Is There Still a Role for Travel Agents in the 21St Century?

MODERN TECHNOLOGY V. TRAVEL AGENTS: IS THERE STILL A ROLE FOR TRAVEL AGENTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

ISAIAH J. VAUGHAN

BA (Hons) in International Tourism and Events Management

Cardiff Metropolitan University

April 2018

Declaration I hereby declare that this dissertation entitled: “Modern Technology v. Travel Agents: Is there still a role for travel agents in the 21st century?” has not already been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. It is the result of my own independent research except where otherwise stated.

Candidate Name: Isaiah John Vaughan

Signature:

Supervisor: Dr. Vicky Richards

Signature:

Date: 18th April 2018

Abstract

Various articles and literature have indicated that the advancements of technology such as the advent of the internet; the emergence of smartphones and tablets; and the implementation of updated hardware and software, has had an influence and effect on the role and business of travel agents. Due to the fluidity of external factors that is affecting the macro-environment of the tourism industry, there has been some significant changes and shifts in consumer behaviour, particularly towards the use of travel agents as a mean of platform to arrange and book holidays. The aim of this study is to explore the impacts of technology on the role of traditional travel agents and their position as a component of the tourism system. To this end, the research question is as follows: “Is there still a role for travel agents in the 21st century?” In this context, technology to an extent is the key determine to the future of travel agency, as well as the information searching and purchasing behaviour of tourists and consumers alike. The research questioned is answered through an experiment that entails, two semi-structured interviews which was used to collate qualitative, ultimately to get an insight from a business internal perspective of the impacts of the technological advancements. A questionnaire survey was also conducted, both online and face-to-face. This was utilised to get an in-depth understanding and awareness of the consumer behaviour towards booking online and in-store. The quantitative data collated from these research approach was used to triangulate with corresponding theory and literature. From this research shows compelling findings of the impacts that technology has imposed on the role and business of travel agents. Though, predominantly it has provided considerable benefits to both consumers and travel agents, such as high-speed internet, instantaneous accessibility, ease of use, endless choices. It has brought to the attention of the researcher that the negative implications of modern technology, in the likes of security issues and disintermediation, balances out the outcomes. As far as consumer behaviour is concerned, technology is a highly influential factor to the decision-making process and the buying behaviour.

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Acknowledgements By completing this research, I would like to give acknowledgements to the following people for their support throughout this project.

Firstly, I would like to give a massive thank you to my dissertation supervisor for being a column of support and a source of guidance throughout this experience. Thank you for working with me tirelessly and with great patience.

Secondly, I would like to extend my gratitude to my foundation, which is my family, for their abundance of encouragement and endless love. I would like to thank them for teaching me about drive and work ethic, and everything I know by example.

I would also like to take the time, to thank all the participants who was involved in this project. Without their contribution, this project would not have been possible to happen and there would have been no new knowledge in the research. To the two companies that I worked with, I am enormously grateful for your cooperation and for taking time out of your own busy schedules to help answer questions. The information that you have given has been fruitful and meaningful to the study.

Thirdly, to my friends and work colleagues for being understanding and accepting me for who I am, and just for being there when things got difficult. They have all given me a sense of home and a source of support throughout the duration of the project, as well as the university experience. Thank you, Kerry Nicholas, Katie Griffiths and Sam Gibbins, for being helpful and keeping me company.

Finally, I would like to solemnly give thanks to Henk Richards. Your words of wisdom have given me continuous motivation and confidence. Thank you for always believing in me even though I could not see it in myself, and for always inspiring me and helping me become a better person each day.

