Introduction
Travelagents still have a huge extent of high street presence in thecurrent market but the behaviors of end users are changing.Digitalization has been influencing all sectors of present life andtraveling is no exception. Online bookings have turned the waycustomers deal with their traveling issues. The holiday bookings haveshifted widely to the online market as well.
Highstreet agent booking versus online booking
Anyhigh street travel agent is sure to come across the same range ofchallenges that affect all other retailers on the high street. Theheight of the footfall is too much and the high street is not theonly option to consider anymore. For anyone who used to historicallybook reservations for at least one holiday on yearly basis,currently, have a lot of options to choose from. Apart from the highstreet agents, the smartphone devices, TVs, PCs, and many otheroptions have risen up to the surface.
Butthat does not mean that being based on the internet is easy from thevery start. The competition on this platform is even fiercer. Thingsmay sound great initially but building up the online presence is oneof the most common challenges. They need to build up their rankingsacross search engines, social media, and other platforms before theycan deliver a promising sale. Things are tougher than it actuallysounds.
Developingan online business requires a lot of experience. The main reason thatcan hinder online business is the lack of exposure for startups. Thehigh street booking agents have the upper hand in this issue as theyhave been working in the market for quite a long time and they knowhow things work better in the industry. Setting up the business alsorequires a lot of hard work, especially for online businesses. Manythings can bring in added struggles and a lot of factors need to betaken care of. The competitors in the market can now work toundermine your efforts as well simply by using negative SEO. This isa new complexity that has been introduced into the field.
TheFuture
Itis common for the current retailers from the savvy internet market tomine the booking data of the users and analyze the historicalpatterns to make a pro-active search and bring up opportunities fortheir current and potential customers. This is one of the mosteffective features that can put the existence of present-day travelfeatures under risk. No matter how effective they are in thebusiness, they can never provide customized offers suitable for theircustomers on their own. Of course, they can provide exclusive dealsand packages but only when you contact them. But new deals come upevery day and most of the busy customers are forced to miss thosedeals due to the fact that they just lack the time to run regularsearches for them. The online retailers can do that for them withease and the best deals will automatically be notified to themthrough ads and e-mails.
Therefore,it would not be wrong to say that there exists a niche for travelcompanies in the present market to track and notify the customerswith the offers that none of the high street agents seem to even careabout. Thus it is more likely for clients to turn to these onlineretailers.
Also,as you will be dealing with your own bookings, you will know exactlywhat to expect and will not be disappointed due to the third partyservices of the travel agents. The online retailers will provide youwith detailed information about everything even before you book thereservations to help you decide better. But word of mouth is the onlything that you can count on while you book your plans from the travelagent.
Furthermore,customers are provided with the liberty to compare out multiplepackages for same or different places right from the solace of theirhome. Information and advertisements on similar packages willautomatically be delivered to the customers’ end from multipleservice providers. They can expect the most competitive rates whenthey tally out multiple retailers. If you want to compare the ratesfrom multiple high street agents, it can take in a lot of yourphysical effort to help you get done with the activities. They willalso be pushing you too much to purchase the packages from them withthe claim that their services are the best. Things are simpler foronline retailers and this is another reason that is increasing therisk of the current day travel booking agents.
Conclusion
Whenit comes to the future, the opportunities are many and flexibilityappears to be one of the main mantras. Success is confirmed for thetravel companies that are dynamic and can exploit this feature. Butwhen it comes to the high street players cornering the market,nothing is certain and all is relative to how much changes they canbring in to their business. If you are a frequent traveler – be itfor business purpose or self reasons, you yourself can compare thedifferences. Customers are getting clever and know exactly what canserve them right. With more passing days, the dependence on theinternet will increase even more and that can affect the high streettravel agents to great extents.