Detail description of travel agencies

1. (ACHIEVERS)
KUMARI AKANCHA- 191204575
APUEN, RIZZA DE OCAMPO - 191204571
SOOD JAYANT - 191104559
SONI VISHRUT - 191104560

2.  Introduction
 Definitions of Travel Agencies
 Importance of Travel Agencies
 Differences
 Latest technology trend
 Travel Agencies:
a. Specializes in Corporate Travelers
b. Specializes in Meetings
 Discussion on Standstill:
a. Cause of the standstill - Disruption to travel & tourism
b. Challenges faced by the travel & tourism sector
c. THREE Forecast Scenarios
d. Mitigating the effect on the Travel and Tourism Sector
 Conclusion
 References

3.  Travel agencies are one of the most important organizations in the private sector of the
tourism industry, and they play an important role in the expansion and promotion of
tourism in the country or a destination.
 It is a travel agency that packs and handles all the sights, passages, facilities and ancillary
services of a country and introduces them to tourists. This is why travel agencies are called
the "image builder" of a country.
 A potential travel agency refers to a travel agency that arranges travel tickets (railway,
airplane, sea and road); travel documents (visas, passports, and other official papers
required for travel); entertainment, accommodation, and other transportable-related
services provided by major suppliers. It can also obtain travel insurance and foreign
currency for travelers.
(Kumari Akancha)

4. Source 1:
Online travel agencies provide interaction points via the Internet, permitting customers to hunt
for appropriate flights and charges and make selections. If conventional travel agencies plan
to sell products on the Internet, administration must try to provide Internet consumers with
higher or new value (Hsu, Wolfe, and Kang, 2004; Hwang, McMillan, and Lee, 2003; Harker
and Xue, 2002). Colgate and Smith (2007) call this process value innovation.
Online travel agencies commonly work on two models. They are,
a) Merchant Model
b) Agency Model
(Kumari Akancha)

5. Source 2:
 In the past, people did not understand the services of travel agencies. They used to face several
difficulties and were unable to arrange travel on their own.
 The purpose of appointing a travel agency is to arrange logistics for military personnel or to
provide relief to war victims. They used to provide postal and express services for the
government. Within an appropriate time frame, some travel agencies provide locals and
tourists with travel information, such as the arrival and departure schedules of trains and
buses.
 Therefore, before Thomas Cook established the first professional travel agency in 1841, there
was no organized relationship between travel agencies and accommodation service providers
and transportation operators. (Dr. Sampad Kumar Swain, 2014).
(Kumari Akancha)

6.  Even though Cox and Kings became
the first travel agency established in
the United Kingdom as early as 1757
to serve as British Army agents in
various colonies of the British
government, Thomas Cook provided
their innovative travel solutions
(such as hotel coupons, circulars,
guides, travel magazines etc.) (Dr.
Sampad Kumar Swain, 2014).
(Kumari Akancha)

7. In the tourism industry, if travel is regarded as the leg of the industry, then travel agencies are
an important backbone of the entire system.
Even if the Internet has produced revolutionary changes in the tourism industry, travel agencies
cannot be replaced. Through travel agencies, tourists do not have to feel pressured for
preparations and significant data, because they can save a lot of time and energy (Ferreira, J.
(2019)).
Some of the importance of travel agencies are,
1) Expert Guidance
2) Time and Money Savings
1) Expert Guidance:
No one can do more than a travel agency because they have professionals with the
proper education and training.
The information and experience accumulated over the years enable travel agency to
play the greatest role in all work.
They can provide professional advice and warnings based on personal experience to
monitor the holiday.
They have a large network and can give visitors an insight that is not found on the
Internet (btw, 2016).
(Kumari Akancha)

8. 2) Time and Money Savings:
(Kumari Akancha)

9.  Today, travelers want immediate access to the most relevant information about their
accommodation options, which is why they rely heavily on metasearch engines and
online travel agencies (OTA) (Szmadmin, 2017).
(Sood Jayant)

10. Metasearch Engine OTAs (Online travel agencies)
They show the current prices of many
different hotels in a particular destination.
They promote hotels in global destinations
and provide their room rates, descriptions
and photos.
Example: TripAdvisor, Trivago, Google Example: Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda
Lower commission costs of meta search
engines
Higher commission costs of OTAs
Cannot book from a meta search engine Can directly book from an OTA website
(Sood Jayant)