Table of Contents Declaration ...... ii

Abstract ...... iii

Acknowledgements ...... iv

List of Abbreviations ...... viii

List of Figures ...... ix

List of Tables ...... x

Chapter One: Introduction ...... 1

1.1 Introduction ...... 1 1.2 Background ...... 1 1.2.1 Travel Agents Defined ...... 1 1.2.2 Advent of the Internet ...... 2 1.2.3 Consumer Behaviour ...... 2 1.3 Purpose of Study ...... 3 1.4 Research Design ...... 3 1.5 Study Aim and Objectives ...... 4 1.6 Dissertation Overview ...... 4 1.7 Chapter Summary ...... 5 Chapter Two: Literature Review ...... 6

2.1 Introduction ...... 6 2.2 Traditional Travel Agents ...... 7 2.2.1 Accessibility ...... 7 2.2.2 Self-service ...... 7 2.2.3 Personal Service ...... 8 2.2.4 Tailored-packaged Holidays ...... 8 2.3 Technology Advancements ...... 9 2.3.1 Speed ...... 9 2.3.2 Choices ...... 9 2.3.3 Training ...... 10 2.3.4 Competition ...... 10 2.4 Consumer Behaviour ...... 11 2.4.1 Travel Agent Users ...... 11

2.4.2 Immersive Connectivity ...... 13 2.4.3 Mobile Devices ...... 13 2.4.4 Apps and Notifications ...... 13 2.5 Future Prospects ...... 14 2.5.1 Travel Agents in the Digital World ...... 14 2.5.2 New Outlook ...... 15 2.6 Chapter Summary ...... 16 Chapter Three: Methodology ...... 17

3.1 Introduction ...... 17 3.2 Secondary Research ...... 17 3.3 Primary Research ...... 18 3.4 Quantitative and Qualitative Research ...... 18 3.5 Semi-structured Interview ...... 18 3.5.1 Semi-structured Interview Sample ...... 19 3.5.2 Semi-structured Interview Sampling ...... 19 3.5.3 Recordings ...... 20 3.6 Questionnaire ...... 20 3.6.1 Questionnaire Design ...... 20 3.6.2 Questionnaire Sampling ...... 21 3.7 Data Analysis, Validity and Reliability ...... 21 3.8 Ethics ...... 22 3.9 Limitations...... 23 3.10 Chapter Summary ...... 24 Chapter Four: Findings, Analysis and Discussion ...... 25

4.1 Introduction ...... 25 4.1.1 Questionnaire Survey ...... 25 4.1.2 Questionnaire Demographics ...... 25 4.1.3 Semi-structured Interviews ...... 27 4.2 Travel Information ...... 28 4.2.1 Tailored Holidays...... 31 4.2.2 Accessibility ...... 34 4.3 Time ...... 38 4.3.2 Security Issues ...... 41 4.3.3 Virtual Experience ...... 43 4.4 Communication ...... 45

4.4.1 Training ...... 46 4.4.2 Apps and Notifications ...... 47 4.5 Chapter Summary ...... 49 Chapter Five: Conclusion ...... 51

5.1 Introduction ...... 51 5.2 Aim and Objectives ...... 51 5.2.1 Objective One ...... 51 5.2.2 Objective Two ...... 51 5.2.3 Objective Three ...... 52 5.2.4 Objective Four ...... 52 5.3 Limitations...... 53 5.3.1 Primary Research ...... 53 5.4 Recommendations ...... 53 5.4.1 Recommendations for Future Studies ...... 54 5.4.2 Recommendations for Businesses and Travel Agents ...... 54 5.5 Overall Conclusion ...... 55 5.5.1 Key Findings ...... 55 Chapter Six: Appendices ...... 57

6.1 Appendix A – Ethics Application Form ...... 57 6.2 Appendix B – Semi-structured Template ...... 66 6.3 Appendix C – Consent Form and Information Sheet ...... 70 6.4 Appendix D – Questionnaire Template ...... 74 6.5 Appendix E – Questionnaire Results Summary ...... 76 6.6 Appendix F – Semi-structured Interview Transcripts ...... 88 Chapter Seven: References ...... 109

7.1 Bibliography ...... 109

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List of Abbreviations

ABTA Association of British Travel Agents

JICNARS Joint Industrial Committee for Newspaper Advertising Research Surveys

OTA Online Travel Agencies

PC Personal Computer

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List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Who holidays have been booked with in 2017. 12

