As part of this event, Travel2latam spoke with Dic Marxen, President and CEO of CCRA International Inc.
How was the company created and what is its primary objective?
In 1974, in California, a very large agency decided that they needed to serve clients after hours and in case of emergencies when they were traveling. And they hired some agents to take calls and put them to work part-time. That's how the company started, it was just a small call center, serving their clients who were traveling, and when they had problems, they had a place to call. At that time, there was nothing like that.
And how would you describe the current situation of the company?
We are very fortunate. We now have five business units, and not only have they recovered from COVID 2020, but they have grown beyond the 2019 revenue spectrum. This has allowed us to reinvest in all five business units, which are the original call center, which now handles over half a million calls and transactions a year. We have an international airline division and a global supplier network led by Peter Pincus. And we have been expanding our global reach to international travel suppliers. And we have a preferred hotel program, which I discovered today has grown to 57,000 properties that we have under contract in our partnership with ABC Global Services because we merged our two programs.
And finally, we have the True Network membership services network, which is comprised mostly of small and medium-sized leisure travel agencies and leisure travelers.
How do you work to increase business volume?
I have to gather my senior management team at least once a year, and challenge them with the question of how we are going to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the players in the industry. And if we can really differentiate ourselves, that means we have thought of new products and services, so there will be additional revenue opportunities that we didn't have before.
We are also finding that there is a whole new mindset in the industry now. We have sustainability. I can't remember how many thousands of trees we have planted, but we are now looking for an area to plant trees in the United States, especially in those places where we have had fires and there is really a big deforestation problem and challenge. And then secondly, I think we need to be better stewards of our travel industry, especially internationally. Being respectful of our countries in other parts of the world is very important.
What should agents do to help them grow their business?
They could all go into the corporate arena because many of them have very good-sized leisure clients and those leisure clients have businesses. Those businesses are fantastic prospects for them to approach and ask what they can do for their clients and their other employees in their own personal business.
We need to get them to think a little bit more broadly, globally. I want them to start taking advantage of the programs and be able to expand their knowledge.
What is your vision for the short and medium term in this industry?
In this industry I am considering some acquisitions that will possibly complement our five business units. However, there are some that are very interesting and that we are investigating, and I feel there could be an opportunity there that would expand our type of business. There are also potential acquisition opportunities to expand our reach and influence in international markets.
What do you think about mass tourism?
The first thing you need is a tourist who respects the place they visit. I'm challenging the agencies in this room behind me to remind their travelers to be respectful and engage with the culture. We want to be the happy, friendly American who can contribute.