Travel Agents

In Skift's top stories this week, travel agents describe their changed roles, the highest-paid hotel CEOs are revealed, and Vancouver Island Tourism adopts a new tourism model.

Expedia Group announced on Thursday it's launching a new rewards program exclusively for U.S.-based travel advisors in its Travel Agent Affiliate Program (TAAP).

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at the reinvention of travel agents, how in-person meetings are hurting virtual meetings, and why tour operators are leading on sustainability.

Travel agents, sometimes called advisors, have seen many changes through the years, but the pandemic altered their profession in unimaginable ways. And that upheaval's not dying down anytime soon, with booking travel becoming more complicated and advisors seeing their roles as even more necessary.

Travel advisors don't love booking one-way flights for customers due to the additional work it entails. But the practice will continue to boom if airfares don't drop and airlines don't expand their flight schedules.

No one wants to miss out on a deal this summer, and that applies to mergers and acquisitions too, it seems.

Good morning from Skift. It's Monday, May 23, in New York City. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Travel agencies need to develop more strategies to tackle advisor burnout. They can't afford to lose more advisors because they've struggled to fill roles since the start of the pandemic.

Extended family and friends’ groups, delayed weddings and graduation trips are contributing to a revival in group travel in destinations like Argentina, Colombia, Perú, Paraguay and Bolivia. The residual effect is that travel agents are in demand again, and back into bricks-and-mortar offices to help travelers plan more book these trips asap.