Data from the Singapore Tourism Board’s Travel Related Users’ System shows the perilous state of the traditional tour and travel agency model, with almost 680 agency closures in just five years.
The STB says there have already been 60 travel agency closures in 2018 alone.
That leaves 1,169 registered agencies still operating.
An increasing number are biting the dust according to figures which show that 101 agencies closed in 2013, 111 in 2014, and 117 in 2015.
The last two years have seen a total of 290 closures.
Most of the recent closures were small and medium-sized agencies that had been operating for less than three years.
The STB told The New Paper the dominance of online platforms is taking a heavy toll on traditional high street agencies, especially those not utilising tech to keep up to date with evolving comparison shopping habits.
"They are being disintermediated as it becomes easier for customers to buy travel products directly," the STB’s director of travel agents and tourist guides Ong Ling Lee said.
LGE Travel managing director Ken See told the New Paper the rising number of failed travel agencies is affecting the industry’s reputation as a whole.
"Customers become more wary of travelling with lesser-known agencies because they fear losing their hard-earned money."
