The 1000 releases insights on world's top travel advisors
The 1000, a club for the world’s most influential travel advisors, released member insights from the only community of wholly-verified, top producing travel advisors from every corner of the world, across agency and consortia affiliation, and selling all travel product types and budgets.
“The 1000 is made up of incredibly passionate and successful travel advisors from around the world,” said Jeff Sirota, Co-Founder, The 1000. “But what makes them truly stand out is their respect for their own profession and that of their peers as travel professionals – and the proof is in their numbers.”
While the pandemic saw consistently lower 2020 sales volumes for advisors around the world, 2021 production numbers were significantly higher in the USA, as compared to other countries, including for a minority of USA-based advisors who saw their 2021 production surpass their pre-pandemic, 2019 figures. Canada, the UK, and Australia followed the USA for recovery in 2021 however were significantly lower as tighter restrictions on travel remained in place in those regions. As for 2022, in a recent survey of members of The 1000, 88% of members around the world said that their 2022 invoiced sales are on track to be ahead of 2019, showing positive momentum for the re-engagement of the travel industry.
The company recently shared that over 1,000 applications for recognition were received from 37 countries, with those submissions representing over US$2B in annual sales production – averaging US$2.3M per advisor.
For those travel advisors who have been verified and accepted into The 1000, their minimum annual sales production is US$1.5M and their average annual sales production is US$3.1M, with a number of individual advisors each producing over US$12M per year.
“With a US$279k average annual gross commission for those travel advisors accepted into The 1000, there is no doubt that the travel advisor profession is a career that should be given the respect it deserves,” said Tim Morgan, Co-Founder, The 1000.
Verified top travel advisors accepted into The 1000 find success in all areas of travel – particularly hotels – with their individual product sales averaging in each category as follows:
34% Hotel18% Air17% Cruise (12% Ocean Cruise, 5% River Cruise)16% Tour (7% Escorted Tour, 9% Packaged Tour)15% DMC/On Site
When reviewing the industry tenure of top travel advisors, the breakdown shows an opportunity to introduce and foster new and rising talent:
Less than 5 years as a travel advisor: 6%5-10 years as a travel advisor: 26%10-15 years as a travel advisor: 20%More than 15 years as a travel advisor: 48%
“As our industry struggles with succession planning for the travel advisor profession, insights into what defines a viable career are crucial, with compensation and product-focus being critical to that understanding,” said Morgan.
