TRAVEL agents prefer to be called travel consultants instead, reports the US-based National Association of Career Travel Agents (NACTA) through a recent member survey.
NACTA research conducted from December 2013 to January 2014 revealed nearly half (47.7 per cent) of the 1,281 respondents want to be called a travel consultant.
About 23.9 per cent prefer to be referenced as a travel professional; 12.7 per cent, travel agent; 7.5 per cent, travel advisor; and 4.3 per cent, travel expert.
The results were consistent with those of parent company ASTA’s survey conducted last fall, which revealed out of 282 respondents, 54 per cent prefer to be called travel consultant; 11 per cent, travel agent; 22 per cent, travel professional; and 10 per cent, travel advisor.
As a result of the findings, NACTA will now use the term ‘travel consultants’ when referring to its membership. NACTA also informally surveyed its members and found they prefer not to be referred to as “home-based agents”.
“The term home-based agent is irrelevant now as technology and personal relationships have changed how and where travel consultants are able to conduct business,” said Ann van Leeuwen, president of NACTA.
“It is not important to label where travel consultants might do business – what’s important is being good at what you do – selling travel and servicing your clients to the best of your ability.”
Meanwhile, TTG Asia Media has been employing the terms ‘travel consultant’, ‘travel specialist’ and ‘travel expert’ for the travel trade community in all its publications for two years now. We would also like to call on travel agency associations in Asia-Pacific to do the same, since travel consultants are more than just agents.
