Tourism: facing Internet and crisis, travel agencies are they "offside"?

According to a study commissioned by the easyvoyages portal, only 16% of French people have chosen to use a travel agent to book their spring break. This distribution channel, who were promised a quick death, yet is much more than the resistance.
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That was in 2007 At the convention of the National Union of Travel Agents (SNAV), Biarritz, occupation feared, facing competition from the Internet, a loss of 30% of the physical travel agencies. A prediction which was based on the only American example where such a situation was happening. Six years later, we find that travel agents are still present in all the cities of France, and it is difficult to get accurate figures, some 5,000 sales outlets always welcomes customers all over France. Arguably several reasons. Raffour Guy, who runs a research firm specializing in tourism (Raffour Interactive), noted that the French, seeking expertise, still look mostly to agencies when they want to go on holiday abroad for long stays. It states, however, they are almost filled the Internet before entering the agency, "which is a new deal for the seller," who must adapt to a hyper informed customer. However, for stays in France, he is doing more and more, because "there is a sense that book direct it costs less."

The challenge of multi-channel

Customers, it is still the agencies say it best: at the last convention of the National Union of travel agents, our specialist, who surveyed a panel of vendors, reported these. If customers are leisure agencies still is, according to professionals, first for "listening and counseling" and "knowledge of destinations." In third place comes "the full support of the stay." In other words, go through a travel agency avoids surfing hours on the Internet to build his journey. Also according Raffour Guy, who has studied consumer behavior, customers who go through OTAs, "are younger, more urban and better livelihoods." The challenge of the physical branch is now being multichannel and thus capture those customers with high purchasing power. This is not to oppose a trade, travel agent, and a media and Internet. It is the ambition of the new brand-Selectour Afat who in 2014 should have 1,000 branches across France. Like other agency networks, it will have to forget too light a presence on the Internet that has allowed "pure players" - Lastminute, Ebookers, Expedia ...- to settle. Thus Selectour Afat intends to develop "very many features in a new site that will be operational in December 2013." According to Jean-Pierre Mas, one of the co-chairs of this cooperative, "the sign outside food sector, will be the second in France behind Orpi." Add, too, that agencies are likely to treat neighborhood business trips SMEs. Which compensates for the loss of a "leisure" customers as the effects of the Arab Spring are still being felt. According to a easyvoyages study by Prolise Consulting, more than seven out of ten travelers will stay in France during spring break and those that come out of our borders have chosen the Maghreb or the Mediterranean (14%). Moreover, what customers often do not know is that they have a double protection when it goes through a travel agency. This is one of the projects of the year 2013 of the Professional Association of Solidarity Tourism (APST), guaranteeing the majority of travel agencies: communicate with the public on this value. The association protects the deposits of consumers. In other words, if the travel agent goes bankrupt, it will reimburse the customer or, better, find a way to make him leave. The distributor is also responsible for the "right" in the context of the sale of a package. Only force majeure, though subjective, may exempt. The judges were well integrated and the seller of travel has rarely does the leniency of the courts. In a last stop, for example, the Court of Cassation held that a travel agent could not be free from liability if it had chartered a plane was late due to bad weather conditions.

"With an agency may, I would have found a solution"

It is always difficult for a trader to disclose the faults they may commit - "if you find that my bread is not good, I offer two sticks" - but this heavy responsibility has become a weapon for the agency . Tourists stranded abroad in April 2010, because of ash from an Icelandic volcano will probably regret not having used the services of a travel agency. And, in case of difficulties, it is still more reassuring to know that you can go complain to a vendor flesh rather than spending hours on the phone before finding someone who s' worried about you. And partly due to volcanic ash, it starts to come out. A tourist injured says: "I ​​bought separately a flight and a hotel to spend a weekend in Venice. My flight was canceled, I was not able to go to Venice and the hotel charged my first night. With a travel agent, I might have found a solution. "

64 failures in 2011

Nevertheless, the future of physical branches announcement does however not bright. As said Raoul Nabet, president of the APST, an association of over 3,000 members, at the last general meeting, "except turning more than not, economic conditions and the economic situation, we must live for the moment with the crisis and consider it as a vital aspect of managing our businesses. "The association, which provides professional, experienced 64 failures in 2012 against 38 in 2011 Small claims, certainly, but that sound as an alert for a profession. Thomas Cook has also announced the closure of 23 stores. If physical agencies have managed to adapt to new patterns of consumption, they now face a Herculean task: to travel customers whose purchasing power is eroding. According to the study commissioned by easyvoyages, travel agencies "no longer account for 16% of purchases" when bookings for spring break are analyzed. Easyvoyages founder, Jean-Pierre Nadir does not hesitate to point the finger at the price charged by travel agencies. "With an average budget of 459 euros per person for a family of four, you can not buy a package with a tour operator or a stay in a travel agency, two sales channels that are found irrelevant to the needs of holidaymakers today, "he said last week in the columns of Paris. The fight continues.

Source:"http://www.latribune.fr/opinions/tribunes/20130423trib000761149/tourisme-face-a-internet-et-a-la-crise-les-agences-de-voyages-sont-elles-hors-jeu-.html"