I start my 40th year with Travel Weekly
today. To mark the date, Ive chosen five major industry
developments (spanning several decades) that changed the travel
business.
1. Cruising: The
first, and in many ways the most important to travel agencies, was
the rise of the cruise industry, which changed from a
carriage-trade mode of travel, mainly across the Atlantic, to a
popular vacation choice with new megaships and worldwide
destinations. It would be hard to imagine the impact on so many
agencies if they didnt have the potent cruise product line to
sell.
2. The GDS: In the
mid-1970s, the way the industry operates changed forever with the
advent of what we once called the CRS and now the GDS. The
technology made it possible for agencies to use one tool to
encompass virtually their entire range of products.
Now, 30 years later,
the future of the GDS is in doubt as the owning companies have
changed from airlines to other businesses. Finding a new business
model for GDS firms will be one of the continuing stories of the
next few years.
3. Terrorism: Random
terrorism always has existed in some places, notably northern
Ireland and Israel. But random terrorism, in the sense that it
could happen anywhere in the world at any time, took root in the
mid-1980s and remains a formidable impediment to discretionary air
travel.
In the mid-1980s, we
had the spate of hijackings as well as the vicious terrorist
attacks at European airports. No one could have imagined how much
worse terrorism could become, but we learned that lesson on
9/11.
4. Commission
caps/cuts: The 1990s proved to be the most earth-shaking of the
post-World War II era. In the middle of the decade, the airlines
devalued travel agents, changing the age-old commission structure
from a percentage-basis compensation formula with no cap to one
with modest upper limits. That sharply reduced payment policy was
soon replaced by the abolition of per-ticket
commissions.
Many travel agencies
closed their doors in the mid-90s. But a surprising number of
agencies quickly adapted by changing their product mix and even by
learning how to work with airlines on productivity-based
plans.
5. The Internet:
Finally, in the mid-90s came the change that affects just about
every business on the planet, from the corner store to the global
corporation.
The Internet already
has shown its colors as the most powerful research, communications
and transactional tool ever created. Whether you have become a
devotee or have tried to ignore it, the Internet will continue to
affect your business in ways you cant even imagine.