Role Of Travel Agents

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The 19th century introduced the first travel agency. In the 1920’s, travel agencies became prevalent because aviation became available to the public. In the beginning, travel agents were mostly used by middle and upper class travelers who had money to spend on vacations. Most lower class families could not afford to travel. Once travel agents popular, they catered to middle class families on the lookout for a cheap but good quality holiday vacations. Air transportation in the 1930’s experienced rapid growth as new routes opened up as a result of government investment in airports and infrastructures. Though the travel industry weakened in the late 1930’s, due to the outbreak of WWII, it bounced back after the war was over. During WWII, …show more content…

Planning a trip can be exhausting. One could spend hours searching for deals on hotels and flights. Instead, there are travel agents to do all the work. Travel agents have the capability to provide the best prices and options. To provide the best overall solution to their individual travel needs, consumers depend on travel agents. Value is what a customer is looking for. Travel agents can often save customer money. A travel agent can advise the customer of relevant offerings and also provide cost saving approaches. Also, a travel agent holds product knowledge. Customers will pay for insight. Agents can provide customers with up to date information on travel destinations. This is extremely critical in the world today. Since 9/11, safety and security became more imperative. Travel agents are knowledgeable and can answer questions about the safety and security of a destination. Where consumers do not have time, a travel agent does. A travel agent has the insight and can do all the legwork. Although most importantly saving the customer time and energy, the value of a travel agent is the ability to provide a personalized travel experience at the right price and …show more content…

From being able to book online to social media being free advertisement, the Internet has taken traveling to a whole level. Travelweb.com emerged in 1994 as the first comprehensive catalogue of hotel properties around the world. Booking capabilities were added a short time later. In 1996, still popular Expedia.com was launched and its website offered online bookings for hotels, air and car rentals all in one. Later in 1996, a site known as Travelocity was launched. The Internet allows consumers to search, buy and share destinations in the touch of a button. New opportunities emerged to provide travelers with more information about hotels they were booking as the development of the Internet accelerated. The Internet has had many affects on the travel agent. Closure of many small agencies, tour operators merging, the web being easier to search for holidays and quicker to book are just a few ways the travel agent has been affected by the introduction of the internet. Though the Internet did, at first, somewhat replace the travel agent, agencies have found ways to grow with the

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