The Online Travel Agent Business and The Recession -

I'm a social person, and I like to mingle in the various social networking sites that are out there.

As a proud work at home mom, I love to go the the various wahm (work at home mom) sites.

The stories of these women are refreshing, and they are a constant reminder of the joy it brings to work at home, and to take care of your family.

If you had told me 3 years ago that I would be working a home based business, and home schooling my teenaged daughter, I would have laughed, HARD!

While I was reading comments on one of the sites I like to frequent, I came across a conversation that really shook me up.

I'll paraphrase to protect the original poster, and those who answered.

Anyone here in the online travel agent business?

Are there any work from home moms here that work as an online travel agent? How has the economy affected your business? I would like to get started into this business, but I don't have any prior experience In the travel industry, thanks.
Here are some of the well intended, but misinformed answers that this person received, and I was shocked that not one online travel agent had answered, and upset that I hadn't seen her message before now.

She was told that if she wasn't an already proven saleswoman, that the answer was no. She was also told that with the economy, people are NOT concerned with traveling.

I have to tell you that simply is NOT true. Yes, the economy is depressed to say the least. But to state that people are no longer traveling is just not the case.

As an advertising consultant for over 21 years, part of my job was to help business owners to see that in a recessed economy, they needed to advertise more, rather than cut back advertising as a way to save on business overhead. You'll understand this thought process a little better with this very over simplified example.

Here's how to look at the economy, and the travel industry.

This represents a very robust economy, and the different sectors of business would be pieces of this pie.

In a very robust economy, travel would look like a very healthy slice of the pie.

In a recession, the pie gets smaller, so that the economy goes from looking very robust to looking like this:

And the travel industry would look like this:
People are still traveling, for business, and for pleasure. But as the pie clearly shows, in a recession, the pie is smaller.

What this means in simple terms, is that when the economy is robust, there is plenty of business for everyone. Think about the recent turn in the Real Estate Market.

While the Real Estate market was booming, it wasn't difficult for rookie agents to make a six figure income, almost effortlessly. ( I was a real estate agent, so I'm speaking from experience.)

When the market turned, did it mean that people stopped purchasing homes?

Absolutely not! It just meant that the experienced, seasoned agents knew that they had to maintain or increase their level of activity, and advertising, in preparation for the eventuality that the market would once again soften.

And depending on who you speak with in the Real Estate market, times are tough, or business is booming.

When the market is soft, the piece of the real estate pie, or the travel pie is smaller, and requires a business person to be more competitive, have better customer service, talk to more people, pay for advertising, GET THE WORD OUT.

Success in a recession requires more work, more effort, and more advertising.

To say that people are no longer traveling or buying houses is incorrect.

Right now, I'm planning a three week tour of Europe for two very excited gals, who saved their money, and have no intention of letting the current economy deter their plans for a dream vacation.

History has shown us that the reason that Sears survived the great depression was because when faced with closing their doors, they advertised more, while their competition advertised less.

Who's still around? Well, glad to say that Sears is still with us. In fact, when the depression was over, Sears came out way ahead of the competition, because they had built customer loyalty, by remaining visible.

In order to survive in a recession, the online travel agent business model still works, after all, 85% of all travel is booked online, but who's going to get the business?

The online travel agent business that relies strictly on family, and friends, and little to no advertising?

Or the online travel agent who steps up to the challenge and remains visible by competing for the smaller piece of the pie?

In this economy, home based businesses are being opened at record speeds.

If you are doing your due diligence about whether a home travel business is right for you, know your facts. Travel has many factors that make it a plus in any economy.

Alecia Barnes
503-616-3251
skype: alecia.barnes

http://traverus-travelagent.com