It is official -- average consumers, your clients, are on the Web.
They arrived last holiday season to shop for books, toys, clothes
and yes travel.
If your clients have not already made an on-line purchase, they
may soon at an electronic bookstore or a travel auction site. The
average consumer is adapting to on-line buying or e-commerce faster
than predicted. Credit card security is not an issue, it never
really was. There is no turning them back. They like it on
line.
Your clients have seen so many businesses move to the Web they
probably expect to work with your agency on line -- in some manner
-- and access the same, if not better, services and travel
products. As more complex travel offerings come on line, will you
be the Web travel professional they consult?
Let's assume your client does not understand:
1. The supplier/CRS/agency business model is making a slow, and
not very effective, transition to the Web because of dated
technology.
2. The consumer direct Web travel marketplace removes the
incentives for suppliers, and in turn the central reservation
systems, to support your agency on line and provide you with the
tools, products and commissions to sell travel.
Your clients do understand they are being presented with more
travel offerings on line than ever before and they can now receive
incentives when they purchase their travel on the Web.
At a minimum, the way your clients access travel information has
changed and from access to purchase on the Web requires no more
than a mouse click. Travel is one of the main drivers in the
e-commerce engine and the new on-line travel initiatives have been
funded to develop new sales channels and shape new consumer buying
patterns.
It is not going to happen overnight, but it is a challenge to
the entire travel agency business case. The travel agent community
can shift with these changes and become an economic force to
influence the Web travel marketplace or not. I believe we are
nearing a crossroads.
I have seen numerous business plans in the last eight months
that are based on an entire new type of travel industry
marketplace. Only two of them included travel agents.
The plans embracing travel agencies offered them an economic
doorway on the Web, but it was entirely up to the agency to step
through into the new business model with the appropriate hardware
and skills. All "agent-friendly" business plans on the Web,
including Orbit Network's, wanted to be met at least half way by
the agencies.
My hat is off to the agencies that have been early adopters. A
few agents closed their doors and created "cyber agencies," others
have fully integrated "technology marketing" with client database
mining and e-mail solicitations, and some have successfully
exploited niche markets by establishing e-commerce centers for
their market segments.
These businesses realized being a Web travel professional was an
entrepreneurial call to action. They have adapted to new
technologies and pioneered new methods and markets with new
business partners and a few old ones.
Most of these early adopters have welcomed their existing
clients on line. A few have even stopped calling themselves travel
agencies. By whatever means these businesses adapted, they proved
travel agents can be successful on line, and that is exactly what
travel suppliers, consortia, CRS networks and the Web travel sites
need to see.
Travel agencies using the Web successfully are in a better
position to seek out specific Web-based product support from
suppliers, technology concessions from their CRS and new revenue
streams with Web travel sites. These early adopters should be given
a chance to show what they can do with additional industry
support.
Too many agencies are still receiving faxes for supplier
specials when they really need to have that same special e-mailed
to them in a Web-ready html format.
Every travel supplier with a home page is aware of the cost or
"Web burn rate" it takes to establish a profitable e-commerce site.
Agencies can further their cause, and that of the entire agent
community, by demonstrating how effective they are as a sales
force.
It is unfortunate there are so few. Travel agencies have a
future in the Web travel marketplace, but they are going to have to
earn it. Being a Web travel professional never was, or will be,
just about a Web site.
It is about accepting travel as one of the most important
markets driving Internet commerce and positioning your agency in
the best light you can afford with your clients and business
partners. It is about new business strategies and tactics.
Learning to use e-mail systems, travel content, newsgroups and
search engines to your advantage are all part of accepting the
challenge of change and providing new levels of service. Consumer
buying on line and Web-based supplier relations are the travel
agencies' frontiers for the millennium.
If you are still waiting for someone to come along and drag your
agency into the new on-line travel marketplace, stop waiting. Being
a Web travel professional is a process of self-transformation. The
process may be painful, but you'll arrive in the future with the
ability to help yourself. Your clients, and the suppliers you work
with, are already there.
Eric Hosek is director of advertising and market analysis
for Travel File -- Orbit Network, Inc., in Whitefish, Mont. At the
Travel Weekly Conference '99 in Denver, he will participate in the
Consultants Arcade and lead the seminar Being a Web Travel
Professional.