Written by Guy Besley, Latitude Resorts Port Douglas,

Good morning all, much of the same weather in the Far North today, but what I would like to do is put out a plea for help!

One thing we are seeing is a good level of support from Travel Agents for Australian tourism. They are well aware of the importance of Domestic travel and assisting our ailing Tourism sector, especially Queensland. So this is good right? Well not really, why?

The problem here is that as more and more properties go onto last minute sites and ignore the agents they are cutting off their nose to spite their face. How so? Well, the domestic Travel Agents support tourism, of course they do. HELLO! They are also Aussies, which means they help their mates! But the problem is that properties are making it harder and harder to deal with. The greed is becoming a joke and they still live in a dilusion that they will sell rooms directly and make more money (well don't start me about the money!) BUT they don't, time to wake up guys. Time and time again we see properties dropping allocations to agents (who sell rooms at rack rate) only to sell on last minute websites at up to 70% off. Just have a look at Port Douglas and Cairns on Wotif! Tell me that its good for longevity! No, of course not.

So guys, look longer term. You have no choice. Its imperative to foster relationships in business! In the digital age there is only one thing that really is relevant when it comes to sales and that's DISTRIBUTION. Simple! There is no more 80/20 blah blah blah, its now long tail, and the more relationships you have the more your brand or product is in the market place.

IT AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE FOLKS! Its a no brainer.

till tomorrow, and in the meantime contact your AFTA travel agent.

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