Frommer: Agent sites must be dynamic

MIAMI -- A sharp decline in the dependence of the public on travel agents for information. A steep increase in the sale of tour packages. The dramatic rise of minority groups as a travel market.

These developments were among the major U.S. travel marketing trends spotlighted here by travel writer Arthur Frommer.

Frommer, who recently launched the national magazine Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, was the keynote speaker at the 33rd annual Governor's Conference on Tourism at the Doral Resort & Spa here.

Frommer said that the explosive growth of the Internet and the number of guidebooks and travel magazines were spurring consumers to do their own travel research rather than depend on agents.

"[Consumers] are relying on themselves to find out where they're going, how they're going and how they will be able to save money on their trips."

If agents and other travel retailers want to retain influence on consumer buying decisions, he said, it is imperative that they have state-of-the-art Web sites.

"It's become more and important that travel Web sites be totally interactive, with communications capabilities, search engines, bulletin boards, message boards and chat rooms," Frommer said.

Reviewing the growth of the hundreds of guidebooks and more than a dozen glossy national travel magazines, Frommer said they were being published "in response to an ever-growing awareness that consulting a travel book can improve a vacation."

He added that, "It's obvious that most Americans today, when they plan their trips, do not simply go over to the office of a travel agent. They study travel magazines; they study travel guidebooks."

Turning to the dramatic increase in the sale of tour packages in the U.S., Frommer said: "The travel package is perhaps becoming the predominant method of vacation by a large percentage of the American population."

Frommer noted that 25 years ago, no U.S. tour company handled more than 1 million vacationers in a year.

By contrast, he continued, GoGo Worldwide Vacations is expected to sell more than 5 million packages; and Mark Travel Corp., with its Fun Jet, will sell between 3 million and 4 million vacations.

All told, a half-dozen companies "count their business in terms of several million each," he said.

Tour packages have increased in popularity because consumers are attempting to keep costs down, he said.

Explaining this trend in terms of consumer incomes, Frommer said that the vast majority of Americans have not increased their incomes at the same pace as the 8% or 9% of the highest earners in the U.S.

Examining consumer purchasing power, Frommer said that 50% of Americans live in households that earn less than $39,000, and 81.7% live in households earning less than $70,000.

"There is an unmistakable trend that the overwhelming majority of Americans have modest incomes and are, therefore, unusually sensitive to cost," he said.

Frommer noted the increasing ethnic diversity of the U.S. population, with nearly one-third now being classified as members of minority groups.

"It is obviously incumbent on anyone in the travel industry to become far more sensitive to the needs of these minority populations," he said.

As for other major U.S. travel marketing trends, Frommer listed these: