Organised by the Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA, the evening included compliance, airline updates, advocacy intelligence, accreditation insights, surcharging news and a hands-on marketing masterclass.
Guests heard that last year 22 per cent of businesses that applied for ATIA accreditation were either turned away or voluntarily withdrew because they knew they wouldn’t meet the standard.
Dean Long, ATIA CEO (below), detailed the intense effort the ATIA team and Board put in when the Middle East situation deteriorated on March 1, with the team swinging into action from 5am to give members the facts and the communications tools to stop cancellations and reinforce client confidence.
The program also covered the issues that matter most to travel businesses right now:
- Qatar Airways – direct operational update in the context of the ongoing Middle East conflict
- ATIA CEO update, including proprietary consumer sentiment research members described as immediately actionable
- ATIA advocacy update from Director Advocacy and Policy Ingrid Fraser on three live campaigns, including a win that saved every ATIA-accredited travel agent and tour operator $14,000 in setup costs and $8,000 per year in ongoing fees
- Compliance and accreditation deep-dive from ATIA’s Director of Compliance and Membership, Nina Hedges
- TravelPay surcharging briefing on the upcoming RBA changes
- Marketing masterclass from Nicole O’Sullivan and Chris Fundell on personal branding, social media and converting leads into revenue and members left with a practical worksheet
- Networking with peers, the ATIA team and corporate partners.
“I was surprisingly interested in all the different topics,” said Emma Grose, MTA Mobile Travel Agents.
“The compliance piece I found very comforting, actually. It’s like a safety net. And it’s something to be proud of. It’s on my signature block.”
“The most common piece of feedback we got was that people didn’t expect to have so much fun,” commented Mr Long.
“Compliance. Accreditation. Advocacy. Public policy. These are not words that make people rush to register for an event.
“But every single thing we covered has a direct consequence for how your business operates, what it earns and what protects it when something goes wrong.”
Beyond Borders on the Road continues in Brisbane on May 20, Adelaide on July 20 and Perth on July 22, before culminating in the flagship Beyond Borders Travel Summit later on October 9 in Melbourne.
Main image: Trish Shepherd, Black Sheep Tourism – Nicola Harford – Stephanie Mirando Collette – Karen Deveson Collette- Emma Grose MTA
Register at atia.travel/BBOTR
