U.S. Travel Agencies Can't Cope With Demand Because of Advisor Shortage
Photo Credit: Many travel advisors have been struggling to meet the demand of potential new customers. Shown are tourists in Los Angeles. Flickr / Mike McBey
Skift Take
The U.S. travel agency industry will only make a complete recovery when it manages to replace advisors cut during the pandemic. A lack of staff has often made booking trips difficult for people eager to use travel advisor services.
As many people have started taking trips again in recent months, they’ve turned to travel advisors in large numbers for guidance in navigating any Covid-related challenges they might encounter. Indeed, many travel advisors have said they’ve seen an increase in customers this year compared to prior to the pandemic.
But the renewed interest in travel advisors hasn’t sparked a hiring boom. Several executives in the industry said that many travel agencies have had a difficult time making hires due to financial difficulties, and the shortage of advisors has created situations where agencies can’t keep up with travelers’ pent-up demand for service.
“I am frantically trying to hire,” said Sarah Kline, president of Maryland-based agency Time For Travel, which is a part of the Ensemble Travel Group, a consortium of 600 travel agencies in North America. “We started actively looking this spring and summer and have yet to fill the positions.”
There are plenty of openings to fill. In 2020, 62 per
