Three-quarters of Virtuoso travel agency member owner/managers in Australia and New Zealand are planning to hire additional full-time staff for their businesses in 2024, a new report has found.
According to an Outlook Survey compiled of attendees at the recent Virtuoso Forum AU/NZ in Bangkok, only 7 percent of respondents to the flash poll said they were “not planning any hiring for this year”.
75% said they would be adding advisors to their teams, while 27% said they would be employing Independent Contractors. Thirteen percent said they would be building up their Management Staff, while a further 41% indicated they would add further Support Staff. (Respondents were able to select all fields that applied to them).
Virtuoso’s Preferred Partners (suppliers) were also gauged on their hiring demands in 2024, with 64% of them saying they require Support Staff and 22% are needing Management Staff. Some 20% said they were not hiring in 2024, while 2% said they were ‘concerned about furloughing or laying off staff’, a response not raised by travel agency owner/managers.
In reference to their outlook on Agency Sales for 2024, all member agencies expected bookings levels to be about the same as last year or better.
Forty-five percent of agency owner/managers foreshadowed sales would increase by 11-20% compared to 2023, a further 23% tipped sales bookings to be between 21-50% better off, while 6% estimated sales to be 50% or higher. Revenue in 2024 was flagged to increase between 11-20% by 38% of those agency owner/managers.
Preferred Partners indicated that their number of 2024 sales which would be 50% or more higher than last year, which was nearly three times that of the agency owner/managers, with 17%. A minor 3% of suppliers believed their company’s 2024 sales would be down on last year.
Meanwhile, David Kolner, Virtuoso’s Executive Vice President, highlighted at the 2024 AUNZ Forum that the luxury travel network’s members in Australia and New Zealand had increased their sales in 2023 by 16.9% (compared to 2022), to a new record benchmark. That result also saw a solid 95.3% rise in Preferred Partner sales in 2023.
Preferred sales were highest in the air segment (at 70.7%), reflecting the number of air partnerships and agreements Virtuoso has in place; followed by cruising (at 60.4%). The volume of preferred partner sales in 2023 through Tour, On-Site (DMC) and Hotel partners were less than 21%, while ‘Service’ preferred sales went backwards – down 4.1% on 2022.
Kolner also noted the average booking window for Virtuoso travel advisors in Australia and New Zealand in 2023 had increased from 117 days in 2022 to 126 days (7.7%). As a comparison, Virtuoso’s US agencies witnessed a booking window extension of 10.9%, whereas Canada is now 14.3% further out.
The US-based Virtuoso executive shared that 81% of agency members globally are feeling ‘optimistic’ about their business right now, down from around 87% 12 months ago. Based on the Global Pulse Survey from January 2024, the number of Virtuoso members now feeling ‘neutral’ or ‘unsure’ about their business increased to 18% from about 12% last January.
That said, 84% of members in Australia and New Zealand are the most ‘optimistic’ for the network among its eight regions – which also include the USA (83%), Latin America/Caribbean (80%), Canada (78%), UK/Ireland (76%), Middle East & Africa (75%) and Continental Europe (73%) and Asia (70%).
On the Partners front, Virtuoso’s suppliers in Canada were most optimistic at 87%, followed by Australia (79%), then Latin America/Caribbean (78%), Continental Europe (75%), and UK/Ireland at 71%).
Kolner also offered insight from member agencies and preferred partners on the extent their current businesses support their well-being, enabling them to maintain a ‘fulfilling work & personal life’. While the number of agencies globally that felt ‘extremely fulfilled’ slipped one percentage point to 36% in January 2024 (compared to July 2023), the ratio of agencies in AU/NZ that also felt ‘extremely fulfilled’ skyrocketed from 21% six months earlier to 37% in January. Whereas the number of Aussie and Kiwi agencies that felt ‘extremely unfulfilled’ dropped from 4% to just 1%.
Virtuoso’s latest Market Trend update also looked at a range of inclinations Virtuoso is watching, including High Value Traveller: travel, sustainability and using advisor motivators. More on that in LATTE to come.