Figure 4.1 Participants age. 26

Figure 4.2 Participants marital status. 26

Figure 4.3 Participants income per annum. 27

Figure 4.4 Which of these have you used to book a holiday in the last 12 months? 29

Figure 4.5 What do you use the internet for when booking a holiday? 30

Figure 4.6 Which of the following bests describe your travel personality? 32

Figure 4.7 In order of importance, indicate your preferences when booking a holiday. 33

Figure 4.8 How many holidays do you book annually? 35

Figure 4.9 Have you booked a holiday in a travel agent in the last 12 months? 36

Figure 4.10 Where is the nearest travel agent to you? 37

Figure 4.11 Do you drive? 37

Figure 4.12 Where is quicker to book a holiday? 39

Figure 4.13 Where do you look for information when looking to book a holiday? 40

Figure 4.14 What influenced you to book a holiday? 41

Figure 4.15 What do you think are the disadvantages of booking online? 43

Figure 4.16 Travel agents are important in the future to? 49

List of Tables

2.1 JICNARS scale segments. 12

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction The meaning of this chapter is to lay foundation of the study that has been undertaken by the researcher. This chapter will set the scene and will also provide justifications as to why the topic has been chosen. The aims and objectives will be emphasised and specified to show what will be achieved. The project is to explore both the positive and negative impacts of technology on the role of traditional travel agents and their position as a component of the tourism system. The researcher will also look at the technological influences on consumer behaviour towards the use of travel agents.

1.2 Background The tourism industry is amongst one of the most dynamic, complex and vibrant industries there are. However, the sector is also known to be constantly developing, so much so that sectors within the industry are affected by external factors. The tourism industry alone, is challenged with inevitable vicissitudes, from new trends and patterns in tourism supply and demands; behavioural shifts in consumers; and emerging operational processes and systems for creating the most innovative travel products and services (Hall, 2016). The “tourism industry is enough to stimulate economic growth” (Ohlan, 2017, p.10), but too fragile to the ever-changing global markets.

1.2.1 Travel Agents Defined Travel agents are known as the seller and sometimes referred to as the “face” of the tourism industry. They are the most ubiquitous travel intermediaries varying in size, from multifunctional, multi-branch and mega-agencies to small independently owned offices (Sheldon; 1997; Buhalis, 2003). Despite, their scope and sizes they all share the same purpose, to provide convenient location for the purchase of travel. At the locations they act as holiday booking agents and a source of information and advice. Their customers look to them for expert product knowledge and objectivity in the advice offered (Holloway and Taylor, 2006; Bhatia, 2012; Page 2012). Goeldner and Ritchie (2012, p. 151) stated that “travel agents are specialists and counsellors who save the client both time and money”.

1.2.2 Advent of the Internet Technology has advanced significantly, for example, the growth of the internet has given consumers the choice to research, arrange and book their own holidays. Correspondingly, since the development of the internet, prior studies have indicated that “modern travellers demand more high-quality travel services, products, information and value for their money “(Law, Leung and Wong, 2004, p.100). The emergence of the internet coupled with the rapid increase in tourism demands, have driven the wide-scale adoption of technology, including the internet as an electronic intermediary. The tourism industry responded quickly to fill the gap in the market to avoid any “eliminations of the non-value-adding stages in the tourist service system” (Law, Law and Wai, 2002, p.106).

Tourism researchers have put emphasis on the importance of the internet on the tourism industry. Ultimately, the internet has been widely used as a marketing tool and electronic distribution channel, which is able to provide multiple pages of textual and graphical information at a much lower cost than the traditional advertising and distribution channel (O’Connor and Frew, 2000; Mills and Law, 2013). Although, the internet is a powerful tool, it puts travel agents under a great pressure to compete with the internet to offer high quality tourism products and services (Poon, 2001).

