Scope of Travel Agents in UK

Book 1

Assessment

'Assessment of the Future of High Street Travel Agents in UK'

Introduction

Tourism can be defined as the science, art, and business of attracting visitors, transporting them, accommodating them, and graciously catering to their needs and wants (Goeldner, 2006). 'The number of high street travel agents has declined by 24% since 2005, according to figures from BP Travel Marketing Services, from 8,000 to 6,000 'Mary Portas' (2011:Travel Weekly). In the past ten to fifteen years, many dramatic changes to consumer plans and purchase travel are seen in UK, and the pace of change is continuously accelerating. Before the existence of online websites, the only option for customers willing to access and plan trips was to walk-in a Travel agency and speak to an advisor. Many argue that since the growth of online industries and the inevitable changes in the distribution channels, high street travel agents have significantly declined and are heading towards complete extinction, as supported by the quote above. Nonetheless, despite the growth of online booking, travel agencies still hold importance in the tourism industry of UK.

This report has a specific end goal, which is to analyze the effect of web booking sites on customary High Street voyage firms. It was chosen to research this subject because of the expanding significance of these sites and that the universal voyage firm might endure subsequently.

Background

Traditional travel agencies still account for a reasonable portion of travel bookings and arrangements within UK. Travel agencies sell a vast range of holiday products and services to consumers within their traditional role of supplying both leisure and business travel so that their customers can rest and enjoy their trip. A travel agent could be defined as any person or organization which organizes and sells travel to customers. In marketing terms, a travel agent is the middleman, acting on the behalf of a client, making arrangements with the suppliers or travel airlines, hotels, tour operators for which they receive commission from the suppliers and fee from the client booking the service Goeldner (2012, pp.151). Travel agents possess significant knowledge about schedules, routes, accommodations, cash, costs, systems, objectives and all the other travel and tourism opportunities that exists (Goeldner, 2012).

Current Scenario

Many high streets travel agencies suffered from shop closures. Similarly, in the 1990s, major hurdles followed the loss of commission from airline ticket sales lead to the cuttings in potential earnings of the travel agencies. This amplified financial problems and pressure on travel retailers. One of the core reasons was technological developments which enabled customers to create their own holiday packages by booking directly from home. It has been argued that travel agents traditionally handled 85% of consumer transactions in the past (Wilde and Rosen, 2000). Whereas, with the advancement of online technologies and ICT-based distribution system, changes have occurred in the dominate role of travel agents. Households, up to 80 percent, nowadays have personal computers or mobile devices which allow the users to access the internet compared to 33% in 1999 (Harris & ...