â€œTrust, honesty and impartialityâ€ key to agentsâ€™ survival

Sunday, 25 Feb, 2010 0

Travel agents must demonstrate trust, honesty and impartiality to survive in the new technology age.

The message was hammered home by industry leaders speaking at Travelmole’s first Travel Industry Question Time of 2010 held in conjunction with technology company DataArt in London.

There was surprising level of consensus between ABTA chairman and Advantage Travel Centres chief John McEwan and David Speakman, founder and chairman of non-ABTA agency group Travel Counsellors.

They voiced support for good agents who have the ability to build strong relationships with customers but admitted those failing to keep up with technology would struggle.

The six panellists, representing companies as diverse as Expedia and GTA, CarTrawler and DataArt, felt traditional travel agents have a future provided they embrace the latest technological developments.

But there were question marks over the role of "middlemen" in the travel supply chain of the future.

But even Expedia is embracing agents with specialist offerings.

Expedia’s Roy Graff called on agents of the future to immerse themselves in all online tools “and social network like hell to build up a network to meet face to face to build up that trust”.

Bricks and mortar agencies were urged to make use of every technological development available in order to remain competitive.

But Speakman dismissed high street agents, saying they were no longer sustainable, although he admitted there were exceptions to the rule.

“There’s nothing like emotion – ‘Do you trust me’,” he said. “The travel agents who will survive will do so by creating emotion and trust, If you don’t do that you will be dead. People want impartiality and want to trust someone – that’s where a good travel agent should position themselves."

CarTrawler’s Bobby Healy disputed Speakman’s assertion over the future of high street agents but warned that technology had created more competition due to the low barrier to entry to travel online. He urged agents to get an online strategy in place.

McEwan pointed out that ABTA had only seen a net loss of 30 agents in the past 12 months despite the recession, wih retail members seeing a slight improvement in market share as custmers sought assurance that their holidays are protected following high profile operator collapses such as XL Leisure Group.

He also dismissed as a “myth” the view that high street agents are not technologically enabled.

But McEwan admitted: “There will be a number of travel agents who have not changed their business model and will be under threat in the next five to ten years unless they change.”

He urged agents to ensure they are relevant through all distribution channels as technology evolves.

He also highlighted the fact that people aged over 55 represent the largest single market for booking travel at 40% compared with families at 35% and 18-35s at 25% via travel agencies.

McEwan said it was a misconception to think that buying travel online was cheaper, while independent agents offer the added value of expert, impartial advice for free.

Greg Abbott of DataArt said: The challenge is the ability to change. Bricks and mortar agencies with high costs structures must ensure that every part of the agency is paying for itself.”

GTA Travel’s Stuart Ellis said: “High street agents have something to contribute but they must embrace technology.”

*Watch video coverage of Travel Industry Question Time at TravelMole.TV via www.TravelMole.com

by Phil Davies

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Phil Davies

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â€œTrust, honesty and impartialityâ€ key to agentsâ€™ survival

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â€œTrust, honesty and impartialityâ€ key to agentsâ€™ survival

Phil Davies

Have your say Cancel reply

Should there be a limit on airport drinking?

â€œTrust, honesty and impartialityâ€ key to agentsâ€™ survival