High-street travel agents should adopt strong multi-channel sales strategies to compete with online agencies, Triton director Andrew Botterill has said.
Speaking at Travolution’s Question Time event, he said US travel agent consortium vacation.com was a good example for UK agencies to follow.Vacation.com takes bookings via the high street and online.
“There is a lot we can learn from multi-channel travel agencies. The Internet won’t kill off high street travel agents, but a good multi-channel agency could kill off the web.”
Although many high-street agencies have closed, those who have differentiated themselves are prospering.
“There are 1,500 fewer travel agencies now than there were 18 months ago. They were not fit for purpose because they supported the wrong products and didn’t move with the times.
“But those who are smart and know their product and customers are doing very well.”
Customers research online but still want to book offline, especially for complex itineraries.
“The more discerning customer wants a more discerning experience. The number of websites acquiring customers online but taking bookings offline is phenomenal.”
Hotels are likely to build direct–sell strategies in the same way as the low-cost airlines, he warned. “We are starting to see four or five–star hotels in Spain building direct relationships with consumers,” added Botterill.
Conversely, Traveltek managing director Kenny Picken said eventually all travel bookings would be completed online. “It’s an evolution. People are used to booking flights and holidays online and they’re learning to do cruise bookings.
“We are kidding ourselves if we think they will never be able to book complex multi-stop trips on the Internet.”