Changing the Rules for Group Travel
by Carl Meadows
(President -- Association of Group Travel Organizers International)

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Here's the new group travel business paradigm: Organizing group travel has been "discovered" as a business opportunity by a rapidly growing number of people who are not associated with or employed by a travel agency. They don't consider or call themselves travel agents. These new entrepreneurs are group travel organizers (GTOs). Some work full time, while others are part time. They exist outside traditional marketing channels, and they can't be reached by conventional marketing and promotion methods. Some are travel agents, while others are employed full-time in other careers (and part of their job is organizing group travel). Many GTOs are professional leaders who are persons of influence in their business and social communities. They are people the travel industry suppliers need to meet!

The consumer travel market is expanding faster than at any other time in history. The single largest segment in the U.S. market is "baby boomers" -- people born between 1946 and 1956. Many millions of baby boomers are healthier, more active, and more affluent than their parents. As these active seniors retire or semi-retire, travel will be a very high priority on their "must do" list. (Every day in the United States, 10,000 people turn age 50!)

Many of these travelers will gravitate to GTOs who operate small, exclusive group tours. Basically, these GTO businesses become social clubs (or what I call "mutual admiration societies"). Because some of these clubs might have funny names like "Ramble with Roberta," "The Run-a-Way Wives Club," and "The Over-the-Hill Gang," agents and suppliers might have a tendency not to treat them as serious buyers. This would be a big mistake. The Over-the-Hill Gang, for example, has more than 6,000 members worldwide. Who would not want to do business with them?

There is a massive, untapped market just waiting to be sold travel and tourism services. These GTOs are looking to develop long-term relationships with people that they feel can be trusted. Any supplier that welcomes them with open arms and helps them develop their business by providing them with a quality program will be justly rewarded for their efforts. If there were ever a win-win situation, this is it!

(Note: Carl Meadows started in the travel business in 1970. He's owned several retail travel agencies and directed group sales for one of the largest travel agency franchises in the United States. He's the author of the book How to Organize Group Travel for Fun and Profit. Check his Web sites -- www.agtoi.com and www.grouptravelbusiness.com -- for more information on his group travel strategies!)