You weren’t supposed to be here. As John Lovell recalls, the last travel agency was expected to close “somewhere around May 15, 2002,” thanks to the advent of the Internet.

“In 1998/99 when the Internet was first coming online, everybody was predicting the demise of all travel agencies,” remembers the president of leisure travel for the Travel Leaders Group (TLG).

Yet, Lovell believes that in 2020, travel agents are still “very, very well positioned” to not only survive but thrive, particularly because “as travel has become more and more complex, the role of the travel advisor has become much more important to the travelling consumer.”

He adds, “You can go on the Internet and find almost anything you really want, but what it does is lends to a lot of confusion. You have mega ships with 23 different types of categories – what are they? I don’t know! That’s really where a travel advisor can step in – anything that’s complex. Travellers are looking for more and more personalization today, and that’s where the role of the travel advisor is well positioned.”

Echoing recent remarks from Expedia Group president Mark Okerstrom, Lovell maintains, “There is a place for a place for a travel advisor; there will continue to be a place for a travel advisor.”

At the same time, consumers are spending more money, according to Travel Leader Group division TL Network’s 2020 trends survey, making agents and their clients “a great coupling,” Lovell says.

Also fuelling his optimism is the strength of TL Network (the largest retail travel agency organization in North America representing approximately 5,700 travel agency locations in Canada and the US), which is riding the coattails of a surging travel industry.

“When we look at travel in North America, it’s the second largest industry [and] created three times as many jobs as manufacturing in 2019. And that’s a huge statistic. More hotels are being built, more cruises ships are coming online, planes, you name it, this industry is just exploding.”

Moreover, he says, “Not only are we seeing the explosion of jobs being created with hoteliers, and stuff like that, but we’re also seeing it with the agencies – within our network ourselves. With the TL Network in Canada we have more and more agencies bringing on independent contractors, creating new jobs, because the demand is so high for the experience and the professionalism the travel advisor brings to the equation.”

Lovell reports that the growth of TL Network (including TL Network Canada) has been nothing short of “phenomenal,” producing 37-plus percent growth across the distribution channel in the last three years alone. “That means a lot of storefronts, a lot of members…” he says. “We’re becoming much stronger… and if you’re not growing, you’re dying.”

TL Network VP Christine James reports the organization added 28 new members in Canada in 2019 on top of 32 the year before that, but also saw sales increase by 50 percent. “So, clearly we’re targeting the right agencies and bringing in the right members with a higher volume of sales,” she says, adding five new members have already joined in 2020. The division is also adding new support staff to help manage the growing numbers.

Lovell says TLG is also about a year into a major initiative to expand internationally, noting that in 2018, the organization’s global roster including the US and Canada, and four that he admits were “under-represented.” Since then, he says, 71 partners representing 80 countries have been added.

“We’ve really expanded that global footprint (to 84 countries) – and growing!”

And then there’s no end in sight. Lovell points to the cruise industry, which already boasts 32 million customers a year, set to introduce 100 new ships by 2027 and over 30 ships this year alone at a cost of $10 billion, as just one sector of the industry that continues to grow – and with which retailers, including TLG, are poised to take advantage.

Travel agents sell upwards of 60 percent of cruises in North America, he says, adding that, as such “The cruise lines are really investing in the distribution channel, $6 billion, because they need us to sell it every day.

“So, its affirmation,” he says, “from not only the consumer who is coming to us (agents), but the cruise line partners who are saying: We can invest this kind of money – because we have faith in the distribution channel!”