Travel Insider: Q&A with Jason Block, CEO of WorldVia Travel Group

One of the most interesting aspects of my work as a travel writer is engaging with people who work in the travel industry. Their insights and passion for all things travel related are nothing short of inspiring.

One such travel industry expert is Jason Block, the CEO of one of the top travel host agencies, WorldVia Travel Group. I recently sat down with Jason to learn about his background, business and, of course, his love of travel.

Jason told me about WorldVia Travel Group’s two primary divisions and explained WorldVia PRO, a travel agent business-management tech platform that is a gamechanger for professional, independent travel planners, advisors and others in the field.

Here’s what he had to say. 

Jason, tell Departure Level readers when, why and how you started your career in the Travel Industry.

I was raised to love travel and everything about it. My father started a franchise consortium, Travel Agents International, in the early 80’s and both of my parents built that company through my entire childhood before selling it to Carlson-Wagonlit (now Travel Leaders). So, in a way, I feel like I have always been in this industry. I spent my early twenties as a bank consultant, before turning to develop and lead restaurant, retail and business services franchise companies. The time was right in 2014 to take the lessons I’d gathered from those industries and bring them back to the world of travel. I started WorldVia to innovate the way travel is bought and sold through the agency distribution channel.

What do you personally love about travel?

I was very fortunate to travel a lot growing up. Above everything, I think traveling gives us a greater appreciation of the world in which we live. It exposes us to different ways of living, different ideas and perspectives, and travel challenges us to consider our long-held beliefs. Personally, my entire world view has been largely shaped by the places I’ve visited. The world is filled with sound bites and stereotypes, but when you actually get out there and step into that uncomfortable place, you move past the differences of culture or language or religion or race, past the sound bites, and you connect with what is real. That is priceless.

You’re the CEO of one of the top travel host agencies, the WorldVia Travel Group. Please tell us more about your company.

WorldVia Travel Group is divided into two primary divisions.

First, there is WorldVia, which operates our host agency network (Travel Quest Network) and our travel marketing business (worldvia.com). Second, there is our travel management division which operates Safe Harbors Business Travel and Ministry Travel.

We’re seeing great growth in all of our businesses and are now one of the largest and fastest growing companies in the industry. I’m a growth-oriented person, but the thing that makes me especially proud is the impact we are having on our clients. We’re helping thousands of entrepreneurs who are members of Travel Quest Network and our corporate and humanitarian organization clients at Safe Harbors.

Speaking of entrepreneurs who are travel agents, I'm asked a lot if travel advisors are still relevant. I of course know the value of a good travel agent, but you tell us why travel agents are important, and what do they offer that travelers’ online searches cannot provide?

If I’ve learned one thing from my dad, it is that travel is a people business. Dollars and cents matter; but, at the end of the day, a client needs to trust you. Trust that you are recommending the best option, that you’re going to help them save time and money, that you’re going to deliver on their dream, and, most importantly these days, that you’re going to be there if and when something goes wrong. In short, it is personal accountability. Consumers don’t trust slick website guarantees anymore if they cannot connect it to a relationship.

Your WorldVia PRO travel agent business-management tech platform sounds like a game changer for professional, independent travel planners and advisors. Why did you and your colleagues decide to create and launch it?

I often say that the travel industry is complicated, but your travel business is only as complicated as you choose to make it. WorldVia PRO is about driving simplicity to move mountains. It is about combining everything that today’s independent travel agency owner needs to succeed in one place. As a modern host agency, we aim to be the premier platform for building and growing a travel business. Though, our platform extends beyond just the technology. We view technology as an enabler to achieve a broader differentiated platform encompassing education, xFAMs (our exclusive FAMs), marketing and lead generation programs, content and social marketing tools, community events, preferred supplier and air commission programs, individual growth coaching, and our longstanding reputation for outstanding member support. In short, WorldVia PRO allows independent agency owners to take the friction out of managing their travel businesses.

Could you recommend a few top resources or benefits WorldVia PRO provides to travel agents who become members and utilize the platform?

We released the first version of our AI content tool, Content Creator, last March, and we haven’t stopped developing. Our latest version allows you to create rich marketing content including bios, feature-length blog posts, entire social post series with downloadable images, and personalized destination activity itineraries. Site Builder allows you to build and customize a mobile-responsive website with dozens of content blocks to choose from. Email+ allows you to create enterprise-grade email marketing campaigns with grab-and-go templates. Our integrated CRM allows you to manage your contacts, tasks, booking workflows, and sales pipeline as well as build itineraries, create web-based proposals to present itinerary details, communicate with clients, and, ultimately, capture the approval and booking authorization.

Could you tell us some of your travel industry partners, such as airlines, cruise lines, hotel brands and others, and what is their role as part of WorldVia PRO?

We work with hundreds of suppliers, but we partner very closely with a select group of providers. Great relationships with industry leaders like Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, ALG Vacations, AmaWaterways, Globus Family of Brands, Allianz Partners, Sandals & Beaches, and Disney Destinations are a big part of our success. Our preferred suppliers can login to WorldVia PRO to regularly update basic information and the latest news. WorldVia PRO also houses exclusive promotions, xFAMs and jointly-produced infotainment programming. We want to bring our trade partners closer to our members and our members closer to our trade partners, and WorldVia PRO is helping us do so.

It sounds like there will be some upcoming rollouts of even more resources within the WorldVia PRO tech platform for travel agents and industry partners. Can you give us an idea of what may be next for WorldVia Travel Group and WorldVia PRO?

We rapidly iterate and release updates regularly. We just completed a major release milestone and while we have several exciting things in development, we’re not going to announce details on the next big release just yet. I will say that part of our aim to be the premier platform to build and grow a travel business includes housing everything a travel entrepreneur needs in one place, so that may give you an indication as to what we’re working on now. I expect details of our next major release will be announced in Q4. 

With your years of Travel Industry experience and providing services and resources to travel agents, what is your take on the current state of travel and what we can expect to see with 2024 travel trends?

Booking activity for 2024 is very strong, so that’s exciting for the industry, though the strength isn’t equally distributed. We’re in a pendulum swing, and it will take a few years to even out. Cruises were decimated during the “incident” (COVID) while domestic destinations, especially Florida and Mexico/Caribbean, saw strong performance as things opened. This year cruises are back, along with bucket-list destinations like Italy, Africa, the Galapagos, and Peru, and some of the air has been let out of the theme park and resort balloon. That looks like it will continue into 2024, and it may be a few years before we see equilibrium again.

You can learn more about Jason and WorldVia Travel Group at www.worldvia.com and www.travelquestnetwork.com.