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| John McMahon shows the new Travel Agent app to Priscilla Alexander, president of Protravel. |
There’s nothing like a conversation with a member of “Generation Y” (or whatever letter we’re up to now) to realize how far we’ve come with communications technology. I was talking with my 14-year-old daughter the other day, waxing poetic on “how it used to be”—as most parents do—before the mobile (or should I say smart) phone became as ubiquitous as the New York Mets losing another close one.
I told her how, when I was growing up, the phone in my house had a cord on it (but at least it had push buttons and not a rotary dial) and my sisters would crouch down in the closet next to it so my eavesdropping ears wouldn’t be able to overhear the latest gossip.
I told her about life before voicemail and cell phones and how I would ride my bike around the neighborhood to actually look for my friends—not text them. Of course, she got a big laugh out of it. She said, “You actually had to look for someone?” She couldn’t understand the thought of not being connected all the time.
So when, from time to time, I take away what I call her sixth appendage, her BlackBerry, it is catastrophic. You’d think I cut off her arm! But, who am I to judge? If my iPhone or iPad were taken away from me, I would probably cry as well.
Mobile devices have become a sixth appendage to business life as well. At events I attend, I see a lot of you excusing yourself to take a client call or to deal with a booking issue that needs immediate attention. Smart phones and tablets have given you the ability to break away from your desktop and conduct business on the go.
We recognize that we need to be with you at all times and are therefore pleased to tell you our big news: Now, you can receive Travel Agent magazine (as well as sister publication Luxury Travel Advisor) on smart phones and tablets. This is in addition to the mobile version of our website—www.travelagentcentral.com, the most visited travel agent resource on the web—that we introduced about five months ago. For luxury travel sellers, we even have an app for our Luxury Travel Expo.
You have our promise, as the only travel advisor media company that is fully digitally integrated across all platforms, that you will always be a brush or touch of a finger away from all the news and product information you will need to stay on top of the travel game.
Travel agents tell me over and over that they couldn’t do business without our guidance and inspiration. I can tell you now, that we will literally always be at your side.