“The main student expectation right now and common to every single one of them is wifi!,” recounted Emy de Lema, founder of the San Sebastian-based agency, which offers a wide portfolio of courses and camps for junior and adult language learners.

Annually, the agency counsels 2,000 students including students attending summer camps in Spain, juniors going abroad, adults going abroad and high school students going overseas for a year.

In the early days, de Lema reflected that there were no international flights from the nearest airport of Bilbao, so students had to travel six hours to Madrid to fly overseas to get to their language learning course.

She told The PIE News that while the industry had evolved considerably and some students may now book directly, a strong reputation meant her business continued to enjoy word-of-mouth recommendation and referrals.

“We might have lost some individual due to direct bookings but juniors still prefer to go with a serious agency in a group and with a local group leader,” she observed.

Beatriz Estraviz, Operations Manager, added, “I really do not know how we survived and how parents survived without having immediate access to their children abroad… it is very interesting to see how technology has changed and is changing the world and the way we work.”