Jim Eagles: Survival of the fittest

COMMENT


Will the internet be the death of the local travel agent? On the face of it you might think so.

More and more people are booking travel online. In the United States, US$53 billion ($76 billion) of internet bookings will be made this year and that is expected to double in five years.

In New Zealand, the statistics also record an increasing number of people booking through the web. Air New Zealand's website alone receives 500,000 visitors a month.

With more people leaping into cyberspace and more travel websites being launched, the trend can only grow.

Forrester Research, a leading technology consultancy, forecasts that within 10 years the majority of travel purchases will take place online.

Presumably, most of that is business that once went through travel agents. So will they follow the local grocer and the local butcher into endangered species status?

Probably not. For one thing, many of the best travel websites are owned by travel agencies.

For another, it takes a vast amount of internet time to equal the knowledge of a good travel agent.

The key word there is "good". What the growth of internet bookings is doing is putting the pressure on local travel agents to up their game.

Those agents who put in the effort required to meet their client's needs should be fine.

Those who can't see beyond the standard package holiday to the Gold Coast may find themselves in trouble because they are likely to find their customers turning to the web for information.

The best travel agent I've ever used is Merilynn Crean, who owned a House of Travel in Tauranga, but has since sold the business and works as a regional adviser for House of Travel.

Once a year, my wife and I would go in and explain what sort of crazy, out-of-the-way holiday we were looking at this time, and she would come up with the perfect solution.

After we left Tauranga, however, we weren't so lucky. The travel agents we tried in Napier and Auckland were nowhere near as good.

An inquiry about a holiday in Samoa which would allow us to see some of the wildlife and local culture, for instance, led to us receiving a bunch of brochures for resorts. Exactly what we had said we didn't want.

So I turned to the web and quickly found Samoan Eco Tours . Exactly what we did want.

Having booked with them online, I also booked the air tickets online and the local travel agents missed out. And it was a great holiday.

Since then, I've organised a few other trips through the net, although I must admit that getting all the dates to fit together seamlessly has at times proved tricky.

I suspect many other people are like that. If you find your local travel agency is able to understand what you're looking for and the staff use their skills, knowledge and contacts to find exactly the right holiday at the best price, you would be a mug not to take advantage of that.

After all, unless you have lots of spare time, a fast internet connection, and know what you're doing, organising a trip on the web can be difficult and time-consuming.

When you book online there is also an increased risk of ending up with some fly-by-night operator who takes your money and does a runner (though you can reduce that risk if you follow the hints below).

But if you find the travel agency is staffed by people whose skills end at the latest Fijian resort and whose energy runs out after they've handed over a few brochures, you really no option but to look elsewhere.

And the internet, with all its travel websites, is sitting there waiting.

That may not be good for travel agents but the extra competitive pressure should be great for travellers.

Now if we could only get a bit of competition between airports ...