‘A third of agents have to take fams in their own time’

Almost a third of agents have to take educational fam trips in their own time, a new poll shows.

But when asked to rate the overall training they are given most agents feel it is of a high standard and meets their needs.

The results emerged from the latest Amadeus poll of more than 185 UK leisure and business travel agents and industry professionals were about the training they receive.  

Fifty seven per cent claimed they received excellent or good IT training, but room for improvement was identified, with more than 2 in 5 (43%) agents viewing the IT coaching they get as average or poor. 

Two thirds (67%) rated destination training as good or excellent, with only one third feeling this type of training was of an average or poor standard

Two thirds said sales skills training was excellent or good, with only one third seeing room for improvement and rating this type of training as average or poor

Around three quarters (76%) felt provider/supplier training was of a good or excellent quality – just under a quarter (23%) said training of this type was average or poor  

Amadeus UK marketing communications manager Rob Golledge said: “As training is a key part of helping staff increase their knowledge, it is quite surprising to see almost one in three agents must undertake educational fam trips in their own time. 

“Since on-going training is key to helping agents increase their understanding and develop the kind of expertise that consumers are willing to pay for, it can be argued that this is an investment rather than a cost. 

“However, what is encouraging to see is that most agents feel that the current level of training they receive is meeting their needs and is of a high standard, which is good news for the industry.” 

When asked what type of training they preferred, on-site training sessions came out on top with over half  (54.4%) opting for this method of coaching. Classroom training came in second place with one quarter of agents preferring this form of tuition. Online training came in a close third with just over one fifth (20.6%) claiming they liked this type of training best.

Golledge said: “Although online training is becoming increasingly popular, with around 1 in 5 agents preferring this method of guidance, more than half of all the agents surveyed still favour having training sessions held onsite at their agency. 

“With increasing access to broadband and improved course design, including the use of multi-media, Amadeus expects the adoption of online training will rapidly grow. One of the main benefits of training online is the fact it can be done at an individual pace and therefore will allow agents to manage their time more effectively.  

“In the meantime, however, we have found that the key to maximising the investment in training is to cater to the varying needs of travel agents as one size does not fit all.”

Report by Phil Davies 

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