The East Asia Travel Association has recruited merchandising specialist The Network to gauge interest for its distance-learning training course for agents.
EATAregional director marketing Kim Romanski said representatives from the company had visited 50 agents in both the Gatwick Airport and Manchester Airport catchment areas to recruit new staff or ask agencies which already have EATA specialist consultants whether they wanted to train another staff member. Romanski is awaiting feedback from the survey.
The course consists of 10 modules which include six on the EATAdestinations of Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, Macau, Japan and Korea as well as hotel and ground handling modules. It takes a month to complete each module of the Travel Training Company course, which costs ú85 plus VAT.
Many agents, such as Nicole Dixon from Far East Travel Centre in London, who have already completed the course have said it has been invaluable in helping them sell the destinations.
Some 825 agents have done the course.