Goldstar Air, the Wings of Ghana will be in partnership with travel and tour agencies across the land, by providing them with our ticket sales, including information on our ticketing and tour packages.
The primary role of a travel agent is to help people make travel arrangements, which include booking flights, hotels, sightseeing tours, and making dining recommendations.
Travel agent assesses each customer’s unique needs, preferences, and budget to ensure their trip goes as smoothly as possible.
Several factors determine travel agents’ salary, including location, level of education, certifications, years of experience, and the specific company they are working for.
In line with this, Goldstar Air proposes reasonable commissions for travel agents and delightful opportunities for all our airline employees. This will initiate three-month salary savings for each junior staff, which will enable them to purchase imported used cars and make their movement to and from work easier to maintain high-level operations and deliver good services.
Furthermore, the airline will be initiating a biweekly (2 weeks) employee pay system in Ghana, which will align with our other destinations’ salary structure to avoid employment discrimination and first of its kind in the aviation sector in the country.
Even though employees will make the same amount of money regardless of pay frequency, a biweekly pay schedule makes it easier to reduce debt or save money in the months you receive an additional paycheck.
According to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldstar Air Eric Bannerman, the airline will give special attention to travel and tour agencies to enhance the quality of Ghana’s economic transformation. This sustainable partnership is in connection with massive job creation, reduced poverty, and a foreign exchange earner for Ghana, which makes the airline the economic tool of the country.
Goldstar Air will grant accreditation to travel agencies that will enable them to access the airline’s inventory, accept payments, and issue tickets 24/7 on the airline’s behalf.
The airline will use travel agents as an arm of its distribution system, and agents must always interact with our sales team to book group travel for their clients. Presently, with Ghana knee-deep in a challenging economic environment, it could be time for agents and airlines to partner once again, even if it is on a customized, case-by-case basis.
Goldstar Air will change the narrative of a hostile relationship between agents and airlines, because nowadays when agents call an airline to book a group, agents end up paying more for the group than a published fare.
The shift away from travel agents began with airline commission caps in 1995 and continued with reduced commissions in 1999.
The travel agency industry was delivered an even heavier blow in 2002 when airlines cut commissions altogether.
Travel agents are highly organized professionals and passionate about travel and helping others. They are focused on creating the best possible experience, directly catered to their clients, and work with hotels, airlines, and other vendors to create travel packages and experiences that their clients will love.
Travel agents can work with large groups, individuals, families, professional organizations, and others to help create seamless travel experiences that help create memories.
Mr. Bannerman emphasized that, instead of Goldstar Air directly competing with the travel agencies, the airline intends to establish good working relationships in the form of strategic alliances to keep all the Ghanaian travel agencies in business, for them to keep their staff as well, as the airline is projecting over one hundred thousand direct jobs and over one million indirect job opportunities to address the situation on the grounds.
The commencement of the 24-hour operations of Goldstar Air in Ghana is a guarantee of the stabilization of the local currency (Cedi) and a major priority to put Ghana on a sound footing.
More than 90 percent of the travel agencies in Ghana do not have an international billing or distribution system because of the fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) bank guarantee, so Goldstar Air will introduce a billing or distribution system that will accept any deposit amount agents prefer to make to issue tickets against and this will come as a relief to them. The airline will also offer Ghana tour operators competitive air tickets to their clients, ensuring customer satisfaction always.
As part of Goldstar Air’s initiative to build the agencies for them to provide employment and also to avoid the fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) bank guarantee, the airline has pledged to offer some seed money to travel agencies that have registered with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) for over a year and that the agencies must be willing to apply for Goldstar Air’s distribution system or local billing system and pay the same amount or more to sell our tickets.
In today’s competitive business environment, it is more important than ever for travel and tour agencies to foster relations with airlines and meet with clients to discuss upcoming travel plans and gather information regarding travel dates, transportation, and budget. This may be done face-to-face in a brick-and-mortar setting or online.
Advising clients on important aspects of their travel plans. This may include providing information on passports, visas, customs, insurance, vaccinations, and trip cancellation policies.
Keeping accurate records of client bookings, such as payments, travel dates, flight numbers, and hotel check-in and check-out dates.
Handling any travel issues that arise, including fight or hotel cancellations, delays, conflicts, and refunds.
Due to the customer-focused nature of travel agent jobs, it’s ideal to be passionate about and/or have experience in hospitality. Those who make the best travel agents tend to be versatile and have a friendly personality where they are concerned with keeping clients happy, comfortable, and safe.
Travel agents are key professionals dedicated to helping individuals and families create memories that will last a lifetime. Planning a dream vacation can be stressful for an individual or a family, and having a travel agent can make the process much easier.
If you are passionate about travel organization, and helping others, a career as a travel agent can be a great fit.
Travel agents will constantly be interacting with clients in person, over the phone, and through email. In turn, they need to be strong verbal and written communicators, empathetic, and understanding of the individual needs of each client. Because they may be juggling trips for several clients at a time, travel agents must be highly organized and capable of effectively managing a high volume of booking information.
Travel logistics are inherently complex and issues can pop up at any given time. Great travel agents have a knack for handling incidents and quickly resolving problems while maintaining their poise. It is easy to mix up things like flight departure and arrival times, hotel check-ins, and transportation rentals, which is why travel agents need to be detail-oriented.
The travel agent career is heavily reliant on technology like travel booking platforms and appointment scheduling software. Travel agents not only need a firm grasp of this technology but are willing to continually learn about new developments and iterations.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is now forecasting that the global airline industry will this year exceed the profitability it achieved in 2023, although it notes that margins remain thin.
Global airlines are expected to record a combined net profit of $30.5 billion this year, versus the $27.4 billion estimated to have recorded in 2023. International Air Transport Association said at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dubai on 3 June, that the revised projection represents an improvement from the $25.7 billion industry association forecasted for 2024 in December 2023.
The expected aggregate net profit of $30.5 billion in 2024 is a great achievement considering the recent deep pandemic losses.
Tamale will serve as a pivotal hub for our airline’s maintenance, cargo, and training school and plans are underway to operate international passenger flights to and from the Sahel region and Hajj flights to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Goldstar Air will initially operate flights from Kumasi to Rome, Madrid, Hamburg, London, Dusseldorf, and Milan.
Also, flights from Accra shall include destinations such as Washington, Dubai, Lagos, Toronto, Monrovia, Conakry, Abidjan, Guangzhou, Dakar, Banjul, Rhode Island, London, and Freetown and pending cities such as Miami-Florida, Atlanta-Georgia, Chicago-Illinois, Glasgow-Scotland, Houston-Texas and many more.
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