i will speak from Indian perspective and no, never intermediaries will loss their importance bcoz i can give a different example it may be applicable throughout the world or in majority of the countries......... i.e., inspite of having trendy and fashionable readymade apparels/ dress materials...... throughout india our tailors are having full time jobs.........

so in the case of holidays also only thing was, earlier travellers used to get bundle papers like tickets, vouchers, coupons and they used make cash, cheque payments now this will happen electronically thats all......

the agent has to just transform from traditional paper mode to electronic mode which majority of the agencies have already done and many are in the process.......

Thank you Mahesh.

But are they losing all of their traditional activities?

This is aplicable by the use of documentation, e-tickets etc. What about informational and advisory role? Is it surely a guarantee of quality expressed fully when tours use Internet or you need the role of a living human labor. Another question that may arise is related to how to buy packages online? You buy a product as an intangible promise. Promisse that we will have a vacation or a trip, many months before the start. If we do that online are we sure that everything will be all right, or is it bether to do that in agency (toru-operator) directly?

Speaking from my own perspective I envisage that yes, disintermediation will have its toll for traditional travel agencies. But at the same time I believe that they will not disappear from the market altogether. the key word is diversification. I feel that they will start offering additional products and services (e.g., money exchange, consultancy services). In other words I see them offer high value concierge services to clients.

Sorry for the late reply……

To some extent yes, but it various from place to place based on travelers changing behavior i.e., based on factors which influence holiday decision making.

With respect to information and advisory role is concerned there again a person located across cities will be advising on the holidays, in many intermediary web sites travel portals or any tour operator/ travel agencies website we can see a pop-up CHAT WITH EXPERTS who will be available to give info and directions on holidays.

Yes quality expressed at the time of purchase has to be delivered at any cost otherwise the vendor will definitely lose the client, client will never sit quit they are going to forums where they can rate the service quality in the form of stars/points and consumer forums are very active n social media too…..

Normally travelers, who make online purchases, make a small research about the credibility of the portal and past reviews and discuss them with peer group online or offline who has already used the service…

Doing online purchase or not, depends on to things like

1) Knowledge about the use internet (people in many countries even today depend on fax or phone).

2) The credit card or net banking facility to make online payment either through computer or mobile it’s very important (Here again what is the percentage of population who are having these facilities).........

Thanks for this topic. I am a Tour Operator (Handling Agent) from Tanzania.

Through my experience of 20 years, I have seen Operators improving every year.

The only important part is for them to make sure they offer good and reliable services. Customers should get more than what they expected. Mouth to mouth marketing is very powerful. When they tell others about the best services they received, others will also request services through the same operator. In this way, the operators will remain in service for a long time.

The other part, which may cause them to leave the operations, is this:- The world economy: If the economy will keep going down, tourists will become less and less, therefore, the big operators who were used to attend a huge number of tourists, may opt for other businesses.(Not leaving tourism completely).

1. Bureau de change 2. Curio shops 3. Hotels/Lodges 4. Restaurants etc

The use of internet is superb. Because, all people who use internet, they MUST come across a certain operator/organizer. What internet does, is to make quick and easier communication. But for physical services still a customer needs someone for the services. Hotel accommodations are also effected well by internet. This only for arrangements. But still on arrival he/she need someone to receive and check in, someone to help on luggage, and direction. The Hotel organization has to be active. Internet plays a big part. The travel agents are experienced, very well so they can advice someone accordingly. i.e. There are Hotels/Lodges which looks superb from the published pictures. But when you enter, you find very poor environment! This happens to some places. Therefore, a Travel Agent / Tour operator is in the better position to advice someone.

Definitely all travelers need Travel Agents. The other important part is: Organizing any service through a Travel Agent, makes a contract between you an that Agent. But if you do all items through the internet, you are signing contracts with several institutions. This means, if anything goes wrong, you deal directly with those locals who may be scattered. The Travel Agents/Operators will always be there.

This is possibly a very relevant research area. Although we are witnessing internet penetration in many developing countries I think that the traditional travel agent is still delivering a decent service. Nowadays, travel agents thrive on ancillary services. They sell transportation options, hotac, tours, itineraries, insurance packages and much more. They can also give insightful travel advice!

To my mind, one of their potential pitfalls is their commission. Recently, many operators have drastically reduced their commission rate to travel agents. As you may expect, operators would prefer selling directly to their customers through their website!!

If everyone in the world will have internet access and will trust 100% percent maling online bookings than probably classic travel agencies will disappear.... but till then there is still a chance for such agencies. Furthermore even if one likes to do internet purchases he / she might also like to go from time to time in a classic travel agency to book a tour / trip etc. ... So most likely classic travel agencies will not disappear

Is there an actual research analyzing the shifts in the way travel agents operate due to the internet and mobile technologies? It would be also interesting to observe how tourists perceive today travel agents...

Because of the internet many travel agencies are doing best services to the touristers.Travel agencies have widened their business through net.

dont think that all the people in india are having internet facilities. only few percentage having net connection. out of this only few percentage are able to use the facilities. So my opinion the classic travel agencies will flourish.

In my opinion only homogeneous good might be sold entirerly via Internet. Complex products such as travel packages can not be sold without human touch as a client usually requires additional information which cannot be included in internet database. It is not by case as GDS developed first in the airline industry where the product is relatively easy to "digitalize".

i believe a model of re inter mediation will follow in the tourism business..Traditional travel agencies will become EC Able travel agencies and EC only travel agencies will try to provide the interface to them.. A new model will emerge soon in India known as EC Able travel agency whereby old travel agencies will use both the models which will be able to increase their market base

A fellow RG member has written a number of interesting articles that may be of relevance to your question:

In particular the chapter entitled:Tour Operators in an eBusiness World The Challenge of Change

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Frew2/contributions

Dear colleagues, I published an article that refers specifically to subject in this question. The paper deals with certain issues and analysis survival of TA and TO on the market with special emphasis on Serbia . You can find it on my RG profile. Best Regards