MTA’s decade of success

MOBILE Travel Agents (MTA) Chief Executive Officer Don Beattie has revealed incredible growth from the company during the past decade at its National Conference on the weekend.

Discussing how MTA agents manage to be increasingly effective despite a growingly challenging marketplace for travel agencies, Beattie revealed to Travel Daily MTA’s membership had surged 24% over the past six years, while the company’s overall Total Transaction Value had jumped a whopping 68%.

“We have no interest in being big by numbers...we have increased the productivity in existing members,” Beattie said.

“We can demonstrate categorically a massive shift from this number to that over a large period of time, and it’s consistent with our focus on learning.

“It’s a very adaptable model, it’s driven by the success of our members...our focus is to achieve what they need to achieve, and we have to do that with the appropriate partners, such as Virtuoso.

“We don’t tell people what not to sell - you can sell anything you like - but what we do with our partners is better educate our agents on them, because if you’re better educated on something, you’re going to sell it...if you’re not educated, you’re not confident, and if you’re not confident, you’re not going to receive $50,000 from the customer,” he noted.

Beattie also revealed new MTA partnerships with upmarket suppliers including Jumeirah and an Australian-first deal with Hilton Impresario, which offers key client benefits for Waldorf Astoria and Conrad Hotels.

More from the MTA National Conference on page five, and in today’s Cruise Weekly.