Joystar announced its new hosting program for travel agents.
Agent Advantage Pro (Www.joystar.com/pro) is a business solution for the growing number of travel professionals migrating from traditional “storefronts” to home-based operations.
The company says home-based travel agents are the fastest growing segment of the travel industry, with more than 14,000 agents representing $7.6 billion in leisure travel sales annually.
“We provide all of our agents a suite of tools and resources to help them succeed, including personalized consumer travel websites, access to the company’s state-of-the-art ‘Agent Only’ Extranet and live toll-free support,” said Robin Moore, Joystar’s director of agent services.
Joystar does not charge monthly sign-up fees. And agents receive up to 90% of commissions they generate.
While on-line travel is growing, it still only represents 16% of all travel booked, according to Joystar.
The company pointed out that agents are still the dominant force in travel distribution, especially in high-grossing products such as vacations, cruises, group tours and honeymooners.
William Alverson, Joystar’s CEO, says the goal is to host 5,000 travel agents, each averaging $300,000 in annual bookings, by the end of 2007. He said he hopes to enroll another 250,000 members who generate a lower income averaging $10,000.
“At first, our more plodding competitors will argue the sustainability of such a rich payout, but we’re also building a massive network of referral agents who earn a much smaller percentage of the commission,” said Mr Alverson.
Report by David Wilkening
