CEO Dean Long described the research as “misleading and disconnected”.
The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) has slammed claims from KPMG’s latest research report that states the travel agent profession is in decline.
The industry group has described the results as “misleading and disconnected from both real-time industry activity and government-backed projections”.
According to KPMG, there has been a 10-year reduction in travel advisor roles, the biggest decline of any major occupation, due to the impact of the internet.
“KPMG’s report unfortunately fails to reflect the devastating impact of COVID on our sector, when the international travel ban forced the loss of more than a third of our workforce,” said CEO Dean Long, who described this current period as being “the golden age of travel professionals”.
“The demand for travel agents and advisors has never been higher and the biggest challenge we face is not declining relevance, but an urgent workforce shortfall that we continue to work hard to have addressed so Australian travel businesses can meet this growing demand,” he added.
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.