Be an 'armchair travel agent'

Keep the conversation going

It's essential to keep in contact with your clients and helping them to be 'armchair travellers' is one way to do it.

Inspire, inform, connect

We've started a new library of armchair travel features - content which is suitable for you to share with your clients.

We are living through the single most challenging time in the era of mass travel. The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and we are yet to fully understand its impact on our personal and professional lives.

I, like many of you I’m sure, feel as if I am living in a Hollywood movie and for the travel industry the devastation wrought by coronavirus is already clear. Nearly all companies – large and small – working in the sector are facing enormous threats to their very existence.

None of us yet know when and how this will end. All we know for sure is that one day – in the hopefully not-toodistant future – we will return to the normality we now realise we all took for granted, at work and at home.

In the meantime, all we can do is help our loved ones to stay safe, healthy and happy and to offer understanding and help to our friends, colleagues and partners. Never give up

Selling Travel has been supporting and informing agents for nearly 30 years and we are determined to continue doing just that. Never has there been a year like this, but one thing we are sure of is that one day the travel industry will emerge on the other side, albeit markedly changed, just as every one of us will be.

In the meantime, agents are coming together to support each other through this crisis and I've no doubt there will be plenty more inspiring stories to come.

We know that the travel industry is populated by kind, hard-working, determined, resolute and brilliant people. We know that holidays are not just an important part of our lives but an essential one – a way to spend quality time with loved ones and take a break from the stresses of everyday life.

And we know that tourism can be an effective tool in improving the lives of people around the world less fortunate than ourselves.

Let’s use these tough times to envision how we can work towards a new travel industry which will be better than ever before. We will get there together!

Our promise to you

We know that you are grappling with a crisis. that's why this fast-changing situation requires us to make changes to our content over the coming weeks.

We will continue to publish the Selling Travel magazine you love – but in a digital-only format. this way, we can ensure we reach all of you working from home.

In addition, we have upped the frequency of our e-newsletter to twice a week, on tuesdays and thursdays. If your office is shut or you are furloughed, please sign up using your personal email and encourage all your colleagues to do the same.

We will, of course, cover the impact of CovID-19 but we will also continue our usual content, covering destinations and travel trends. We hope this will continue to inspire and inform you over the coming tough weeks.

We want every tourist board, airline, cruise line, hotel group and any other tourism player to have an outlet for their news and updates and be able to reach their most important audience - you!

The big question

CovID-19 has impacted every facet of the travel industry, but for agents it begs the question: how do you sell travel at a time when no one is allowed to travel? It's essential to keep in contact with your clients, now more than ever. We think helping your clients be 'armchair travellers', transporting them to an exotic, exciting location through the power of words, is one effective way to do it.

How to be an armchair travel agent

We've started a new library of armchair travel features - inspiring travel articles which are suitable for you to share with your clients. the features can be found online in their usual format but a pink 'download for client' button takes you to a PDf version with no Selling Travel branding - perfect for sharing with customers. let's keep the magic of travel alive and take it to people's living rooms! Connect, inform and inspire your clients to book for future travel. sellingtravel.co.uk/armchair-travel-library