With bookings slow due to changing FCO advice, travel corridor restrictions and low customer confidence in travel due to coronavirus, agents can use the lull in bookings to spend time taking supplier training.
Here’s just a small selection of the supplier training on offer, much of which has been updated recently:
Tipto
Online training from 20 member suppliers
Travel Uni
Free training from a wide range of tourist boards, hotels, cruise and rail companies, attractions and tour operators. It also hosts Abta’s online training tools and has a diploma course in conjunction with Travilearn for agents wanting to get into Business Travel.
OTT
Free training from a wide range of tourist boards, hotels, cruise and rail companies, attractions and tour operators. The website segments its courses by theme such as Adventure and LGBT+.
There is a new training program for agents to become a Certified Medical Travel Professional – a short taster course is free then there’s a paid for certification course. OTT also hosts paid-for GDS training.
The Travel Foundation
The Travel Foundation offers training on sustainable and responsible tourism. Its training site also features an introductory quiz, Paradise (Almost) Lost.
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism has launched the Abu Dhabi Specialist Programme – an e-learning platform which will educate travel trade industry professionals with all destination-related information about the emirate through a series of online courses.
The Algarve Tourism Bureau
The tourist board has reactivated its online training courses on the Online Travel Training (OTT) platform for its trade partners. Travel agents can access the courses for free by registering on OTT and reviewing the information online. After learning about each topic there are a set of questions to test the agent’s knowledge.
Arizona Office of Tourism
Arizona has launched a free new e-learning platform for UK agents, “Arizona from A to Z”. Anyone who registers and completes the training will automatically be entered to win £100 worth of Love2Shop vouchers.
Brand USA
Brand USA is hosting agent training webinars and quizzes every Thursday morning, and is also running a USA Discovery Program incentive until the end of July for agents to win s’mores-making kits. The destination marketing company has also just launched three new USA Discovery Program badges so that agents can to learn more about St. Pete and Clearwater, Seattle and Universal Orlando Resort.
Czech Tourism
Czech Tourism started working with V Fam in February, a new virtual experience offering virtual fam trips to travel trade professionals. The tourist board is also continuing to update its modules on OTT with new videos, virtual experiences, live streams and recipes.
Visit England
VisitEngland has launched a series of free business recovery webinars, providing insights and practical tips for English tourism businesses to hepl them recover as the industry slowly recovers after lockdown.
Visit visitbritain.org for a full list of webinars and dates.
Grenada Tourism Authority
To register for "limes" on online meeting platform Zoom, contact uk@puregrenada.com
Israel Tourist Office
The tourist office is hosting a series of four webinars on Zoom, covering a variety of topics, from a virtual wine talk with Israeli culinary and wine expert Guy Haran to training of the popular circle tour of northern Israel that includes Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
For a copy of Israel’s PowerPoint destination training e-mail Michelle Roberts at michelle@goisrael.gov.il.
Destination New South Wales
Destination New South Wales will host a travel agent training webinar on 22 September at 10am for qualified Aussie Specialists on Sustainable Tourism Experiences within New South Wales. To access the webinar, agents must qualify as an Aussie Specialist by completing five training modules.
Panama
Travel agents can now become Panama Experts with a new free online expert certification course. The three-part module certification course educates agents on the destination’s landscapes culture and tourist activities.
Qatar National Tourism Council
The tourist board will be offering webinars and Zoom sessions to replace face-to-face training during the coronavirus crisis. Agents can also complete Qatar’s TAWASH online training programme.
Enterprise St Helena
Enterprise St Helena has announced the launch of a brand-new training programme with OT, providing in-depth training through five modules which include history and culture; nature and wildlife; and activities.
Visit Sweden
The new Sweden Sessions webinar 45-minute series every Wednesday on Zoom sees Swedish regional tourism organisations and suppliers sharing the latest product information, virtual experiences and opportunities for armchair travel. There will also be an opportunity for questions and networking.
Attend the webinars by clicking here
Balkan Holidays
Training videos and other resources
Oceania Cruises
The destination and culinary-focused cruise line launched Recipe for Success, new series of online training modules and trade-focused webinars as part of its #RememberTheFuture brand campaign. For details of the webinars email AgencySales@OceaniaCruises.com
Wendy Wu Tours
Wendy Wu runs regular agent webinars on destinations including Vietnam and Japan, For more information, email John.Warr@wendywutours.co.uk
WTM
Catch up on sessions discussing themes such as sustainable and accessible travel, and how pop culture drives tourism, recorded during and after WTM London 2019 with the WTM Insights podcast.
london.wtm.com
For more information, see TTG’s article about online training here
Facebook agent page Travel Gossip has also compiled a useful list of webinars that agents can sign up to. The information can be viewed here