And here you thought that business of being a travel agent had all but gone extinct, relegated to a vague memory of something that once was … kind of like a human palm pilot. With internet sites like priceline.com and expedia.com offering both cutting-edge algorithms and bargain basement prices, it would seem that the travel agent was on their way out the door.
According to Fortune, online travel agencies are extremely popular, but they’re being primarily used in the initial, planning phase of of a trip. From there, it would seem that people have once again come to prefer having a discussion with an expert before departing into the great unknown. Perhaps surprisingly, the largest segment of the population using travel agents are millennials. Nearly 30 percent of that segment of the population said they’d either used a travel agent in the last year or they intended to use on in the coming two years.
Travel agents are also increasingly popular with the well-to-do traveler; people who typically scoff at the concept of doing it themselves.
With new apps, like chat app Lola, designed to put curious travelers in touch with knowledgable travel agents who can help them plan their dream vacation without the stress of having to pick through piles of competing deals or the discomfort of having to have an actual face-to-face conversation, it looks like the travel industry is in for some improvement.
A travel agent has always been the best way to go. People simply forgot that in the frenzy of new technology. Now, it seems as though their time has come once again.
