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Agents: specialize
Two suggestions for the continued survival of travel agents from Peter Yesawich: “Leisure and specialization.”
“The shift in demand for agents is generally in the leisure markets, where travelers tend to be buying more complex products as opposed to point-to-point airline tickets,” he told TravelMole.
“Agents also have to understand their customers are far more enlightened. They have to stay one step ahead of their customers in terms of product knowledge,” said Mr Yesawich, a widely recognized expert and lecturer on travel issues.
Mr Yesawich is president of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell. For the past dozen years, the marketing company in conjunction with Yankelovich Partners has published a national travel study believed to be the oldest of its kind.
This year’s recently published study found travel agents holding their own after a significant decline over the past two years.
When respondents were asked if they planned to use a travel agent in the next years, 23% said yes. That number was one percentage point above the prior year.
“This may be a sign that the agent’s role in the distribution of travel services is stabilizing,” the report said.
Mr Yesawich said while the maturing “baby boom” market is a good sign for agents, there should be more marketing of younger groups than ever before.
Report by David Wilkening
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