Travel agents
convention expected
to lure 6,000

The event will be held in Hawaii
for the first time since 1981

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

A convention of travel agents coming to Hawaii early in November is expected to attract 6,000 people. When they go home and sell Hawaii, their trip will generate billions of dollars in future consumer spending in the islands, the key organizer said today.

The event is the annual World Travel Congress of the American Society of Travel Agents, which last took place in Hawaii in 1981.

"In cities where ASTA meets, there (follows) a 15 to 20 percent increase in travel" said Susan Tanzman, head of the ASTA committee organizing the event.

Her message to travel agent owners and operators, she said, is that the meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center Nov. 3-8 is the best opportunity to learn about Hawaii and it should be attended by front-line sales people as well as the bosses.

She wants the owners to know "it will be profitable for me to send this front-line agent" because of the future business he or she will generate, said Tanzman, who said she has visited Hawaii 120 times and brings the 25 staff members of her Los Angeles agency to Hawaii once a year. The Hawaii experience for her office as made them better travel agents, she said.

The Hawaii convention will include neighbor island familiarization trips, an in-depth look at Oahu and lots of hands-on experience of the local culture, she said.

Tourism to Hawaii is rebounding fast now, she said, as people who didn't want to go anywhere after Sept. 11 are booking Hawaii because it is safe, clean and has the friendliest people of all the warm-weather destinations.

High air fares have been a hindrance to sales, said Tanzman, but the model of cheap tours being offered by Pleasant Hawaiian Tours through bulk seat purchases from American Trans Air has inspired imitation. Tour operators are pushing for bulk purchases from all airlines, allowing agents to put together packages where the air fare portion is not prohibitive, she said.

Some details of the upcoming convention have yet to be nailed down, she said, but there are plans for a seminar on spas and the special treatments available in Hawaii, business and technology sessions and even a seminar on Cuba, outlining what travel agents can and cannot do in booking travel to that destination.

The first 1,500 to 2,000 people registering will each get an educational day-trip to a neighbor island of their choice, she said.