Home based agents are branching out and specializing in all sorts of product types and destinations these days. In the past, about 75% of what Canadian home based agents sold was traditional ITC holidays – Transat Holidays, ACV, Sunquest, Westjet, Sunwing and others.

There were reasons supporting that trend, some of which still apply today: 1)high demand for ITC in the past 2) marketing money was available to support home based agents in promoting their products 3) ITC is easy and quick to sell and 4)ITC is a fit with wedding groups.

However, things are changing and today, ITC packages would represent only about 50% of home based agents’ sales—and 50% of those sales are in fact group ITC sales. And one thing is clear, home based agents are becoming very successful at focusing on groups and earning more money!

And it is not just ITC groups and wedding groups – today, many of the groups are on river cruises, ocean cruises and coach tours. So it is safe to say that groups are now an important part of home based agents’ growth.

Another interesting fact is that FIT travel is also a big component of this type of agent’s sales. And this makes sense, because independent travel professionals are NOT like the big Online Travel Agencies. They are often very experienced agents who have spent 20 or 30 years in the industry and know how to put together a custom itinerary for their clients. As well, they are adding FIT components to cruise and river cruise holidays as pre or post stays – or to other types of vacations.

Clients today are realizing that they can save a lot of time researching if they involve a travel agent who can do all the work for them. Home based agents are carving out a reputation for attentive service and offering a wide range of products.

The landscape has certainly changed in the Canadian travel industry with the phenomenal growth of the home based, independent travel professional supported by host agencies.

It might be easier to list what these agents are not selling much of – Incentive travel, corporate travel or ethnic air—but there are definitely some exceptions even within those categories, and some very successful ones too.

**This is part of a series of articles by travel industry veteran Jill Wykes about the home based agent and host agency trend that is changing how travel is sold in Canada. The articles are sponsored by The Travel Agent Next Door.