Immigrants keep local travel agents busy

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This article was published 13/02/2011 (5526 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Booking family vacations and helping adventure-seekers cross a destination off of their bucket list are just a few of the rewards of being a travel agent. These days, the burgeoning local immigrant population has taken business to a whole new level, local agents say.

Although immigration to Brandon has been on the rise since 2007, Marlene Kirton of Marlin Travel in Brandon says she has really noticed an increase in international traffic over the past two years.

"Normally we have busy seasons and slower seasons, but what we’re finding out is that in the times when we were typically slower, we’re becoming busy because there’s so much travel coming in from immigrant community," Kirton told the Sun.

Family reunification efforts and individuals looking to travel back home for holidays and special occasions like Chinese New Year and Ukrainian Christmas has slowly become the norm, as newcomers establish themselves in Brandon.

"It’s so neat because when it started we saw the guys come alone and then after a few years, they’ve brought their families and now those that have been here for awhile are now looking at vacations; so they’re coming in with their kids and looking at places like Disney World," she said. "It’s really neat to see how it has evolved. Before they would walk here and now they’ve got vehicles and houses, too."

Although communicating was a stumbling block early on, Kirton says the immigrant population are becoming savvy travellers. Some employees have taken Spanish classes to help out in the office, while some customers simply show up prepared with a translator.

Flight itineraries can even be printed in various languages now, she added.

Willie Chapin of McPhail Travel says his business has enjoyed the same boost in multicultural clientele. He too has a go-to staff member who speaks Spanish fluently.

"We’ve always had a bit of an international base, but now we’re booking more and more to San Salvador, Mauritius, Colombia, China and the odd trip to the Ukraine," Chapin said.

Meanwhile, U.S. travel restrictions have forced agents to get a bit creative when booking, Chapin said.

"A lot of newcomers can’t travel through the U.S. because of the restrictions so we have to find a route that avoids the U.S. but that is of course is still affordable," he said.

Hearing the personal stories of family reunification and personal achievements of this new population — one man arrived in Brandon when his wife was pregnant and he wasn’t able to meet the baby until two years later, Kirton recalled — means that from time to time, agents do what they can to help make what can be a very expensive trip overseas, a little more manageable.

"You know that they’re working really hard to do so much of this. So just try to make it happen for them so we sometimes make concessions for how they pay. You feel bad and you know it’s hard for them to get established," Kirton said. "We just want to show that we’re here to help."

Chapin too, says he has waived certain fees and gone above and beyond to find the lowest rate.