Consumers Continue To Use Travel Agents Despite Online Push

Richard D’Ambrosio, travelmarketreport.com
While online travel agencies (OTA) and Google dominate Internet travel searches, travel agents have held onto their booking market share, a leading consumer travel survey shows. 

When asked if they plan to use a “traditional travel agent” for a vacation in the next two years, 23% of consumers responding to MMGY’s Portrait of the American Traveler 2017 study said yes. That’s down slightly from 25% in last year’s survey, but still up significantly from 17% in 2015.

Based on the survey’s margin of error, the results are essentially flat, a finding similar to an American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) survey published this spring.

“This is good news. We’re not seeing nearly the growth we saw in the past, but the use of agents is staying the same,” said Steve Cohen, MMGY vice president of insights. “The desire of the traveling public is to have someone to trust, and they trust human travel agents more.” FULL STORY