1.2.3 Consumer Behaviour According to Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2006) consumer behaviour cannot be defined from a single perspective. According to Guruswamy (2014, p.6), consumer behaviour is “depended on the price of the product and/or service”, while (Kotler and Keller, 2012, p. 173) described it as “study of the individuals or groups of the individuals when they think about selection of a product service”. Despite, variation of interpretations they all lead to a common view; consumer behaviour is the study of consumers’ actions during searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs (Schiffman and Wisenblit, 2015; Sethna and Blythe, 2016; Solomon et al., 2006). In tourism context, consumer behaviour is described as the “study of why people buy the product they do and how they make their decision” (Horner and Swarbrooke cited in Horner and Swarbrooke 2016, p.6).

1.3 Purpose of Study Firstly, the study is being completed in part of a third-year project, but the researcher has chosen this specific subject based upon the gap in knowledge between prior and present studies. Also, this subject has been a keen interest to the researcher for personal reasons which could help support career prospect. Secondly, the topic is a current trend in the travel and tourism sector, and in any industries for that matter. In a world where businesses and organisations are trying to achieve efficiency and sustainability through the implementation of innovative technology. For the travel agency sector, this means the use of technology to sustain competitive advantage and position in the tourism industry. Lastly, the researcher also has present understandings and knowledge from previous projects, this will be applied onto new research.

1.4 Research Design The researcher will take the approach of using both qualitative and quantitative data collecting method, therefore, gaining a variation and substantial amount of information. Consequently, the researcher will be able to get both opinions as well as facts, which will be used to complement existing literature to build a robust discussion, thus fulfilling the researchers’ objectives. These approaches would easily allow the researcher to construct conclusions as well as the generalisation about the topic.

The researcher will carry out a semi-structured interview in which, qualitative questions will be used, allowing the interviewees to genuinely express their own thoughts and feelings. In due course, the decision for the semi-structured interviews is to get an insight internally on the impacts of technology on the role of travel agents and the performance of the business, but ultimately, how the business have counteracted the impacts. Prompt to the qualitative data collecting, the researcher will take into consideration that some travel agents may be more experienced than others, and will find the latter of the issue more relevant.

For the survey, the researcher will use a mixture of qualitative and quantitative questions, firstly, so that the project is not limited and ruled out by one type of data – it is measurable; secondly, it is easier to analyse the findings and therefore can

3 improve a strong evaluation; and finally, it will complement both data (Garbarino and Holland, 2009; Carvalho and White, 1997). The result from the questionnaires represents an individuals’ stance on whether there will still be a role for travel agents in the 21st century, and is merely influenced by what companies and other consumer thinks. All documents and paper copies concerning the interviews and the face-to-face questionnaires, will all be stored and kept in a file holder in a safe place to ensure that it is not stolen nor lost.

1.5 Study Aim and Objectives A research aim is a brief statement of the purpose of the study, and though this is only a complementary way of saying what the research is, it does not entail further steps to achieve the aim. Therefore, research objectives must be devised as this would lead to a greater specificity to the research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2016). Southampton Solent University described aims as “an intention or aspiration; what you hope to achieve” (Learn.solent.ac.uk, 2018).

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore and examine the impacts of modern technology on the role of traditional travel agents and their position as a component of the tourism system.

Objectives:

 To critically review the literature of the subject of travel agents and the advancement of the technology.  To identify the positive and negative effects and influences of modern technology on travel agent.  To provide a deeper insight and analysis of purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumers and its impact on travel agents.  To make conclusions about the effect and impacts of the technology on traditional travel agents and make recommendations to business and to travel agencies.

1.6 Dissertation Overview This study will be structured in chapter order to give a coherent structure for ease of reading. It would also ensure that all aspect of the project is studied. By order,

4 these chapters will explore the introduction, literature review, methodology, results of analysis and discussion and an overall conclusion. The researcher will ensure that the flow of the project is adhered to in order to exploit the results and gain a better understanding of the research.

