over this last year for travel agents has actually been tremendous.

“The bulk of travel agents in Canada are furloughed right now,” says Paradis, 90 percent are essentially laid off. When it comes to independent travel agents or independent contractors, they are pretty well, a hundred percent on the CRB program. And then we’ve had some travel agencies who have been able to keep their employees and they are on the emergency wage subsidy. I can say for those travel agencies, that a big focus while things are quiet, has been professional development specialization.

“So, there’s been a tremendous amount of upskilling that has gone on over the past year, regardless if you are an employee of a travel agency, or you’re an independent travel agent. We know just from the work that ACTA’s done, of course, we speak and meet with our members really consistently through this crisis. And then there’s been a lot of formal organization around training so that when we do recover, we know there will be a pent-up demand for travel. We know more people will want to enter the industry – and we are prepared for that.”

Where does Paradis think people might want to go when they can travel again? We suggest leisure travel will return first, but wonder whether business travel might take a bit hit given that we have learned to communicate reasonably effectively via technology.

“I think in the end, it will all settle.” Says Paradis, “it’s interesting that we’re all used to having these virtual meetings and there will be absolutely a place for those in the future. But I think that nothing replaces an in-person meeting and it’s so interesting that during COVID most of the meetings that we have had have been of course, virtual, and then as things settled down last summer, we actually had a brainstorming session with some travel industry leaders in Toronto. We had the flip charts going and everybody was six feet apart. And when we left that session at the end of the day, I felt incredible and it was so great seeing people face to face, seeing their body language, laughing together.

“So, I don’t think that that is over. I think that as things continue to evolve, we will see the desire for in-person meetings, so I do see leisure travel and corporate (returning). It is going to take a little while for sure. I think the complexity with business travel and business travellers, as the surveys from the GTTA have shown – they would like to travel and they see the need for travel.

“That will be domestic travel first, followed by international travel. I think the added difficulty for corporations, from what they’re saying, is the whole safety element and the organization being responsible. And so, from a human resources perspective, they’re struggling with what that might look like.

“When it comes to leisure travel, which is an independent, personal decision – you are deciding to take the risk. The research that we had shown is that that in fact, as you mentioned, leisure will bounce back first. So, it’s not a surprise that in 2021, the number one destination for Canadians will be Canada.”

“And for myself, who’s worked in the industry for over 30 years and was a travel agent in some of those crises that I mentioned in earlier, economic downturns in Toronto, or Canadians were feeling perhaps a little unsafe. They did travel in Canada, and I remember that as a frontline travel agent, that for about a two year period, I sold more Canada, whether that was Rocky Mountaineer, or the Agawa Canyon, or Jasper, I sold more Canada in a two year period than I did in a 20 year career as a travel agent.

“So I think that travelling in 2021 and following into 2022, that agents really need to ensure that they are experts on quality, high yield Canadian vacations, because I do believe that Canadians being really safe and security conscious compared to other countries, will have a desire to travel in Canada.

Paradis says that surveys show that the number one travel that Canadians want to do is to visit friends and family.

“Of course, we all have to acknowledge that there are families that haven’t seen each other for a year and a half. And so that will happen all around the world – first and foremost, it will be family travel first.”

Presumably there will be a difference in the generational aspect as to who’s going where, we suggested, especially given the images from Miami Beach over the recent weekend.

“Yes, exactly.” Says Paradis, “As far as the younger populations of millennials, they were the ones, not surprisingly, that are the most ready to travel. I also think that seniors who will be fully vaccinated, who will of course be very careful, but there are certainly a lot who really do not enjoy our Canadian winters who will want to travel to warmer destinations. And again, what is going to be very important for them is what is happening in those destinations.”

Meanwhile the industry hopes the vaccine rollout in Canada will continue at a good pace. After a slow start, the number of people being vaccinated is certainly escalating. And with all the work that’s being done with digital health certificates around the world and the improvements in rapid testing and contract tracing, Paradis thinks that by winter 2021 and in 2022, Canadians will definitely want to travel, and they will be wanting to travel internationally.

Safety at the destination with regards to COVID is obviously an important issue.

That’s one of the things that surveys have shown Paradis says, travellers want to be vaccinated and then they will turn their attention to where they are going and what the experience of that destination is regarding COVID numbers, safety protocols and quarantine requirements.

“I think one of the things that’s really important to remember and why COVID is going to be with us for a while, is first of all, as it continues to mutate, we don’t know what the future looks like. But more importantly, let’s say the G7 countries or the G20 countries, because we have the economic and financial ability to pay for and roll out vaccines, that our populations will be vaccinated first. Unfortunately, there’s another 150 countries that don’t have the means to do that.

“And so, the roll out of vaccines will need to continue, certainly for a year or two years until we can get the vast majority of the world vaccinated, or get that herd immunity.”

For us in Canada, yes, says Paradis, definitely we will be vaccinated. We know the United States will be vaccinated, Britain and Europe and then there’s the rest of the world.

And for Canadian travellers who really like to, and routinely do, visit the Caribbean and Mexico, those popular destinations need to ensure the safety of visitors, but they also need to have precautions in place for the protection of their own residents as well.

Paradis understands this, “I think it’s a complex issue and in one that as a travel industry, that we need to pay really close attention to.”