Are travel agents willing to ride the next wave?

By Yeoh Siew Hoon

One of the things that did please me about the Web In Travel conference this year was the increase in the number of traditional travel agents attending the event.

And the ones that did and sat through the programme were visibly excited to learn about what’s going on and said they learnt a lot – things they could apply immediately to their business.

One told me, “There are three things I want to do when I get back to the office. Set up a Facebook page, follow your Twitter and review our website.”

Talking to several agents after WIT, I sense a tide changing. In the past, you could perhaps pretend to ignore what’s going on in terms of how customers are changing the way they plan and book their travels and you could cling on to cosy relationships with suppliers who pay you incentives or commissions.

These days, you simply cannot afford to have a situation where the customer wants one thing but you are offering her something else because you are putting yours and your suppliers’ interests first.

Also, don’t forget, the customer often knows more than you think and she gets frustrated when the agent merely does what he or she is told and is not making any real recommendations because she may be hampered by either the lack of skills or tools or both.

Terms like the Internet, the Web, mobile, smartphones and social media have now become so interwoven into everyday lives that it’s simply impossible to continue to claim to be a “travel agent” – ie someone who is an agent of travel – without at least knowing how these things are changing customer behaviour.

So I sense, among the more progressive travel agents, a recognition for change – and not just change in small steps but they know they have to think bigger and act faster if they are to survive this next, coming wave of change.

The challenge is how to take that next big step. At the Abacus conference in Ho Chi Minh City last month, Guy Kawasaki said it is unusual for innovation to happen on the same curve, by the same people.

Usually it happens on a new curve, and it’s started by new people coming in, unencumbered by old thinking and an enthusiastic innocence borne out of not knowing.

How often have any of us suggested ideas to anyone, only to be told “oh, we tried that some years ago, it didn’t work”? These sort of answers do not take into account current context.

What was attempted many years ago may not have worked for a variety of reasons including bad timing – the idea was ahead of its time perhaps – and poor execution because of a lack of necessary skill sets, but not because it was a bad idea.

I recall a couple of attempts by a couple of travel agents to embrace technology in a big way many years ago – and most of them got burnt. And so they backed off and went back into their comfort zone while others used them as a reason not to do anything.

We are all guilty of whipping up hype because we need to believe in it and maybe because we need to sell something – a new product, a new solution – which is why these early adopters did what they did and paid the price.

And I truly believe that it’s these early experiences that have made traditional travel agents not technology or Web-resistant but fearful and unsure.

The recognition for change is there, the question is execution. Some have told me they are looking to hire bright, young people “who know digital stuff” but they can’t find the right people.

I suspect it’s also because the right, bright, young people “who know digital stuff” may be reluctant to join a travel agency if what they will be required to do is merely to run Facebook and Twitter pages and not effect any real change in truly the most exciting time to be in world’s most exciting business – travel.

It takes a bold leader who’s put in masses of personal sweat equity to build up a successful business to say, this is a completely new model, I need someone new to head it and run it, and I need to give that person autonomy and support.

Ah, the enthusiastic innocence borne out of not knowing. What wouldn’t we do for a little dash of that?


Yeoh Siew Hoon, editor and producer of WIT-Web In Travel, will be in Melbourne this Thursday, November 25 for the first WIT*e – Inspiration & Mentoring to be held in Australia .