Comment by Lucy Huxley, TTG editor

One of travel’s most prolific bloggers ranted this week that travel agent fam trips should be banned.

His comment came after it was announced that more than 2,000 travel agents were heading off “on a jolly” for three days to Dubai.

The blogger was incredulous that in today’s world of online training and videoconferencing, money was still being “fluttered away sending agents to the sunshine”.

Apart from the environmental impact overseas trips have, the blogger also said it sent the wrong message in a recession. In fact, the writer went as far as to say that fams were unethical.

Pretty strong stuff. And no doubt a view that will get a lot of you going.

I take the point that technology can now make training efficient, visual, engaging and interactive – and here at TTG we do, of course, run our own online TTG Knowledge College.

But, despite being a valuable tool, online training can never be a substitute for seeing a place first-hand.

Granted, we perhaps need to be a bit more sensible in the current economic downturn – and many companies and organisations are.

Advantage, for example, is holding its annual conference in Heathrow this year.

And there was some criticism this week of Abta holding its latest board meeting in Majorca. But it argued that it was supported by the Spanish tourist board, which saw it as an opportunity to counter a drop in visitor numbers to the country from the UK.

We have to be honest about this. We work in an industry that is fundamentally about sending millions of people abroad every year, and which would send millions more if it could.

What message does it convey if this, of all industries, feels embarrassed about sending its own people overseas on trips designed to improve product knowledge?

Agents should be encouraged to gain more experiences to further their knowledge in order to sell more holidays – not be shamed into staying at home.

If those who would ban fam trips take their argument to its logical conclusion, why should anyone bother going on holiday at all when they could just watch a video of the place?


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