Travel trade must invest in its staff

TSSA comment

It has been a tough year in travel, The sector has felt the effects being keenly felt not just by shareholders but by our members, the travel agents and other frontline staff.

Pay for frontline retail staff is extremely low, with many employees earning less than £10,000 a year. To increase their earning potential they need the opportunity to progress - which needs commitment to training and career development from employers. However, the standard of training provision across the sector is a lottery.

The current economic climate has further impacted the level of training offered as companies seek to economise wherever possible. Travel agency workers are repeatedly relegated to the bottom of travel firms' priority lists. As the bottom line moves downwards they are the first to feel the impact. Axing jobs, cutting pay, freezing pay increases and scrapping bonuses have become standard responses to hard times.

These quick fixes appease shareholder anxiety and sustain directors' substantial bonuses but do little for morale. Even now senior management bonuses amount to staggering multiples of a travel consultant's salary. Skilled and knowledgeable staff are now being expected to cope with understaffing or unpaid overtime coupled with an atmosphere of job insecurity.

Blinkered short-termism is threatening the long-term health of travel companies. They are gambling with their most valuable asset - skilled and knowledgeable staff.

TSSA is campaigning for the industry to recognise the knowledge and experience travel agents bring to their jobs and for them to be paid a decent wage for what they do.

We're calling for an industry-wide programme of ongoing training, not just for the favoured few but for everyone - providing all travel consultants the chance to reach their full career potential.

Travel trade employers should recognise that their workforce is their biggest asset and that being a travel agent is a career, one worth spending some time and money developing. Doing so would be good for productivity, profitability and the future of travel.