The new Travel Leaders' Active & Adventure Travel Specialist program demonstrates the growing importance of adventure travel and active travel to the agent community.
Through the training program, held in partnership with the Adventure Travel Trade Association, agents are required to become familiar with the various tours offered through adventure travel tour operators and the opportunities available in destinations well known for their active and cultural components. Agents will also develop a better understanding of the adventure market as a whole.
While there are components of the adventure travel industry that focus on skydiving, caving and mountaineering, the industry as a whole includes the entire "active" niche. Much of the active travel experience involves soft adventure such as trekking, cycling, kayaking and cultural immersion. Travel Leaders' Active & Adventure Travel Specialists will have access to qualified leads and new sales opportunities when they choose to specialize in the adventure segment of the travel industry.
Travel Leaders Franchise Group president, Roger Block, noted that the partnership with the ATTA will benefit both travel agents and consumers.
"By joining together with the ATTA, which is at the forefront of the active and adventure travel segment, our specialist program will provide our members with a unique, highly-valuable and industry-respected designation. Moreover, being able to view agent profiles on Travelleaders.com and the ATTA consumer website that highlight travel agent specializations and expertise, adventure travelers will have added peace of mind as they easily connect with Travel Leaders travel agents who have an incredible base of expertise and knowledge in these types of vacations," said Block. "In addition, together with the ATTA, we are building bridges with adventure travel destinations operators that will provide our clientele with greater access to customized experiences."
Just as Travel Leaders is showing its respect for adventure travel, ATTA also respects the power of the travel agent.
"We believe in the travel agent as key players in the travel supply chain and are thrilled to launch the first official adventure travel agent training program with Travel Leaders to allow agents interested in adventure to have more access to world class information and product," said ATTA president Shannon Stowell.
The breadth of the industry is vast and its popularity is growing. Stowell noted that the ATTA has been looking to enhance its relationship with the travel agent community for a while and this partnership is a step in the right direction.
"The adventure travel industry is now a $263 billion industry, compared to $89 billion in 2009. For several years now, we have been searching for a way to connect ATTA's more than 1,000 members - including tour operators, destination marketing organizations, tourism boards, and accommodations - with top travel agent professionals to cultivate the perfect experience for each client. This partnership is that answer and more. Now, we will have connections to educated and vetted travel agents."
While the ATTA currently operates AdventureEDU courses, these training programs are directed mostly to tour operators and governments and associations seeking to deliver adventure travel experiences safely and sustainably. The exclusive joint program with Travel Leaders will be the ATTA's first educational program geared specifically toward travel agents.
The Travel Leaders Active & Adventure Travel Specialist program is modeled on the existing, highly successful, Travel Leaders' Luxury Travel Specialist and Honeymoon & Destination Wedding Specialist programs, and others offered via Travel Leaders' Education & Training department.
Open to all Travel Leaders travel agents and affiliated Independent Contractors (ICs), the program requires participants to complete a rigorous curriculum broken into seven modules. Some modules in this program may be approved third-party training modules such as destination specialist designations offered by various destination marketing organizations and specialist designations offered by active and adventure tour operators, cruise lines and properties that are associated with both Travel Leaders and the ATTA. Other requirements include, but are not limited to:
• Researching and reporting on market size, composition and trends in two verticals in the active and adventure travel space
• Assessing products provided by current Travel Leaders active or adventure preferred supplier partners (tour, cruise, property)
• Attending multiple ATTA webinars
• Attending multiple Travel Leaders active/adventure travel supplier webinars
• Attending, and reporting on, local active and adventure travel consumer shows/events
• Participating in, and reporting about, active/adventure supplier familiarization trips
• Applying to attend ATTA-hosted travel agent opportunities, including Adventure Travel World Summit, ATMEX (AdventureTravel Mexico), AdventureNEXT, and various AdventureWeeks in destinations worldwide
• Creating an itinerary report using approved suppliers serving target destinations
• In-depth travel planning with recommendations for three provided case studies or actual examples from agent
• Developing a comprehensive Active & Adventure Travel customer marketing plan
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
