Face it. Owning a travel agency is not a walk in the park. We have had more re-do’s than a Rocky sequel…and by the way the 8th sequel (Creed II) is due to hit theaters on November 21st. But long gone are the days of heading home with red fingers and being a clearinghouse for all things travel. The role of a travel agent has evolved from a true “agent of the supplier” to a trusted travel advisor—hence the rebranding of ASTA recently.   But what do you need to do to survive in 2018 and beyond? I have some thoughts.

Kausha Ghia has a BA in Economics from Mumbai University, and took her IATA travel and tourism course in 1984. She worked at a travel agency in India from 1985 until 1997; she then moved to New York City and spent a year working for an agency selling airfare to diamond buyers. She started at Cook Travel in 1998 and became manager in 2002. In addition to her degree in Economics, she has LMSW from Fordham University, and practices psychotherapy, which she thinks is a useful skill in dealing with travel agents! She is currently involved in a mentorship that benefits students in India. She is married and lives in Totowa, NJ.

Travel Research Online (TRO): Hi, Kausha. Thanks for doing this interview with us.…

Is it hard to believe we are only slightly more than three short months from 2019? It certainly is for me. During the next three months, you can do yourself no greater favor than to begin working through a marketing plan, a budget and a calendar for 2019. Getting into the travel planning business is very easy.  Staying in the travel planning business is a bit more of a challenge. True we can sometimes simply luck our way through, but in so doing we inevitably waste resources and miss opportunities. Working with a plan is absolutely essential to achieving the best possible results. Sporadic marketing, chasing one opportunity and then another, seldom resolves in a productive manner.

The very act of planning is often as important as the…

Last time I shared six common sense reminders when it came to customer service. You did not realize it at the time, but that was just half of what I had to say on the subject. Here are six more reminders that also fall under the category of “common sense.”