"Consulting is a common type of service offered in many areas. It is unclear why travel agencies should do it for free. Unfortunately, the level of consumer culture, especially in tourism, is quite low in our country, so travel agency clients most often perceive this “The proposal, to put it mildly, was met with bewilderment,” said Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI).
Director of the Coral Travel Market company Natalia Kulintseva reminds that consumers have long been paying for consultations in other areas - medicine, marketing, analytics. "People are ready to spend money if they see benefit and advantage in it. I believe that this service has great prospects in tourism as well," she emphasized.
The introduction of paid consultations for the selection of tours is already being used by travel agencies in some European countries and the USA. On average, the price for a consultation varies from $20 for a simple package tour to $150-200 for the selection of an expensive individual tour.
Opinion of agencies
"We invest a lot of money and effort to ensure that tourists come and buy tours from us. Consultants do the selection for free, but in the end, the tourist does not always buy the tour. You can spend several hours selecting options, but he will still go to another agency," Tatyana Arkhipova, CEO of the Moscow agency Hit-Tour, told the Interfax-Tourism portal.
Olga Kuznetsova, CEO of the Moscow Region travel agency Pereslavna, agrees with her colleague. According to her, the possibility of officially introducing paid consultations has been discussed for several years. But so far, lawyers have not been able to find a form of agreement for the provision of such services that would comply with the law.
"Some travel agencies have already introduced a deposit system as an experiment, when a tourist pays a certain amount, and the manager selects a tour. If the client is ready to purchase a tour, the deposit is included in its cost," said Sergei Demidov, CEO of the Moscow travel agency Aquatur.
According to him, the introduction of paid consultations is also necessary because almost all large tour operators have recently reduced the commissions they pay to agencies. "The introduction of paid consultations is a kind of optimization of the company's work, so as not to go broke in the conditions of reduced commissions. In addition, the fee for selecting a tour will sort out agencies; only those whose managers are experts in their field will survive," he added.
According to N. Kulintseva, the service will be especially in demand among those agencies that are located in large shopping centers. For example, among Coral Travel franchise agencies there are 80%.
Cost of consultation
As for the price for a tour selection consultation, the opinions of travel agency representatives differ. Thus, T. Arkhipova believes that the price should be fixed and vary depending on how the manager communicates with clients. For example, a consultation in the office is offered at one price, and by mail or phone - at another.
O. Kuznetsova believes that the cost of a consultation should vary depending on the type of tour. "We offer a standard tour package to a visa-free country or a complex tour with a visa, selection of a hotel not included in the tour package, and an excursion program. I think that the price for a consultation should be between one and five thousand rubles," she explained.
According to the general director of the travel agency Fantasy Line, Galina Polyanskaya, the cost of the service should depend on the cost of the tour. In addition, as a bonus, there should be no fee for consultations with regular customers.
N. Kulintseva reported that Coral Travel will most likely offer its agencies to charge a fixed amount for the service, similar to airline tickets, where a fee is charged for a segment regardless of the ticket price.
I. Tyurina emphasizes that the cost of consultation in the case of purchasing a tour must be included in its price.
Will customers want to pay?
Most travel agencies are of the opinion that their clients will be understanding of the innovations. According to the head of the travel agency "Belmare" Diana Ferdman, this system will act as a litmus test, filtering out travelers who will not buy anything in any case. "If all agents decide to charge for consultations, then tourists will get used to it very quickly," she believes.
Some still doubt that tourists will want to part with money to pay for a service that was previously provided free of charge. "A system of paid consultations is necessary, but it is, for the most part, designed for loyal clients who value experts in matters of selecting tours. The majority will be dissatisfied with the fact that they have to pay," says S. Demidov.
Tourists' opinions on this issue are divided. Some believe that this is a bad idea, because there may be a large flow of clients in the offices of travel agencies, and they will not be able to select quality tours due to time constraints.
The majority believes that if all travel agencies introduce paid consultations, then they will have to pay. "In this case, we will have nowhere to go. It will be good if the tour is suitable and everyone is satisfied, but if not? We will have to count on the fact that the level of professionalism of the tour selection managers will be at a high level," tourist Nadezhda commented on the situation to the portal "Interfax-Tourism".
How to make money from consultations
According to N. Kulintseva, travel agencies that want to provide paid consultations need to better understand the client and efficiently process requests from even the most demanding tourists. "We need to constantly monitor the market, know all the "tricks" and features of countries, resorts, hotels, and learn to sell value and quality, not price," she added.
"We have developed an agreement that all our franchise agencies will receive in the coming days. We have also prepared special courses on the implementation of this agreement - we will tell you how to work with clients coming to the office, how to sell this service and make money on it," said N. Kulintseva.
According to her, agencies will be able to use this agreement at their discretion; it is not mandatory.
Loyalty instead of discounts
Everyone knows that you can get discounts from travel agencies. Clients usually look for the lowest price for the same tour from different agencies and buy where they will get the biggest discount. However, in the conditions of the reduction of commissions, which was mentioned above, agencies have nothing to give this discount from.
I. Tyurina emphasizes that the established practice of discounts is fundamentally flawed. "Why is it not customary to ask for discounts in cafes, restaurants, hairdressers, beauty salons and other service establishments? On the contrary, it is customary to give tips there. Travel agencies also provide services, and they work for a commission from the tour operator, but for some reason they are almost required to give discounts," she says.
N. Kulintseva also believes that travel agencies are now forced to move away from traditional discounts to loyalty programs.
Source: tourism.interfax.ru