In chapter two, a critical review of the literature based on travel agents and the advancement of technology will be carried out, this is where the researcher will obtain and comprehend understandings of the subject. Methodology will be explored in chapter three, in which the researcher will give justifications as to what methods and techniques were used to collate primary research. Furthermore, the researcher will also highlight the advantages and disadvantages for their chosen approaches. Chapter four will involve the analysis and the discussion of the findings, and how this information can be utilised for further studies, as well as business and travel agents today. Lastly, chapter five will revisit the aim and objectives of the study, as well as the findings to draw up a conclusion and give recommendations.

1.7 Chapter Summary This chapter has introduced the chosen topic of study and has given rationale decisions as to why the researcher wishes to undertake the study. The research aim and objectives, as well as the research design was briefly mentioned and highlighted. Lastly, the overview of how the dissertation project will progress has been summarised in this chapter, where the researcher gave a comprehensive description to each chapter.

Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The literature review chapter will explore and cover the concept of technology such as the likes of the internet and mobile devices, and how it is affecting traditional travel agents. This chapter will look at the core themes of the dissertation, including traditional travel agents, technological advancements, consumer behaviour and future prospects. Traditional travel agents and the sector itself, firstly, will be reviewed as there is an extensive range of contemporary and pertinent information to delve in. This will allow the researcher to pinpoint and select what is needed for the research. The second topic, technology, will be concerned with the revolutionary advancements in technology and the impacts it has brought upon the travel agency sector. There will be sufficient literature regarding this topic since technology is continuously developing in the tourism industry and is a very fluid trend (Hall, 2005).

A literature review is a critical analysis based upon existing work done by other researchers and academics (Brotherton, 2015). It is the current state of knowledge about the subject, and it customarily comprises a combination of primary, secondary and tertiary information that has been fully explored and discussed, precipitating and reinforcing arguments for and against. Oliver (2012) states that a literature review should be narrow and focused, thus enabling the researcher to stay consistent and engrossed when researching relevant and relatable sources. Consequently, vast information will be collated which will be useful later in the writing process. Secondly, the literature review will aid in structuring primary industry questions to be utilised when in the field. If necessary and relevant, the results collected will be referenced in the analysis and discussion of the results.

According to Gibbins (2017), literature review is like a jigsaw puzzle, laying out the puzzles on the floor before assembling them together. Royal Literary Fund (2017) expressed that, literature review has four main objectives. This consist of surveying, synthesises, critical analysis and presenting in an ‘organised way’. Completing the literature review will allow the researcher to grasp an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the chosen subject. This will allow the researcher to identify and

6 analytically evaluate what the theory articulates from other people’s work and academic papers. This will therefore allow the researcher to identify what is missing, the gap that the research intends to fill.

2.2 Traditional Travel Agents

Traditional travel agents have been around for many years and has become one of the core components in the travel and tourism industry, allowing people to travel beyond borders (Butler, 2015). The main role of a travel agent is to provide a convenient location for the purchase of holiday and travel, acting as a booking agent whilst simultaneously delivering an extensive source of information and advice on travel services (Bhatia, 2012; Buhalis, 2003).

2.2.1 Accessibility

There has been a matter of importance and discussion regarding consumers utilising travel agents, questioning whether the purpose of the principal is still fit to grow and develop in the tourism industry in forthcoming years. Numerous existing literatures have predicted that many travel agent businesses will decrease in the next five years (Romero, 2016; Francis 2013). The emergence of innovative and revolutionary technology in computer software including the internet and other reservation and booking systems online, has given opportunity for consumers to individually arrange their own holiday and travel plans. This correspondingly allows the consumers to be more conscious and aware of what is available, thus enhancing knowledge. The results are self-evident within travel agents, it identifies and reveals that booking holidays and travel in-store is becoming less popular.

