The days of “Everything used to be better” are long gone. The days when placing a simple ad in the Yellow Pages brought in handfuls of business have been gone for years. Or the time when you sent 3 A4 sheets with a program, itinerary, activities and cost overview and successfully raked in a quotation has not succeeded for years. Or the years when you scribbled a few comments on the back of a cigar box and then could add a signature to it…… where are those days? In fact, you can’t smoke anywhere anymore so cigar boxes have become a rare commodity anyway.
Kenya, Kiev, Kazakhstan
‘Everything used to be easier’… That flyer does apply to our industry. In the old days, and we are really talking about the last century (oh oh, we are getting old people) , the traditional agency was still nice and one-eyed in the land of the blind. At the time, no one knew how to find a decent restaurant in Berlin, Hong Kong or the Faroe Islands. Let alone books. At the time, no one knew which airlines flew to Kenya, Kiev or Kazakhstan. At the time, no one knew all the fun things to do on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, on the beaches of Nice or in the dark alleys of St. Petersburg. If you wanted to go to such a place in those days you went to a travel agency. Or better yet, to an incentive club. They automatically knocked on your door and were oh so happy with all your advice and tips. Oh how nice Mr. Tour Guide, what a professional you are. You have really helped us enormously. Where can we pay?’
Hooray
In those days, when the travel agency or incentive organizer was still really seen as an authority, we were also the only party with the knowledge and expertise. Thanks to our profession, and all kinds of friends in hotels and at KLM and at Martinair, you flew and slept all over the world and got to know other cultures and made good contacts with local restaurants, DMCs, bike rental companies, bus farmers and side-by-side guides. We could use that nicely for an event to this destination and everyone happy. The client was happy, because ‘his’ agency knew its way around Beijing, had arranged a super hotel and, to top it all off, they were allowed to cycle over the wall. Hooray!!!
And now………
The new century is already almost at a quarter. The 3 A4 sheets of the quote have been changed by 74 hyperlinks. The cigar box has become a transparent digital document in which the agency must indicate how many trees it is planting as compensation for used kerosene. The Yellow Pages have been amply replaced by influencers, Facebook and flashy videos and other social media. And to make it all even more modern, the agency has long since ceased to be a one-eyed wonder in the land of the blind. We are now surrounded by a digital generation who are on their cell phones 24/7. Restaurant in Berlin, within 1 second they know who the chef is, what the signature dish is and how Truusje from Leeuwarden liked the service.
Whether that’s good or bad news for agencies? Let’s just say (to stay in the terms of juf Ank), it’s “different. The days of old (logically) never return. We can squeal about it, but we have to go with it. Along for the ride, along in modern times and along in the fast new world. How? By continuing to surround ourselves
with young and new minds that are much more modern than we are. If we don’t, …….. you will lose the game!