11. For any business in the tourism industry, whether it is the hotel industry, transportation industry
or entertainment industry, maintaining a leading travel trend is essential.
Hotel Metrics Essential for Each Hotel
 The most common situation is that when you find yourself running a hotel business, you only
have a little understanding of what is actually happening in the hotel’s back office.
 Not knowing what communication metrics are may have a negative impact on your business.
 Booking engines and property management systems are very powerful tools that can report
very useful information, although they cannot collect all the key information needed for
success.
Use a chatbot to Improve communication and obtain Metrics
 The advantage of having a Chatbot is that the Chatbot is driven by artificial intelligence,
which means it can perform tasks that normally require humans.
 It also extracts information from the hotel database to provide tailored answers.
 This smart technology with artificial intelligence is usually embedded in hotel websites, social
media platforms and even messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
(Soni Vishrut)

12.  BCD Travel is an international corporate travel
management provider for business travelers that
can simplify searches for hotels, flights, etc.
 With its innovative online tools, travelers can
easily navigate their options and make the right
choice.
 Services offered by BCD travel agents include
hotel savings, booking experience, cost saving,
policy compliance and comprehensive travel
services.
 Aside from booking a trip, the agents will also
change the employees’ travel plans accordingly,
create invoices, find the best hotel rates, and
inform of any travel disruptions.
(Sood Jayant)

13.  CWT, one of the world’s leading business travel
agencies, provides world-class corporate travel
management fueled by decades of experience,
our amazing corporate travel agents and backed
by award-winning technology.
 CWT organization focuses on the business of
travel and meetings - so customers and their
employees can focus on the company’s business.
 CWT Meetings & Events offers customers
creative ideas and smart solutions to plan and
manage your virtual events. Whether they need
to launch a new product, carry out a large-scale
employee communications program, hold a trade
show, user conferences, or even training &
recruitment fairs: travel agency can set up their
next event for success.
(Sood Jayant)

14.  The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the
global economy, caused a disruption to
Travel and Tourism.
 As at Jun 2020, Covid-19 has infected over
10 million people and caused the deaths of
over 500,000 worldwide.
 Countries have closed their borders to
prevent spread of the pandemic.
 International tourism has been suspended
and domestic tourism faced with
restrictions.
 Impact on countries reliant on tourism.
(Apuen, Rizza De Ocampo)

15.  Airplanes are grounded, hotels are closed and travel restrictions in almost all
countries around the world.
 An estimated 100 to 120 million tourism related jobs will be affected.
 The forecast is a decline of 60% to 80% in tourist arrivals for the year 2020.
 The image on the right reflects countries most vulnerable to the standstill in tourism
because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Apuen, Rizza De Ocampo)

16.  Domestic travel will recover faster than
international travel.
 Unknown nature of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 Travel restrictions between countries.
 Global economic recession.
 High cost of tourist travel.
(Apuen, Rizza De Ocampo)

17.  UNWTO has predicted three scenarios of the state of international tourism in 2020:
S/n Label Description
1 Moderate
(Optimistic)
1/3 of annual inbound tourism expenditure
is removed. Equivalent of 4 months
standstill
2 Intermediate 2/3 of annual inbound tourism expenditure
is removed. Equivalent of 8 months
standstill
3 Dramatic
(Pessimistic)
All annual inbound tourism expenditure is
removed. Equivalent of 12 months
standstill
(Apuen, Rizza De Ocampo)

18.  Agreement between countries for “Green Lane” travel (Initiated by Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Singapore)
 In-country travel options (initiated by UK, Spain and Italy)
 Family Staycations at Hotels (initiated by the Singapore Hotel Association)
 “Flight to Nowhere” initiatives (operated by Airlines in Australia, Taiwan, Japan)
 Government support for Tourism related industries.
(Apuen, Rizza)
(Apuen, Rizza De Ocampo)

19.  A potential travel agency refers to a travel agency that arranges travel tickets (railway, airplane, sea and
road); travel documents (visas, passports, and other official papers required for travel); entertainment,
accommodation, and other transportable-related services provided by major suppliers. It can also obtain
travel insurance and foreign currency for travelers.
 The importance of travel agencies are, Expert Guidance and Time and Money Savings.
 For immediate access to the most relevant information about accommodation options, customers rely
heavily on metasearch engines and online travel agencies.
 The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a disruption to the travel & tourism sector.
With more than 10 million people infected globally, countries have gone into lockdowns and closed their borders to
visitors and tourists, to prevent the spread of the virus. International tourism has been almost totally suspended, and
domestic tourism hurt by lockdown conditions.
 Challenges faced by the travel & tourism sector
It will see a dampened appetite because of the unknown nature and unpredictable mutation of the virus and this may lead
to changing testing regimes and quarantine requirements at borders.
 To mitigate the effects on the travel & tourism sector, countries and governments have put in
contingency measures. Countries that have limited have domestic travel options and relies heavily on
the tourism industry will see a more drastic drop in GDP.
 Financial government support for tourism related companies are the source of assistance that countries
have put in place for tourism related companies to survive the economic impact.

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