The Internet is Great, But Sometimes a Travel Agent is Still Better

There is no shortage of travel web sites available on the internet these days. In fact more and more people are using the web to plan or source their vacation plans. Although using the web can certainly be convenient, it may not always be your best option for your travel.

Understanding What Travel Agents Do

If you ask the public what a travel agent does, most will answer travel agents are able to source tickets for persons wishing to travel to a particular destination. Most agents tend to focus on a particular type of travel such as business, vacation or adventure travel. Some may even specialize in a particular location such as South America, Africa or Asia. ANZCRO for example are an agency that specializes in holidays to Australia and New Zealand and according to their website all their UK based staff have either lived in, or traveled extensively in the regions they’re selling travel to, so in this instance agents can provide personal advice, as well as help you book your trip.

Travel is continuing to grow each year since 2009 by 5%-7% per year so the need is great for resources to address consumers travel requirements. Travel agents who are knowledgeable and experienced are one of those resources invaluable to travellers.

Value That Travel Agents Actually Provide

Travel agents bring a lot of value to a vacationers or business persons travel that may not always be apparent until you start to utilize their services. A great travel agent does considerably more than find you the least expensive fare or accommodation for your travels. Travel agents, through their network of contacts and sources can procure information quickly and efficiently that can sometimes be challenging to find if you don’t work directly in the travel industry.

Travel agents themselves are also usually avid travellers themselves, and can often relate first hand experience to you that can help you greatly when you are planning your trip. An example is several years ago, I was taking a trip through Asia and had a connecting flight through a very large airport. The connection time was very tight and the booking program was allowing the booking because it met the minimum gap between connecting flights. The agent advised against selecting this particular connection though based upon their own travels through that same airport and suggested a slightly later connection.

The travel agent was correct, when we actually made the connection, the distance between terminals and the airlines was substantial, and would have made for a very stressful and possibly a missed collection had we not followed his expert advice and taken the later flight. Travel agents can also share a wealth of information with you when it comes to certain hotels, activities to try or places to explore specific to your destination . If they don’t know themselves, they usually know someone they can ask to get answers to your questions quickly that are both relevant to your needs and accurate.

If you run in to any difficulties related to your travel during your trip, having someone you know that you can call directly to help you resolve the challenge you are facing can be very valuable to you as a traveller.

Accessing the expertise, wisdom and first hand knowledge that a skilled travel agent provides can make your trip more enjoyable and stress free.