ASIA is the world’s fastest growing holiday destination but agents must improve their knowledge of the individual countries in the region if they are to see a corresponding increase in their business, urged Pacific Asia Travel Association executive director David Arscott.
One of the ways for agents to do this is to make the most of the information at their fingertips, he added.
Arscott said most tourist offices were helpful and able to provide agents with plenty of information but there are several countries including Indonesia and those in Indo-China that do not have UK offices.
He added: “It’s not difficult to get hard facts about a country because agents can always call the tourist office or, if there isn’t a tourist office based in the UK, they can call the national airline. Garuda, for example, can give information on Indonesia.”
Information can also be obtained from the embassies of various countries, although not all have an embassy in the UK. In the case of Cambodia, the nearest embassy is in France.
Arscott also recommended contacting one or two specialist operators for further information on a destination.
Nothing beats first-hand knowledge of a country and PATA organises educationals to six or seven destinations a year. Members are invited to apply for places on each trip and, as most are over-subscribed, the host carrier selects those it wishes to attend.
The Asia Travel Marketing Association also organises educationals and regional director marketing Kim Romanski said it was planning to put together more trips in the future.
Both PATA and ATMA run distance-learning programmes for agents to give them greater awareness of destinations in the Far East. PATA’s is a computer-based programme while ATMA’s is paper based.
“Our programme provides agents with instant facts about each destination we cover,” said Arscott. “If a client walks into an agency to book a holiday somewhere obscure, all the agent has to do is click on that destination on their PC and it will tell them everything they need to know.”
Romanski said a recent survey of graduates of ATMA’s training scheme found 92% had increased their sales to the Far East after completing the programme. Some 43% claimed their sales had increased significantly.