Many travel agents at the ABTA Convention in Cairns expressed a desire to learn more about new technology.
The problem is that the Internet is rapidly becoming something which people are embarrassed to admit they know little about.
There’s an assumption that we all know about new technology and the way to use it, because if we didn’t we would be living in the dark ages.
But I for one would like to know more about the limits, opportunities, possibilities and threats posed by the Internet and digital television and several retailers told me they felt the same way.
I feel the ABTA Convention was a missed opportunity (see Analysis on this page) and next year, industry associations could do their members a favour by having more debate and presentations on whatever new technologies are about to impact their lives.
I was recently chatting to Minneapolis-based Carlson Leisure president Mike Batt and he was saying that in the US many agents have increased their business by using the Internet. Some of them are selling via the Web and some are using the information on it to improve the service to their clients. Perhaps it’s about time ABTA or other trade bodies invited them over to talk to agents about what they have learned. Internal debates at conferences are fine, but there are bigger issues to tackle.
Jeremy Skidmore – editor