A tour operator has urged travel agents to reconsider their relationships with operators if they are to have a successful future working together.
Speaking at this year’s Elite Travel Group conference held in Lanzarote over the weekend, Peltours sales and marketing director Darren Panto said agents still criticise operators for having direct-sale arms and undercutting prices online.
However, he argued that as agents insist on dynamic packaging without offering the protection operators can guarantee, then operators will need to continue using other distribution channels to keep revenues up.
Panto said: “I urged the agents to make sure they know who they are dealing with and deliver the support to those who are supporting them.”
He added many agents may yet discover bookings made with the XL Leisure Group may not have been protected despite their thinking otherwise while other agents are still not meeting all the legal requirements when dynamic packaging.
Panto said agents should reconnect with tour operators to help safeguard their futures, adding: “If you support us you’re necessary, if you don’t you need to make yourselves necessary to your customers instead.”