For Many Travel Agents, Specialties Are Way to Go : Whether Catering to Kids or Seniors, It’s a Matter of Survival

When Kathy Joseph was pregnant with her first child, her friends teased her good-naturedly. Soon, they told her, she would no longer be able to take those nice vacation trips with her husband.

“Everyone laughed and said, ‘That will ground them,’ ” said Joseph, recalling the 1982 birth of her daughter. “I said to myself, ‘I’ll show them.’ ”

Joseph showed them by taking her 8-week-old baby on a vacation to England. Now--seven years later--Joseph is showing them again. Six months ago, she founded a Los Angeles travel agency called Let’s Take the Kids, specializing in family travel.

“Parents and kids have different interests,” Joseph said. “We try to give everyone what they want. Unless there is planning, parents have little time for strolling alone and hand holding, and kids like to be with other kids sometimes.”

Wave of Specialization

In catering to young families, this Los Angeles agency is part of a wave of specialization among small and mid-size agencies that handle leisure travel. Although most agents want to be a Jack-of-all-travel, an increasing number also are trying to be the master of at least one popular destination, mode of transportation or kind of client.

Some specialize in Bali; others book Hawaii. Some track trips for train buffs; others chart only for the cruise-crazy. And yes, there are agents who would rather be selling to those who would rather be sailing. Besides those who focus on families, there are agents for young singles, retirees, frugal students and free spenders.

To find a specialist, experts say, scrutinize newspaper travel sections and magazines as well as agency advertisements in the Yellow Pages of the phone directory. Some agency specialists and many specialty tour operators are also listed in the Specialty Travel Index, a directory published by Specialty Travel of San Anselmo, Calif.

Airline Deregulation

The specialization is partly an outgrowth of vast changes in the travel business that date from 1978, when the federal government deregulated the airline industry. Increasingly, business travel is being handled by large travel agencies and by corporations themselves, and smaller firms have zeroed in on leisure travel.

Travel firms of all sizes are struggling to cope with thousands of air fare changes every day, smaller commissions and increased competition--not to mention fear of international terrorism.

One measure of the competition is the number of travel agency “disruptions or failures due to defaults” reported by the American Society for Travel Agents, a trade association based in Alexandria, Va. The number rose to 631 of 30,000 agencies in 1987 from 437 in 1986--an increase of 44%, the ASTA reported. Another 617 of 32,000 agencies defaulted in 1988.

“Specialization is becoming the key to survival,” said Susan Tanzman Kaplan, co-owner of Los Angeles-based Martin’s Travel & Tours and a specialty agency called Cruisemasters. “If I’m an agency and I don’t have a specialty, I would be concerned . . . . Everyone’s looking for a niche.”

Diversity of Area

Kaplan said agencies in Southern California seem to specialize more because the industry serves a commercially and culturally diverse area with many travelers.

“Clients are more sophisticated,” said Klaus Billep, head of Los Angeles-based Universal Travel System and an ASTA director. “They’re not as interested in the tour package that takes you through a series of countries. They want to visit one country or one destination they can get to know.”

California agents are also specializing because the state is highly competitive, said Lisa Moore, head of the San Diego chapter of ASTA. About 16% of the nation’s agents--some 5,000--are in California. By comparison, New York state has about 3,300 agents.

ASTA is also urging smaller agencies to be creative, said Janet Treber, the organization’s research director. “ASTA has taken the position during the last couple of years--particularly in the wake of fare wars--that small and medium-sized agencies shouldn’t rely solely on air travel,” Treber said.

Take Christopher Kyte, for instance. Vice president of Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Key Tours, Kyte arranges cruises, luxury train excursions and related accommodations for the upscale market. The flagship in the train operation is the “Los Angeles,” a luxury car with a history: Then-Gov. Ronald Reagan dined there and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy used it as a campaign vehicle. The car has a chandelier, antique chairs, a dining room, two master bedrooms with queen-size beds and cappuccino and espresso machines. The car typically costs $3,500 a day, but drinks and other amenities can add to the price.

“The operation doesn’t require much advertising,” Kyte explained. “It’s referral and word of mouth--movie stars, politicians, businessmen, people wanting privacy, British nobility.”

Kyte said the well-to-do generally prefer to deal with specialists but added that the less-than-rich are also demanding more expertise.

“It’s disconcerting to go to an agent and talk about a special trip and the agent knows less than you do,” Kyte said.

‘Extremely Complex’ Business

Similar sentiments come from Christian G. Spirandelli, director of the San Francisco-based Carriage Trade Assn., a trade group made up of nine California-based providers of upscale travel.

“The world in general--and our business in particular--is getting extremely complex . . . and it’s becoming more and more difficult to be all things to all people,” Spirandelli said. “You have to decide what you’re going to know, and know it well.”

The association, a clearinghouse for information on exotic and expensive trips, includes members that provide travel to some of the remotest areas of certain countries. India, New Guinea and countries in Africa are among the favored destinations.

Third World countries are also among the favorite destinations of students and other youth, but STA Travel, known as the Student Travel Network, works at the discount end. The agency negotiates discounts with airlines and hotels, often buying empty seats and rooms after other booking is complete.

Young Customers

STA Travel is an international agency with U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles. The firm last year opened an office in Berkeley. The agency’s customers are typically younger than 30, and the firm reaches some of them by advertising in college newspapers and publications such as Rolling Stone, said Philip Griffiths, Los Angeles-based marketing manager.

“The travel industry generally concentrates at the higher end of the travel market and doesn’t view the student population as lucrative,” Griffiths said. “It’s not lucrative on a per-capita basis, but it works because there’s a high volume.

“There’s a need for it because, generally, agents don’t understand the needs of youth and students. Young people want low-cost fares, and they need flexibility in ticketing because they are forever changing their plans.”

On the other hand, senior citizens tend to stick with their plans, and many rely heavily on agents to develop them, said Lois Anderson, founder and owner of Gadabout Tours, a Palm Springs-based firm that caters to retirees.

Services for Retirees

Anderson, a pioneer in specialization, has been providing travel for seniors for 24 years. Revenue rose 10% in 1988, one of the best years in the firm’s history, she said. Also rising is the number of requests from other agencies for assistance in setting up special service operations for the retired, Anderson said.

“I think all agents would like to provide something special,” she said. “It’s a matter of survival.”

All of these changes might not have surprised Thomas Cook, the Briton credited with founding the travel agency business. Travel historians are quick to point out that Cook became the first specialist in 1841 when he launched his business by selling train seats to members of the temperance movement.