Fam trips that enable the advisors to experience the vacation themselves would help them sell more group travel, according to 58% of the advisors. Improving supplier side support through better call center operations and booking tools were also thought to be important in enabling higher sales by many advisors. They also said they would like these deals to come with higher commissions and get more training support. The majority of the advisors agreed that supplier services were not up to the mark. Many advisors said that they had issues with the call centers, saying the travel “counselors” and business development executives on the suppliers’ side rarely have any answers to their questions. They often describe their experiences with supplier reps on the phone as stressful, frustrating and below par. It is imperative that the suppliers need to train and empower their staff in order to resolve queries effectively to enable faster decision making and booking by clients. CHART 28 | 39 GROUP TRAVEL TRENDS SUPPLIER SUPPORT TO ENABLE HIGHER GROUP TRAVEL SALES Fam trip or personal cruise experience Improved call center operations Improved booking tools Better commissions/more profitable Clear communication on all policies Better supplier pricing Training programs Stronger BDM support Effective co-operative marketing promotions Lead time to access inventory Faster payment reconciliation Better performance-linked bonus structure Post/video/reels/influencers on various social media Dedicated articles and stories in media 58% 55% 51% 47% 47% 43% 40% 39% 30% 27% 21% 18% 16% 10%