Guest Comment: Prediction for agents in 2004

Comment by Mark Riseley, Gartner G2, Senior Analyst – Travel In the second part of Mark Riseley’s comments on the industry, he says why he thinks 2004 will be a stronger year for agents if they are prepared to face up to the serious challenges ahead. But he warns; there will also be many casualties. The agency sector will continue to face reduced commissions, particularly for flights, and greater competition from direct sales. To compete, agents must ensure they either save their customers money or have specialist product knowledge and high levels of customer service. They need to develop even more as consultants, rather than simply taking orders for flights and mass-market holidays. Unfortunately this means many of the high street agents who have simply relied on passing trade will go under. The market for specialist knowledge and specialist product is growing, but is much smaller than the total share the high street agency sector enjoys today. The agency sector is heading towards consolidation, and away from the high street where the fixed costs are simply too high. A big topic for debate among both agents and operators is the future of the printed brochure. Both know there is a large amount of waste and guesswork involved in the brochure-led sales process. But to simply ‘virtualize’ today’s brochures into PDFs or CD-ROMs would be a missed opportunity. The industry desperately needs a more professional, technology enabled, more consultative sales process to support the purchase of what is after all high-value, high-risk and highly variable product. The time has come for operators and agents to take a giant leap forward in the way they sell travel. This article originally appeared in the January 2004 issue of Destination, the TOWARD Europe newsletter. To find out more, visit www.towardeurope.org. To subscribe to Destination, email: [email protected].