The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) has announced a new partnership with The Company Dime, a business, travel and expense management news outlet, designed to develop a deeper understanding of the reasons business both large and small implement travel management practices.
ASTA members currently represent 80 percent of all travel sold in the United States through the travel agency distribution channel. The new partnership with The Company Dime is designed to provide a greater insight about the travel industry to ASTA members.
The partnership will focus on the barriers and opportunities related to converting “unmanaged” business travel to managed travel. The primary goal of the project is to provide insight to travel agencies. Research techniques will include surveys and interviews with travel management companies and executives about how their value propositions meet client needs.
A subgroup of ASTA’s Corporate Advisory Council – comprised of Gloria Bohan of Omega World Travel, Craig Carter of Luxe Travel Management, Marc Casto of Casto Travel, Chris Dane of Hickory Global Partners and Denise Jackson of Balboa Travel Inc. – is acting as the Steering Committee for the project. The project’s findings will be unveiled during ASTA’s Premium Business Summit, June 5-6, 2017 in Washington, D.C., which will feature a panel discussion with industry experts led by The Company Dime.
“Helping our members grow their business is at the core of ASTA’s mission,” said Zane Kerby, ASTA President and CEO. “As the national trade association for travel agencies of all shapes, sizes and business models, we are excited to partner with the team at The Company Dime to tackle this critical challenge in the corporate space and further strengthen ASTA’s role as a thought leader in the industry.”
Corporate-focused agencies who would like to access this research and are not members of ASTA can sign up now at www.asta.org/Join.
Visit www.asta.org and www.thecompanydime.com for more.