Abstract:
The travel industry has experienced major changes and continues to do
so. The airline industry is no longer paying commission to travel agents,
and agents are now charging fees to clients for various types of services,
as business and leisure travel become increasingly specialised. The role
of the travel agent has changed from that of an agent for the supplier to
an agent for the customer. For business travel, the travel agent has
evolved into a travel management company serving the business and
corporate travel market. Traditional travel agencies have started to
focus more on the leisure traveller. The development of the Internet has
resulted in a proliferation of channels that can be accessed by the
leisure traveller, further eroding the role of the travel agent as a provider
of travel information and a mechanism for reservations and transactions.
The question that arises is whether the customers of a leisure
travel agency are willing to pay for services that could feasibly be
obtained elsewhere. In this study, customers of a travel agency
franchise group were surveyed with respect to their willingness to pay
for the services rendered by a travel agent. The results show that many
leisure customers find that the services rendered by travel agencies are
important, but believe that a distinction should be made between the
type of service fee and whether the travel is international or local.
