BARBARA CHARLTON Regular columnist Barbara was voted Most Helpful Travel Counsellor of the Year for two consecutive years.
talking shop WISE COUNSEL In the market for key contacts I thought World Travel Market at the
ExCel Exhibition Centre was great this year! I had emailed my clients ahead of time asking if they wanted any information on particular destinations, and I arrived at the show with a list of stands that I wanted to visit. For example, a 50th wedding
anniversary couple that I have booked to Vienna wanted somewhere memorable to eat out at on their special evening. I recalled a client years ago telling me about an old Ferris Wheel where they had enjoyed a private dinner – so I found a man on the Austria stand that had done this and came away fully briefed for my client! In fact I returned home able to pass
several nuggets of information on to my clients – it made them feel extra special. It’s all part of the service as far as I am concerned and no real hardship to do. WTM is certainly not just about collecting brochures, leaflets and goodie bags! It’s not even just about talking to the hosts; there are a multitude of free seminars and this year I attended two afternoon sessions. The first was presented by the Travel Counsellors managing and sales directors; the room was packed, with another 20 waiting outside to try and get in. This was an oversight: they should
have booked a bigger room. I had a standing position near the back, but was proud to be a Travel Counsellor when I heard the comments from other guests from around the world afterwards. Hopefully, they will go back to their own companies and start to invest in their people, who, after all, are at the heart of our business. Then I went to the ITT (Institute of
Travel & Tourism) question time, which was not so well attended. It was hosted by Steven Freudmann, the director of ITT and former director of ABTA, and featured a panel of industry heads that included David Speakman, chairman of Travel Counsellors. The Q&A session got quite lively at times, and covered areas such as ATOL, Flight Plus, taxes and the Cooks/Co-Op merger. There was consensus across the board that
Trinidad and Tobago added plenty of colour to World Travel Market; Botswana's magnifi cent Okavango Delta is a wildlife paradise
“WTM's evening events are a great vehicle for networking – I dropped into the Czech Republic, Botswana, Sri Lanka and SATOA"
more choice of training programmes. Just go to
www.traveluni.com and register for instant access to around 100 programmes in one place. November is also the month of the
there has to be complete clarity on the protection of consumers, and all agreed that Flight Plus is not the all- encompassing cover that we had hoped for. That subject will be controversial for some time yet I suspect! Latwr I met up with our editor, Steve
Hartridge, for some evening invitation- only events. We dropped into functions hosted by the Czech Republic, Botswana, Sri Lanka and finally SATOA. I haven’t really been to too many WTM evening events before, but they were all very well attended and a great vehicle for networking. I met several industry people including Dawn Parr, who is the Botswana Tourism UK manager, and Judy McCluskey, whose representation and PR company has several long-haul clients. It was also great to catch up with Storm Napier, from Kwa Zulu Natal Tourism, who took me to the South African province earlier this year. What else did I get up to in
November? For the first time in 19 years as a travel agent I got asked to arrange a wedding at sea! This was for an old client that has booked a variety of trips with me in the past, before he even met his bride to be. One very memorable trip was the one he took to Paris for the weekend, about eight years
annual Travel Counsellors Conference, and this year was something of a double-edged sword for me. My oldest TC friend has married an Australian and will be moving over there in the New Year to become an Australian TC! Whilst I am immensely happy for them both, I will miss her dearly, as we have covered for each other for the past nine years, attended every conference together and generally become great friends. Even her marriage can be credited to
ago, where he called me on my mobile on a Friday night – whilst I was eating an Indian takeaway! – to tell me that he had lost his tickets and passport before he had even reached the hotel! As I work from home, I was able to
nip into the office and fax over a copy of his hotel voucher to the hotel. The following morning I contacted the Lido directly: he had an excursion there and the tour operator was closed on the Saturday so could not get a duplicate voucher over to me. Anyway, I am very happy that he is
now getting wed, and has asked me to arrange it all for him. I’m hoping he is less accident prone on the high seas! Have you all seen the exciting news
that Travel Uni and Selling Long Haul has formed a joint venture with Travel Weekly? This means that agents who sign up to Travel Uni now have even
Travel Counsellors! He is the son of a client of hers, and they met whilst he was visiting his mum here in the UK. Next year I intend to enter every competition going to get me over to Oz, perhaps during the Australian TC conference next year! I’m really looking forward to Christmas! I’m hoping that it’s not TOO white – and at this stage it doesn’t seem to be shaping up that way – as whilst a wintry picture may be very pretty to look at it’s a nightmare for anyone selling travel! Happy Xmas and Happy Selling!
Contact Details
BARBARA CHARLTON Travel Counsellors UK 0845 0587 290
Barbara.charlton@
travelcounsellors.com www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/barbara. charlton
www.sellinglonghaul.com • December 2011 61
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