Technology is moving at the speed of light these days and is replacing the human factor in many industries, creating new opportunities for some and major socioeconomic problems for others.
\nThe travel industry has been at the forefront of the technological revolution and has undergone an extreme transformation with many of the pundits and so called experts predicting the demise of the Travel Agent, as technology would render her\/him redundant.<\/p>\n
For a while it seemed that the industry gurus were right; a lot of agencies, especially the smaller ones, closed their doors, were taken over or merged in order to withstand the competition from the OTA\u2019s (online travel agencies) resulting in a noticeable reduction of Travel Agents.<\/p>\n
The writing was on the wall: it was a matter of time before the profession of the Travel Agent would become extinct.
\nWell, how wrong these predictions have proven to be. The Travel Agent is alive and well.<\/p>\n
Today more and more people use a Travel Consultant, the new name for a Travel Agent, to arrange their land vacations, cruises, tours, complex flights and any other type of travel involving multiple products and itineraries. They found that arranging their own travel requires a lot of work on their part having to visit many sites to find the best value and there are no guaranties they will eventually receive the product or service they thought they booked online.<\/p>\n
Travelers realized that using a travel professional does not cost them more than using an OTA and often the opposite is true as Travel Consultants posses the knowledge and have access to products and special pricing not available online.
\nIn a certain way the OTA\u2019s have helped Travel Consultants by taking away the trivial components of their work such as simple flight reservations and in the process allow them to spend more time with products that require knowledge and expertise.<\/p>\n