Travel agents have proven to be far more resilient than they’ve been given credit for.
They’ve survived airlines cutting their commissions. They’ve weathered wars, SARS and economic downturns. And it appears they’re holding their own against the biggest threat of all: the Internet.
With consumers booking their own travel online, conventional wisdom held the traditional travel agent was doomed to extinction.
The inroads made by big booking sites such as Expedia or Travelocity were surely the last straw.
But a study released this week shows the majority of Canadians trust their travel agent over their computer.
According to the Online Travel study by TNS Canadian Facts, one in five travellers used a travel agent to make their arrangements, compared with just 12 per cent who purchased from a full-service travel website.
While 19 per cent of travellers purchased directly from a company website, such as AirCanada.com, one industry expert says that figure most likely includes bookings made online by travel agents. Moreover, travel companies, especially airlines, are driving more of their customers to their websites with incentives such as bonus mileage points or cash-back offers.
More: canada.com
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HIGH-STREET travel agents have been warned to change - or become extinct - as fewer holidaymakers opt to use their services for booking annual trips abroad.
Up to 50% of independent holidaymakers, those who book hotels, flights and other arrangements separately, are snubbing high street travel agents and booking breaks on the internet or via phone calls to tour operators.
The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) yesterday said operators must begin to specialise in areas like cruises or adventure holidays if they are to survive.
And although around 80% of us still use high-street operators for package deals, this too is changing
Travel agents remain top motivators among tourists
Despite the advent of the Internet, travel agents continue to play a significant role in motivating travelers to visit the Northern Marianas, according to a questionnaire survey of tourists who came to the islands last month.
Results of the Marianas Visitors Authority survey show that 29.14 percent of the 26,000 respondents cited travel agents as their main motivation to come to the CNMI.
This was followed by climate with 21.12 percent, short flight time with 16.80 percent, and price with 16.73 percent.
Travelers who came to the CNMI after checking out the destination on the Internet registered
26 Canadian travel agents based in Toronto, Ontario arrived in Manila last Wednesday to sample the various tourist spots in the Philippines that enjoyed a sudden popularity in the wake of the tsunamis that devastated its neighboring countries.
Philippine Ambassador to Canada Francisco L. Benedicto said the travel agents represent mainstream travel organizations.
John A. Tanjangco, representative of the Philippine Department of Tourism based in Toronto, said the group is going to visit Manila, Bohol’s Chocolate Hills and Boracay.
In Bohol, the group, which will be accompanied by a professional photographer, will also be Dolphin-watching.
Tanjangco said, "We will also be promoting scuba-diving
If there is one business that must rue the day the public gained access to the internet, it would be travel agencies.
In the past decade, they have watched their customers virtually disappear as they've flocked to the net and tried to become do-it-yourself travel agents.
"The internet is our biggest challenge - everyone assumes they can do it for themselves," says Eddy Krieger of Paxtours International Travel.
"It has been a blessing as well as a curse because people with no experience in travel but extremely good computer experience can jump on the internet and find they can get it slightly cheaper
SAA cuts out travel agents’ commissions
NATIONAL carrier South African Airways (SAA) will stop paying commission to travel agents from the beginning of next month, a move that will force retail agents to develop a new business model.
SAA says the use of internet and internal booking systems would save it about R1bn a year — the amount of commission it used to pay travel agents annually.
The abolition of commission payments forms part of a multipronged strategy by SAA’s new leadership to turn around the company in the next three to four years.
In February this year SAA CEO Khaya
