Justine Sealey is the MD of Ramsgate Travel Service, and sent this letter to the Editor on behalf of herself and Kirsty Eccles, owner of Meridian Travel. Got an opinion to share? Let us know in up to 400 words via email to feedback@traveldaily.com.au.
_________________________________________________________________________________
There has been a lot of negative feedback from travel agents about the appointment of Webjet to the Board of AFTA. We are disappointed by this development too, but to us, it simply highlights the need more than ever, for truly independent travel agents to have a voice at the table.
We realise that most existing AFTA Board members have some non-branded agents as members of their corporations but one thing is very clear to us. The majority of the AFTA Board have a primary responsibility to their shareholders, not to their agent members
It is a simple fact that in listed travel companies, agent members are there to generate a return for the owners or shareholders. This is also true of non-listed travel companies represented on the Board as well. It may be claimed that decisions are made in the best interests of travel agents, and that is probably true, provided it is in the interest of shareholders as well. These statements are not opinions or criticisms: they are facts! Moreover, Helloworld and Flight Centre currently hold multiple positions on the Board, which means the voice of the truly independent agents is a whisper at best.
But there is an answer.
We are both members of the Australian Travel Agents Co-operative (ATAC) which is Australia’s only travel co-operative. Every single one of our fellow members are independent travel agents and we are all equal owners – we share in almost 100% of the profits we generate. It’s a low-cost operation and is well placed to ride out the pandemic. We don’t pay membership fees or marketing levies. In fact we are still receiving our overrides.
Our Directors are all running travel agencies as well, and every decision they make MUST be in the best interest of the members – all of us!
Our General Manager Michelle Emerton, has nominated to join the AFTA Board, and we are 100% behind that. Not only has Michelle run a travel agency in the past, she is working with members like us every single day to help us all prosper. In fact the ATAC tagline is “Partners in Your Prosperity”. We love that, because it’s not a marketing line. It’s how the place is run!
We are supporting Michelle to be elected to the AFTA Board and encourage everyone who is unhappy with the Webjet appointment to vote for a truly independent travel agent voice. Michelle won’t just speak for ATAC members, she will also be the voice for all independent travel agents across Australia. As Darren Rudd says “it is time to be united”. We agree and thats starts with an AFTA Board that represents ALL agents.
Signed by Justine Sealey (Owner – Ramsgate Travel Service) and Kirsty Eccles (Owner – Meridian Travel)