TRAVEL
INDUSTRY
SURVEY
THREE FACES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
they feel it’s a good and rewarding
business to pursue and that they
made the right choice in entering
the field.
Fly SAA To South Africa
The Only Nonstops. The Most Awards. The Most of Africa.
THE FINDINGS
These findings suggest that about
two-thirds of travel agents are happy
in what they are doing (Contenteds
plus Careerists) in spite of the difficulties facing agents today, while
one-third would like to get out of
the field (Seekers). But it varies by
work situation. Among this year’s
findings:
• Home-based agents had the highest number of Contenteds in 2007, at
44%. That number has declined to
36%. The number of at-home Careerists increased by six percentage
points this year over last, suggesting
that a growing number of this group
are committed to making travel selling their career and hope to earn an
adequate living.
• In traditional retail offices, the
numbers have shifted the other way.
The number of retail agents who
place in the Careerists category has
declined four percentage points from
the previous year, while the number
of Contenteds has increased five percentage points.
Two-thirds
of agents are
happy in what
they do.
When you’re the national airline,
pride comes with the territory.
It’s easy to see why we are consistently named as
Africa’s #1 airline. Our daily nonstop departures
from Washington-Dulles and our daily direct service
from New York-JFK make us the fastest airline to
South Africa. But our pride is best experienced in
our award-winning in-flight service -- it truly brings
home why SAA is the very best airline to Africa.
Go See For Yourself.
www.flysaa.com • 1-800-722-9675
• The greatest number of Seekers, those who would like to work in
another field, work in retail offices.
Fewer than one-fourth of Seekers are
in home-based situations. Overall,
however, the percentage of Seekers
among travel agents has remained
the same, indicating that those who
would like to leave the field have not
yet found a way out.
• Seekers tend to handle somewhat
more business travel than the other
groups. This could be a contributing
factor to their higher level of boredom and tedium, as business travelers need less counseling and generally
have less of a personal relationship
with their travel agents. Leisure trav-
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