Robots, holograms and flash sales so good customers camp for days to snap up – these are all examples of how high street agents are trying to entice people in store.
Last week the pavement outside STA Travel’s London flagship store started to resemble a music festival as people camped out for a £49 Malaysia Airlines flight.
And this week, leading Scottish agent Barrhead Travel revealed plans to use robots and hologram virtual assistants to attract passers-by through its agency’s doors.
It’s easy to dismiss such initiatives as gimmicks that will do little to reinvigorate the high street in the long term.
But in an age when it’s all too easy to book online without ever leaving your couch, maybe anything that promotes the virtues of the high street should be welcomed.
The question for any travel agents that invest in bricks and mortar is why not do something to bring back some of the theatre of high street retailing that’s been lost in the digital age?
Cyber security is vital in travel
As a sector that holds vast amounts of personal customer data, travel is an especially tempting target for online fraud, which is why we decided to hold our first Travel Weekly Cyber Security Summit.
Two weeks ago, I made the alarming discovery that my online bank account had been hacked and a considerable amount of money stolen, which brought the subject even closer to home.
Whether the targets are individuals or businesses, the frightening levels of sophistication involved in these attacks make cyber security a subject no travel company can afford to ignore.