Travel Agents Good for Face-to-Face Deals

Travel agents are good for holidaymakers who prefer to receive a more personal, "face-to-face" service, one expert has said.

According to Which? Holiday, although many consumers are now booking their getaways online, travel agents are not redundant yet and still serve a unique purpose.

Kate Shipp of Which? Holiday said: "Our research has shown that there are still people out there who like to use a travel agent.

"In this particular research, a fifth of the respondents didn't book any of these products online."

She added that their reluctance to book online was not down to security fears but simply a preference to speak to someone in the flesh when booking their getaways.

The less "tech-savvy" were also thought to be more likely to go to a travel agent, as they "may not feel confident booking online".

Official figures released by the Office for National Statistics revealed that in 2007, 61 per cent of households had access to the internet.

Travel Industry News posted on 01/05/2008 11:02:05