Travel specialists no dying breed

Despite the increase in the use of the internet for holiday research and bookings, many travel agents have seen an increase in their business over the last year. While many people are just getting introduced to websites like Expedia.com and Priceline.com, others are sick of them and are coming back to the more traditional means of organizing their travel.

Some of the main reasons for the return to the travel agents have been cited as: a desire to speak to a real person, and a lack of time to search the internet and find the best deals.

When all goes well, the internet can be a fast an efficient means for booking travel. But for some, it has become a nightmare.

Gene Luntz is a 60-year-old man who travels frequently on business. Two years ago he was using Priceline.com to make most of his travel arrangements. One day, he got sick just before a flight and spent several hours on a phone trying to speak to someone about making changes to his ticket. Despite all the trouble he went to, he was unsuccessful and eventually had to throw the ticket away. “Going to the Internet is an absolute nightmare,” he concluded.

Henry H. Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Forrester Research agreed. “Airline centers have scaled back their call centers and it’s harder to get help from the travel providers themselves, finding a travel agent who is knowledgeable and takes the burden off the customer is more valuable than ever,” he said.

Never the less, figures produced by the institute suggest that of the 141 million American adults who both use the internet and travel, approximately 77 million book their trips online.

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