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Travel Agents
Being Relevant in the New
E-Economy
Greg Duffell
travel value chain
fragmented due to e-economy
• Airlines, Hotels, Car Hire, Cruise, Rail, Bus
• Destinations, Meeting venues, Insurance
• GDS Global Distribution Systems (Air+Hotel)
• DMC (Destination Management Companies)
• TO (Tour Operators)
• Aggregators/Consolidators (online –e.g. Kayak)
•RTA Retail Travel Agents
•OTA Online Travel Agents
•TMC Travel Management Companies (Corporate)
• Consumer
• Corporates
can you survive in the e-economy?
•Source new products from Suppliers
•Upload my own products to online
•Sell to both trade & consumer
•Compare prices to see how competitive I am
•Cost effective & secure online presence, do I have to employ staff or IT folks
•marketing & promoting online
•How to do SEO/SEM and use Facebook
•Can search/buy my Agency products online 24/7
•Mobile access for my customers
•Extend my customer base from local to “global”
e-battlefield #1: IATA vs. GDS
84% of Total Air Traffic (down from 97% in 2000)
240 Airlines
1.8 bn passengers
$250 bn Billing & Settlement Plan
why is this relevant to you?
$3.0bn 2011
$2.0bn 2012
$3.5bn 2011
e-battlefield #2: Online Travel Agents
(OTA) vs. Hotel chains
OTA commission levels too high 20-30%
OTA controlling 40-60% of Hotel inventory OTA bidding on Hotel brands forces hotels to pay more for own
brand
OTA selling below Hotel BAR rates, eroding revenue yields
e-battlefield #3 – Consumer vs. Agent
knowledge
Searching 4-6 travel websites
Checking out prices & packages
Discussing online with friends on SM
Checking peer reviews
Call – Check – Confirm - Continue
am I relevant…. a survival checklist
FULL transactional website, incl. Facebook page
Understand the e-battlefields & your role
Increase non-Air PRODUCTS & packages
Communicate with your customer on their mobile devices (smart phones & tablets)
Increase your brand presence – advertise online
Partner/Alliance to manage RISK
