CONFERENCE Aito Overseas Conference 2023: Association hosts 100 delegates at two-day


Recruitment and pricing are key issues for Aito members


A


ttracting staff remains one of the biggest challenges for travel firms, while


many customers still require hand-holding and bookings are taking longer, according to Aito agents and operators. Members said finding


experienced staff was almost impossible, with many turning to apprentices instead. Spear Travels managing director


Peter Cookson, who said more hand-holding was still required even for “well-travelled” clients, said: “When we do lose staff it is nigh on impossible to replace them like for like. At one point this year we were about 12 staff light. It’s taken an awful lot of work to rebuild that.” The company had 60 staff


pre-Covid, and lost around six or seven during the pandemic. It now has 80 employees. Cookson said the agency,


Ami Naru


necessarily sold travel before.” Travlaw partner Ami Naru


stressed the need for companies to “reinvent themselves” because the “world of work is not the same as it was pre-Covid”. She warned employers to be ready


to be quizzed by new recruits at job interviews on their DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies. “You should be ready to be interviewed. It’s much more about them interviewing the employer,” she said. Naru added firms needed to


ensure they had DEI policies in place. “Embrace it or get left behind,”


she said, adding that diverse workforces were more profitable. Meanwhile, Journey Latin


which has 12 high street shops, had introduced an apprenticeship scheme and broadened its recruitment to take on staff without travel sales experience. “Apprentices are the way forward,”


he said, adding: “We are taking on people who have travelled but not


America managing director Sarah Bradley said bookings were taking longer, with clients not always willing to pay the higher prices in the market. “Everything takes longer,” she


said, adding: “I don’t think people always want to pay [more].”


Rzymowska: Best team is the most diverse team


Former Celebrity Cruises boss Jo Rzymowska urged Aito members to focus on creating diverse workforces as she recalled her own fears about coming out to the industry. Rzymowska, who was recently


appointed non-executive director at Hays Travel and has set up coaching and mentoring firm Jovolution since leaving Celebrity in June, said it is vital that travel businesses think more broadly about talent acquisition. She said: “We are in a world


where you need to focus on people who have different traits


12 30 NOVEMBER 2023


and thought processes, because that is what the next generation is about. “Someone once told me, never hire the best person


for the job, hire the best person for the team. The best team is the most diverse team.” In a frank reflection on her own


career, Rzymowska said she had never thought she would be able to “be her true self” in the travel industry in the 1990s. It wasn’t until she joined the


Jo Rzymowska with conference moderator Jono Vernon-Powell


Royal Caribbean Group aged 40 that she came out as gay and went on to became a champion of equity, diversity and inclusion.


Members encouraged to


Travel firms should regard generative AI as a “friend” rather than foe. Mark Thompson, chief information


officer of the Palatinate Group, a group of specialist tour operators and technology consultancy, urged Aito member businesses to embrace the emerging systems. He said: “Don’t be scared of it –


embrace it, learn about it. Think of it as being your friend and not your enemy.” Generative AI can be categorised


into three types of output – natural language, audio and images – said


Mark Thompson


travelweekly.co.uk


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