The Travel Professor
Join me on a journey across the broad spectrum of interesting travel topics. We’ll discuss destinations domestic and abroad, some familiar and some off the beaten path. We take a look at suppliers like cruise lines, air carriers and tour operators and find their bargains and special offerings. Got questions? Email thetravelprofessor@gmail.com.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Who uses travel agents?

Someone recently asked: Who really uses travel agents these day. Hasn't everything moved to Internet based sales?

My response is that travel agents are still the leading distributors of travel products and services.

Travel agents sell:

87% of cruises
81% of all tours and packages
51% of all airline tickets
47% of all hotel stays
45% of all car rentals


Agents are the only unbiased professionals who can sort through nearly 100,000 daily changes in airfares alone.


My source was the 2004 Travel Industry Survey/Travel which provides some dated data but we haven't really seen drastic percentage shifts in the distribution patterns.

I am going to do some investigating and try to obtain more current data which I'll share.

Happy travels!