Travel Weekly - July 27, 2009

For prospective vacationers, trust in agents rises

WHO DO YOU TRUST WHEN CONSIDERING VACATION DESTINATIONS?

By Nadine Godwin

2007

2008

2009

Travelers who responded ‘extremely confident/very confident’

Recommendations of a friend or family member

83%

80%

79%

Information in travel guidebooks

Recommendations of a travel agent

Information on the website of an online travel agency such as Expedia,
Travelocity, etc.

Information in a company or destination website

Information in travel brochures

Articles in newspapers and magazines or programs on TV and radio

Reviews you have read in an online advisory site such as TripAdvisor.com

n/a

Reviews you have read on a blog

Information in travel advertising

For agents, status quo is not a bad thing

By Nadine Godwin

Travel agents can certainly take some comfort in the latest consumer re- search undertaken among active lei- sure travelers. The results are strik- ingly similar to those reported a year ago, suggesting that retailers are hanging onto their share of the consumer’s travel dollar in the troubled economy.

The Leisure Travel Monitor reported that among air travelers who booked a hotel stay for at least one leisure trip last year, 28% reported using a conven-

tional travel agency for a portion of their travels, about the same as the previous year. On average, they used agents for 10% of their travel.

To further illuminate these data, Travel Weekly requested a further breakout by spending.

The results show that leisure travelers who used a travel agent spent 43% of their travel dollars at brick-and-mortar agencies, and another 5% of those dollars were spent with a home-based agency.

Supplier websites accounted for just under a quarter (24%) of leisure travel dollars, and another 11% of those dollars were spent at websites operat-

See AGENTS on Page 12

Travelers trust their friends and family more than anyone when it comes to recommendations for leisure travel. The differ- ence between the high ratings given to these informal advis- ers and the next-most-trusted sources, guidebooks and travel agents, is striking.

On the other hand, unless Cousin Millie is a travel agent as well as a relative, prospective travelers still have to turn to other sources to make their purchases, and there still seems to be considerable confidence in travel agents.

Here are this year's stats: 79% of leisure travelers said they were extremely or very confident in the recommendations of friends and family, whereas 50% said the same about guidebooks and 45% said the same about travel agents.

In fact, according to the 2009 Leisure Travel Monitor, consumer confidence in guidebooks and agents rose in the last year from 44% and 40%, respectively, reversing losses of the previous year.

In the case of information found at online travel agency sites, however, 46% of leisure travelers were extremely or very confident in the source a year ago, but that portion dropped significantly, to 38% this year.

As for the remaining information sources, leisure travelers expressed high degrees of confidence as follows: company or destination website, 33%; travel brochures, 32%; articles in the consumer media, 30%; reviews in online advisory sites like TripAdvisor.com, 27%; reviews in blogs, 22%; and travel advertising, 14%.

In the past decade, traveler confidence in all
sources has slipped, when measured against com-
parable research in 2000. At that time, 51% said
they were extremely or very confident
in agent recommendations. Other
options, measured at the time, were
given votes of confidence as follows:
travel brochures, 42%; information
on a company or destination web-
site, 40%; stories in consumer media,
39%; and travel advertising, 30%.
On the other hand, in roughly the
same time period, the influence of
agents rose among those who used
traditional agents to book air travel
and accommodations. In this year’s
Monitor, 62% of such clients said
See CONFIDENCE on Page 10

Protect Yourself. Travel protection for your lost luggage and more.

s;;4RIP;#ANCELLATION;4RIP;)NTERRUPTION
s;;"AG;$ELAY
s;;4RIP;$ELAY
s;;AND;MORE

5!40;)NSIDER;S;#LUB;OFFERS;ITS;MEMBERS;TRAVEL;PROTECTION; COVERAGE;FOR;TRAVEL;ON;INDUSTRY;FREE;REDUCED;RATE;OR;FULL;FARE TICKETS;ON;SCHEDULED;!IRLINES;;!M TRAK;;PASSENGER; TRAIN;OR;CRUISE; LINES;;; ; ; ; s;;!IRLINE;%MPLOYEES %LIGIBLE;-EMBERS;;)NCLUDE;; s;;(OTEL;%MPLOYEES ; ; ; s;;#RUISE;%MPLOYEES ; ; ; s;;#AR;2ENTAL;%MPLOYEES ; ; ; s;;4RAVEL;!GENTS