Are travel agents still relevant?

Travel agents need to get smarter and faster if they want to survive.

At least that’s the word on the street according to Travelport’s global head of product and marketing Ian Heywood, who said it’s all about the value the agent provides travellers.

“Once upon a time, the value was issuing a ticket,” Heywood told Travel Weekly, adding that this is no longer the case.

“Consumers are more demanding and more knowledgeable. The question now is what is the agents’ value to the customer?”

“The industry is good at changing but needs to continue,” Heywood added.

Heywood said that while the travel industry has always been a changing one, technology is playing a big role in enabling consumers, so travel agents have to keep up if they want to be sustainable.

“Consumer needs are changing – now someone will come in and want to go away next weekend and do something exciting and an agent needs to provide six, seven, eight different options,” Heywood told TW.

And with more millennials doing just that, agents need speed and smarts to remain relevant.

According to Travelport, around 61% of millennials are turning their business trip into a vacation, meaning creating flexible holiday options for a range of purposes is more important than ever.

“More people do leisure and business together, so agents need to be across leisure and business,” Heywood said.

Personalisation is another new buzzword that customers now want when it comes to travel.

“Consumers are getting used to personalisation – they expect it,” Heywood added. “And airlines are already understanding that.”

“They want to make personalised offers to customers based on what’s important to them.”

And it’s this trend that will drive what clients want from their agents, whether it’s carefully curated holidays based on personal interests, or the knowledge and expertise of an up-to-date agent, the glass is still half full for agents, and will continue as long as the industry remains current.

“Agents still have a major role as long as they continue to bring value,” Heywood said.

“”I don’t think you can ever do enough.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Latest comments

Clair Voyant says:
August 6, 2015 at 10:34 am
After many years as a retail agent it really concerns me about the demise of the travel agent. We have lost all of our benefits, revenue has been slashed by reduced commissions and taxes separated as non commissionable on fares, principals are competing heavily against us and then there is the internet!! We need to reinvent ourselves, somehow. It hurts me to say that Flight Centre Group and a few niche operators will be the only survivors and goodbye to Helloworld. Is there not a genius out there who can save all of our wonderful, very underpaid and committed travel consultants?
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- Simon Hills says:
  August 7, 2015 at 9:40 am
  It is entirely “self-serving”, but yes, Agencies do need to re-invent themselves. This is the exact reason that we started Maestro Travel. If you want to increase your commission levels and avoid the competition posed by principals, then have a look at our website and you will see a way forward.
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- Simon Hills says:
  August 7, 2015 at 9:38 am
  s.hills@maestrotravel.com.au
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