13 Sept 2008

Duh! That's what travel agents were invented for!

A year ago I got talking to a young couple at the Destinations travel exhibition about their plans for a trip to South America. "We went last year", they said, "and organised it all ourselves, but it was a huge strain and we kept worrying whether we had made the best choices. This year we are using a specialist tour operator."

They are the tangible face of a definite trend. More and more travellers, having been seduced by the idea of DIY travel, are realising that it's not that simple, not that much fun, not very secure, and often not cheaper either. Many of them are becoming 'returnees'; re-embracing the idea of consulting a travel agent or specialist operator (somebody who has actually been to that destination, knows when the best time is to visit that site, or which is the best room in that resort).

And the trend has been accelerating. Each time an airline or tour operator goes bust the contrasting fortunes are plain to see: those who have their travel components assembled into an air package by a bonded travel agent or operator are double gold-plate protected (by ATOL and/or ABTA, TTA, or AITO Trust), while those who buy their own flights and hotel rooms direct are, in the immortal words of a CAA spokesman at the time of the Zoom demise...."on your own!"

Alastair McKenzie, Webmaster