Host Agency Reviews (HAR) launched its 9th annual Travel Advisor Survey on 15 April 2024. HAR’s survey provides critical data for hosted and independent travel advisors as well as travel advisor employees.
New to 2024, additional questions were offered to take a deeper dive into travel advisor media consumption and technology use. The survey will result in three published reports for each segment (hosted, independent, and employees), covering the latest trends for:
- Income
- Fees
- Operations
- New advisor trends
- Host & consortia relationships
- Demographics
- Technology use
- Media use
- Career satisfaction
While the survey profiles travel advisors exclusively, the data is relevant to travel professionals industry-wide. Host agencies, consortia, and suppliers can leverage the data to find the latest trends on a segment difficult to profile, using the information to inform competitive product development, pricing strategies, marketing initiatives and more.
Steph Lee, founder of Host Agency Reviews, commented on the survey’s scope, “We’ve been providing in-depth research reports on the hosted advisor market since 2016. With survey partners spanning the industry verticals, it’s fantastic to be able to provide that same data on independently-accredited agencies, as well as employee travel advisors. Bottom line: Whether you’re an agency, a supplier, a tech provider, or anyone else that partners with agencies, the insights from these surveys is simply invaluable when it comes to understanding the travel agency distribution channel.”
Over 2,600 advisors responded to HAR’s survey in 2023. This year, HAR forged partnerships with a diverse array of travel organizations to ensure a dynamic and representative cross section of travel advisors reflected in the data. HAR is currently partnering with, Association of Black Travel Professionals (ABTP), American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), BranchUp, Celebrity Cruises, Expedia Cruises, Family Travel Association, Gifted Travel Network, Independent Flight Centre, KHM Travel Group, Levarté Travel, Montecito Village Travel, Nextion Travel Group, Nexion Travel Group - Canada, Pickles Travel Network, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Signature Travel Network, SION, TaConnect, The Travel Society LLC., Travel Planners International, Travel Quest Network, Travefy, Travel Pulse, Uniglobe Travel Center, and Virtuoso.
Regarding ASTA’s survey partnership, Mark Meader, Senior Vice President, Industry Affairs & Education for ASTA said, “ASTA is excited to partner with Host Agency Reviews (HAR) again this year to help promote HAR’s 2024 Travel Advisor Survey. The value of the resulting survey data from such a cross section of advisors is extremely valuable to the travel industry and ASTA in particular as we continue our focus on the evolution of the travel distribution channel and the advisor in particular. We look forward to the results expected in the coming months.”
Host Agency Reviews will publish reports in fall/early winter of 2024. In addition to offering the latest trends in income, fees, and demographics, the 65+ page reports capture insights critical to suppliers and travel organisations, including information on market share among advisors for travel products, technology, accreditation, certification, media consumption, and more.
The annual Travel Advisor Survey launched on April 15th, 2024 and will be available to advisors through June 2nd, 2024. Advisors who complete the survey (~10 min time commitment), will receive a free copy of the report.
If you are interested in collaborating on our current or future surveys, please reach out to [email protected].
About Host Agency Reviews
Host Agency Reviews® is an independent website connecting travel agents to leading industry resources. With 245+ combined host, franchise, and consortium profiles and 5,000+ reviews, it is the largest directory for agents on the web. Founder and former host agency director, Steph Lee, started Host Agency Reviews in 2012 to provide critical support for travel professionals to start and grow their agencies. Since then, the HAR team has expanded the site to include a robust industry blog, a free weeklong travel agency startup program, the Travel Agent Chatter quarterly podcast, Friday 15 weekly Q&A, and a 7 Day Setup Accelerator Course for launching a travel agency. In 2020, HAR launched, Host Week, a free annual event to recognize and amplify independent advisors and hosts, franchises, and consortia that support them. Oh, and we like to have fun. Lots of fun. :)