The Travel agents is back!

THE leisure travel agent
is making a come-back
this year. Industry experts
say the number of leisure
travellers choosing to book
with a travel agent is on
the rise as consumers are
overwhelmed by the options
available online; are underskilled
to handle a travel
crisis; and are in the dark
about what they should know
about booking travel.
In a survey conducted
on eTNW last week, 86%
of respondents said the
number of leisure travellers
choosing consultants over
online platforms was
increasing. When
asked whether
they were
positive
about the
leisure
consultant’s
relevance
in 2017,
85% of
respondents
said there
was a clear need
for the agent to provide a
professional service that
consumers couldn’t source
online and 15% said they
doubted their relevance
because their clients believed
the Internet could give
them better solutions than
they could. Despite 86%
of respondents reporting
that at least 50% of clients
did research online before
coming to a travel agent,
80% said they saved the
leisure traveller money, time
and effort and that their
clients had confirmed this.
However, 17% reported
that they could
save the client
money but that
the consumer
refused to
believe the
agent. Only 3%
were not confident
about whether
they provided a
valuable service to leisure
travellers.
Marco Ciocchetti, ceo
of XL Travel group, says:
“The abundance and
complexity of some
of the travel
options and
restrictions
on the online
travel sites
have made it
more confusing
to figure out
what the sites are
selling.” He says for
this reason more leisure
travellers are booking through
consultants, particularly with
complex bookings.
Ceo of Asata, Otto de Vries,
agrees and says today’s
consumers are demanding
a personalised service more
than ever before, but lack the
expertise to navigate through
the streams of information
available online. He says
2017 will bring a return to the
acknowledgement of the role
that travel agents play. “Only
travel agents can answer the
questions Google can’t.”
Survey respondents
agree, with 66%
saying travel
agents could
demonstrate
their
relevance
most in 2017
by offering
clients a
personalised
service, and
19% said agents’
knowledge of holiday
destinations and other
travel requirements, such as
airfares, visas and insurance,
were also important. Some
15% said agents were most
relevant when sorting out a
crisis.
Said one agent: “Providing
the pros and cons of the
Internet usually gets them
to appreciate us. Clients are
often not aware of the risks of
booking online.”
“There will always be a need
for travel agents – we have
super powers!” another agent
said.
Said Michelle Bergset, coo
of Pentravel: “It only takes
one poor experience at a
hotel booked online, a missing
visa or a cheap daily airfare
deal that goes horribly wrong
for the consumer to lose their
confidence and revert to a
travel agent for guidance.