There are lots of different trends throughout the industry to keep an eye out for this year , but one of my favorite ones is the overall trend that travel advisors continue to thrive .
PRESIDENT ’ S NOTE
There are lots of different trends throughout the industry to keep an eye out for this year , but one of my favorite ones is the overall trend that travel advisors continue to thrive .
We ’ re seeing advisors continuing to grow their business and increase their commissions with an increased number of bookings and average order value .
We engage with so many advisors , and it ’ s great to continue to see all the new advisors joining the industry . Last year we registered over 20,000 new advisors to the VAX marketplace , growing our number of advisors on VAX to over 180,000 . Site traffic and bookings made via VAX continue to show strength , and we ’ re seeing 10 % greater engagement with educational content and content on The Compass .
This data shows that the travel advisor marketplace is healthy , and VAX continues to elevate the tools and resources available to support this strength and growth . We continue to invest in the tools and content you need to be successful . One of the big improvements you may have seen recently is a series of tools to help you grow your group business . This is an area where we have worked with you to help you be more engaged with your group customers and streamline the group booking process . We have the leading platform for group bookings , and it just got better !
This past year we released many new capabilities to the VAX booking engine . NDC fares in the booking process were launched , and we improved our in-destination excursion and activity product . We ’ ve also rolled out integrations with Travefy and other CRM platform integrations and enhanced our destination pages with Arrival Guides — and there ’ s still more to come .
John Ische PRESIDENT , TRISEPT SOLUTIONS John ’ s industry tenure spans more than three decades .
As you ’ ll read more about on page 84 , The Compass on VAX has recently undergone a full redesign . The new website is restructured to help provide you with the content you need to be a better advisor and run a strong business with industryleading insights and perspectives . I hope you ’ ve seen now how you can share The Compass content with your customers to spark more inspiration .
We are always so honored that you recognize VAX as the leading platform for the advisor community . For the fourth year in a row , you voted VAX as the Best Travel Technology Provider in the Travel Weekly Readers Choice Awards . We also recently received Travel Weekly ’ s Gold Magellan Awards for Booking Interface , Education Program and Travel Agent Only Website and a Travvy Award for Best Travel Technology Provider . The awards confirm our commitment to advisors is noticed , and we are grateful for it . These are awards our entire team has great pride in , and you have our commitment to continue to work to provide you with the tools you need to continue to thrive and grow !
SPRING 2024 / THE COMPASS / 9