Hey, Travel Agents, Where Have You Gone?
by Ken Hall

article continued from

That really hit me hard. I used to see an agency in almost every strip mall or on the main street in even the smallest of towns. They were so convenient. And, if there wasn't one immediately apparent, I knew I could find one in a big mall while my wife was shopping. It was easy to pop in, pick up some brochures, get some ideas, and then call later to make plans. But I haven't seen a travel agency in years.

And I never see a travel agency advertised these days. All I find in my Sunday newspaper's travel section are ads by the cruise lines and big tour operators. Their ads reinforce my suspicions that travel agents are all gone. The ads used to have "See your local travel agent" on the bottom. Some even had theses little boxes with names and phone numbers of agencies that sold them. But there are no more listings of these agencies. Alas, another source to help me find an agent is gone.

My wife brought home a copy of Conde Nast Traveler magazine a couple of nights ago. I leafed through it and spotted only one ad that referred to travel agents, and it said, "See your travel professional." Most of the others had their toll free number listed, while some only had their Web site address showing. No help there.

Okay, so some real detective work may be necessary. My telephone book yellow pages don't help much. Yahoo's yellow pages business listings help a little, but not much.

Whatever happened to you, anyway? I am a member of our local chamber of commerce, and no travel agents are members. You don't even come as non-members to any of our "after hours" casual gatherings. These are the perfect places to meet people and just let us know how you can help us find good travel deals and save us time. Don't you consider yourselves business people?

Another venue is the networking group to which I belong. We like to have people from different businesses join our group. We haven't had a single travel agent even come to one of our meetings to check us out and see if we are worth your time and money. Why, just last week one of our members was talking about how he is going to be doing some landscaping while his customers are on vacation in Hawaii. I wonder if his customers used a travel agent for planning their trip.

Do you travel agents ever promote yourselves? I don't mean promote yourselves; I mean PROMOTE yourselves. I haven't seen a business card or flyer tacked to a bulletin board in a grocery store or church for ages. Do you think we know who you are? Do you think your friends, family members, or acquaintances will tell us who you are?

I know that, if you are home-based, you can't afford to advertise in the local newspaper -- but have you ever talked to the paper about doing a story on the changing face of selling travel? I mean, I have seen human interest stories on the local lady who raised money for the community swimming pool by collecting cans and bottles, and the mother-daughter team and their floral shop, and even the disabled, young war vet who runs an escrow business from the basement of his home. Why isn't there a story by a travel professional, explaining how the industry has changed, why it is still best to work with an independent professional, and how one can be found?

Or, are you really extinct or just willing to leave us to the Internet booking engines?

Ken Hall is president of www.HomeBasedPros.com, a subscription e-letter with marketing and sales tips for the home-based travel agent. The e-letters look at the buying and selling process from the viewpoint of the customer. For more information, go to www.HomeBasedPros.com.