ASTA Viewpoint: Agents Mitigating Travel Risk

SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF TRAVEL AGENTS

Last month's arrest by federal agents of a group of suspected terrorists accused of plotting to destroy a pipeline and fuel tanks at New York's Kennedy Airport was a reminder that there is no room for complacency, because, as is often pointed out, terrorists only have to succeed once, whereas security forces must succeed every time.
That said, the past two years have been thankfully quiet in terms of major terrorist outrages or other catastrophes that cause global disruption to corporate travel. With the worldwide economy flourishing, and more companies doing business outside their home markets, travel volumes have boomed. It has been almost a relief to return to familiar problems, like finding rooms for clients in New York and other busy cities.
I have been in this industry long enough to know that there will be dark days again. Even so, after the first sustained period of calm since the tragedy of 9/11, perhaps it is time to take stock and assess how the travel business has adjusted itself to an era of sustained terror threat.
Trying to take the longer view, I would argue this is no more an age of uncertainty, as it is sometimes described, than any other. On the contrary, in many ways it is actually appropriate to call this an age of certainty--or at least of greater certainty.
What do I mean by this? Well, now that we know public transportation systems, especially aviation, attract terrorism, systemic changes have been made to reduce the risks associated with this basic fact. The most obvious example is the tightening of security at airports. The new security regime is not fail-proof, and never will be, but the chances of another 9/11-type attack have been greatly reduced.
It is not just upfront security that has changed. So too have passengers and those of us in the travel business who support them.
First, travelers are much more savvy. There are far fewer stories than a decade ago of naive executives blundering into developing countries flashing their Rolexes and then wondering why they got mugged.
Part of the reason is that they are better informed. The Internet gives all of us a clearer window on the world, and it has helped travel professionals too. In collaboration with specialist security agencies, it is now a standard part of the travel management company's job to brief travelers before they set off for anywhere unusual.
Indeed, much of the work that ASTA members do, from the smallest mom-and-pop shop up to the largest global TMC, is aimed at making the world a more certain place for our customers. Our slogan, "Without an ASTA travel agent, you're on your own," lies at the heart of this philosophy. If something goes wrong before, during or after a trip, it is almost a Hippocratic undertaking that we will do whatever it takes to extricate the traveler from the situation as quickly and painlessly as possible.
The larger ASTA members, including many Radius shareholders, also deploy tracking tools, which enable them within minutes to identify all of a client's travelers who may have been caught up in an incident on a particular flight or in a particular city or hotel. Generally speaking, corporations have more ability than ever to maintain contact with their employees. By cell phone or e-mail, through personal digital assistants or on aircraft Internet systems, evading the attentions of head office, night or day, on land or in the sky, has become almost an impossible challenge.
So on this always-connected, constantly monitored 21st-century planet, we arguably have greater certainty than at any previous time in our history. There are few journeys into the unknown anymore, even in remote corners of rapidly developing but once little-known nations, such as China. Of course, we can also be certain terrorists will strike again, and environmental disasters seem an increasingly likely prospect too. What we don't know is where or when these incidents will strike, or what their magnitude will be, but the considerable work done worldwide in recent years on risk mitigation means corporate travelers will be shielded as far as is possible.