A survey by the Outside Sales Support Network (OSSN) of its members found that not surprisingly 2009 was a challenging year in the travel business, but 2010 promises to be much better. That’s the key finding in the latest year-end North American survey conducted by OSSN, the largest trade association of home-based travel retailers. Among 1,430 agents responding to the survey, 35 percent posted higher sales this year, but 43 percent saw a decrease in their 2009 bookings. Looking ahead to 2010, 85 percent predict they will be more successful selling travel.

OSSN’s latest survey results capture a snapshot of the way these retailers operate their home-based travel businesses: 22 percent have their own merchant account to process credit card sales; 46 percent have their own errors and omissions/general liability insurance coverage (beyond any coverage provided by a host agency); and 47 percent use their own branded web domain names for email instead of public-domain email systems such as Yahoo!.

The Travel Retailers Universal Enumeration (TRUE) booking code system is the most popular choice among these OSSN member agents, with 39 percent using TRUE codes when they make reservations for clients. Thirty-one percent use a Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) number, while 30 percent use codes provided by airline groups (ARC, IATA).

The 2009 year-end survey also focused on three key topics that will affect home-based agents in 2010: 49 percent of the agents said their clients “sometimes” tell them which properties to book, while 39 percent said their clients simply suggest locations. Three in four of those agents surveyed book international hotel stays for their clients (the most important criteria for such bookings is a good location, followed by quality, price, safety, brand name and unique experience). Nine in 10 of these agents also book pre- and post-cruise hotel stays (only 10 percent reported that they never book them).

Three in five home-based of the travel sellers surveyed now have their own websites. They split evenly in how they created their sites: 34 percent built it themselves, 34 percent used ready-made site designs, and 32 percent used a professional. Almost 40 percent reported that their sites currently generate leads for their travel businesses.
When asked about what social media they use, Facebook is the first choice among home-based agents currently using social media sites, followed by LinkedIn and Twitter. Seven in 10 responding agents said they plan to use social media sites in 2010. Those agents saying they do not plan to use social media next year gave these reasons: They’re not familiar with the applications (34 percent), they don’t have time (28 percent) or they’re not aware of any benefits (23 percent). Visit www.ossn.com/ossn_survey/2009yearendsurvey/index.html for the complete survey. For more information about OSSN, visit www.ossn.com.
 

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