The ETOA conference offered an insight into how travel agents in the US are coping with the recession and how the industry is developing across the pond.

If you’re a travel agent are you contented with your lot, are you unhappy and like to moan, or do you see yourself as being on a dynamic career path?

The answer to this question could determine how successfully you will cope with the recession, according to the latest research of travel agents in the US.

The European Tour Operators Association conference heard how 80% of US agents had seen a decline in revenue in 2008 with traditional agencies reporting a 25% decline and homeworkers 30%.

But researchers wanted to find out what factors agents had in common of those 10% who appeared to be “recession proof” and reported an increase in revenues.

Arnie Weissmann, vice president and editor-in-chief of Travel Weekly US, said factors such as longevity, product type, corporate or leisure mix were not significant.

However, he said the research found those agents that had been most aggressive in cutting costs, headcount, and marketing tended to have fared worst.

“On the other hand, those who increased the products they sold increased the products they sold and increased their marketing saw a rise in their business,” he said.

“The tendency we all had last year was to pull in the wagons and conserve cash but it turns out in terms of travel agents, moving forward aggressively helped them through a tough period.”

Unsurprisingly, the larger the agency the better it coped with the downturn, Weissmann said, and this was particularly true for leisure agents.

But he said researchers wanted to drill down further into the psyche of the successful agents and they came up with three board categories; Contenteds, Seekers and Careerists.

The study found a positive attitude brought results with the 24% of Careerists saying revenues did not decline in 2008 compared to 13% of Seekers and 16% of Contenteds.

Weissmann predicted pressure on traditional travel agents would continue in the future, but he said they had proved more resilient in the US than he had thought.

However, he warned the industry was benefiting from serving the babyboomer generation it had grown up with and had to find new blood to prosper in the future.