More than 73 per cent of all travel arrangements are booked via a travel advisor in Australia, and travel agent extraordinaire Donna Jones knows why. Photo: Donna Jones.
Donna Jones had never paid much attention to the scores she received from an automated survey that asked her customers to rate, from zero to 10, how likely they were to recommend her – until one day a score of zero came through.
Donna, a travel agent with decades of experience who was recently named “Most Outstanding Mobile/Home-based Travel Advisor” at the 2024 National Travel Industry Awards, had gotten so used to seeing 10s come through that she was compelled to call and check that the customer hadn’t inadvertently dropped the one in front of the zero.
They hadn’t.
“She was the mother of one of the students in a school group that I had just booked a trip overseas for, and she said it wasn’t personal – she had simply answered truthfully,” she says.
“The question had been ‘How likely are you to recommend Donna’s services?’, and her answer was ‘Not at all’, because she didn’t see the point of travel agents.”
Relieved it wasn’t a reflection of her work, Donna, a seasoned professional, had all but forgotten the interaction until the day before the trip was scheduled to take place, when she received a panicked call from her detractor.
She had accidentally thrown her son’s passport away with the rest of the recycling, along with the approved visa for their destination country attached to it, and stood to lose some $6000 if her son couldn’t make the trip.
Donna worked feverishly until 3 am, tapping into her connections at the passport office and in the destination country and calling in every favour to secure an emergency passport and visa in under 24 hours.
“He got on his flight and I held my breath until they confirmed he had landed and entered without a problem,” she says.
“The next day I received a very apologetic email, retracting everything she had said about the value of travel agents.
“Things go wrong in the uncertain world of travel – that’s the nature of the beast. I have connections worldwide; I work hard to maintain them and use them regularly – much more than my clients probably realise – to ensure things go smoothly for them. A well-connected travel agent is invaluable.”
Donna was recently named “Most Outstanding Mobile/Home-based Travel Advisor” at the 2024 National Travel Industry Awards. Photo: Donna Jones.
The vast majority of Aussies seem to agree. With more than 73 per cent of all travel arrangements booked via a travel advisor in this country, Donna is a busy woman. Her phone is never on silent.
“I book a lot of holidays in Europe. If my clients are in trouble and need to contact me at 2 am, I will answer,” she says.
But there is much more to the role than client advocacy and the careful curation of designer holidays, corporate, group and special interest travel.
She is involved in border control, visa legislation and of course, relationship building with global suppliers. She also initiated school-based traineeships for HSC students and a gap year for Year 12 school leavers to gain insights into the opportunities within the industry – an initiative that will be rolled out nationally and something she’s particularly proud of.
“As an industry through the pandemic we lost 30 per cent of our skilled and experienced workforce, and they never came back,” she says.
“The shortage of skilled workers will continue if we don’t get out there into schools and open the eyes of the next generation to the massive plethora of opportunities in this wonderful industry.
“We need travel agents, tour operators, hotel staff, business development, people and culture, human resources … the options are endless. Students can complete a Certificate III in travel and tourism, do 100 days of paid work as they learn and come away with a tertiary education they can build on, one that will open the world up to them.”
Donna, who now operates the highly successful Mobile Travel Agents (MTA) Shell Cove branch from a chic home office in Shell Cove, says the vast majority of her new clients come through referrals.
She is busier than ever and credits it to a shift since the pandemic.
“If COVID-19 taught us anything in that horrible time, it was the value of experiences over things – that’s what life’s about. And life is short,” she says.
“The festive season is just beginning and Sydney airport just reported activity up 20 per cent from last year, which was already a record-breaking year.
“I don’t see demand slowing, and the travel landscape has changed immensely; it’s a more complex world to travel. I am definitely seeing more people coming to me than ever before who’ve never used a travel agent. My goal is to see them living their best lives, and to bring the world to them in the best possible way.”
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