2.2.2 Self-service

According to Davies (2016) there has been an increase in sales for online agents, whereas traditional travel agents experienced a downfall in 2016. The level of online sales rose by 11.4% while bookings made in-store fell by 4.3%. In correlation, there was a decrease in holiday and travel bookings made in-store back in 2011 which followed for three consecutive years (Mintel, 2016). Accordingly, many travel agents have spent years reshaping and conceptualising the true purpose and aim of the

7 business, so that it would facilitate in aligning with expectations from consumers. Though this brings some considerable positive effects and influences on the business, it also generates negative impacts. For example, Thomas Cook alone, closed 56 branch stores in the UK including some Co-operative travel agents, in order to be more customer orientated, and demand focused, nonetheless the closures affected 242 jobs (Cuskelly, 2017).

2.2.3 Personal Service

On the other hand, traditional travel agents have indeed developed over the years and has advanced in technology and product knowledge, not only to gain competitive advantage but also to maintain its position in the sector. Additionally, it supports the business to meet the consumer demands and trends. According to Mintel (2016) there has been a shift in the use of travel agents, people are using them more compared to online booking and it is forecasted to grow in the next decade.

Firstly, time and knowledge are increasingly valuable commodities in the digital world. In short, customers are now more than likely to interact face-to-face with an expert and have less time-consumed when arranging and booking travel. Secondly, travel agents can become value-for-money experts. Even though the appeal of DIY trips can be discerning, it can also be costly when not done appropriately. Customers can sometimes miss out on concession opportunities such discounts and deals. Schensul (2016) also added that despite technology being advanced, booking online is very dissimilar when booking through a travel agent. Solely due to the reason that the software used online is no different to the one used in-store.

2.2.4 Tailored-packaged Holidays

Traditional travel agents are slowly moving away from producing mass and packaged holiday to ensure stability and encourage resilience and growth in the industry. Based on an ABTA (2015) Travel Trend Report, there is an emerging growth in tailored travel agents, Kuoni for instance. These businesses and organisations are becoming more popular and relevant within the sector as they focus more on the

8 specifics, creating an impression that would allow travel agents to meet customer demand and expectations.

2.3 Technology Advancements Over the years, the use of technology has become cumulatively smarter and practical within the management of all tourism businesses and organisations. It has further integrated within the operations and mechanisms of travel agents, allowing them to mitigate undesired issues and to attain and perpetuate sustainability in tourism development to enhance information and communication technology (Ali and Frew, 2013; Law, Buhalis and Cobanoglu, 2014).

Past technology needs to be present to serve as a history lesson for the future, it is of utmost significance for the continuous development and success of the travel agents sector in the tourism industry. The internet, software, hardware and communications has simplified the lives of travel agents bringing efficiencies, automation, consumer knowledge, business opportunities to fill a variety of needs, fast development of new products and services, traveller knowledge and space for gaps (Cuesta, 2014; Law, Leung and Wong, 2004; Buhalis, 2003, pp. 262-263).

2.3.1 Speed Technology has been used as a driver of change, and has relevantly brought positive factors to the travel agent sector. Firstly, high-speed internet allows for fast service and communication. It is less time-consuming without having to create a time and place to visit in-store, therefore productivity is increased, customer satisfaction is improved and all bookings are reserved straight away (Travel Technology and Solutions, 2014). These principles are also applied in travel agents, due to the latest software and hardware currently in place. It also aids in alleviating any tedious and monotonous workload.

2.3.2 Choices The use of internet is non-limiting, it offers vast choices which tailors more towards consumer demands and not just pivoting to packaged and mass holidays (Bearne, 2016). Booking online provides the opportunity of comparability, allowing consumers to differentiate prices and experiences to get the best value-for-money. In

9 short, consumers are more in control with what and how they want their holiday and travels to plans out, hence why booking online has become more appealing.

2.3.3 Training Investment in enhancing the employee’s product knowledge and skills can be costly, but appropriate and ample training can lead to higher productivity, increased profits and better staff retention (Talbot, 2012). Technology has proven to assit in improving employee training, with the introduction of online tests, videos, webinars, webcams, message boards and e-learning. Additionally, online training will continue to advance travel agents which will make them more responsive to web-savvy consumers (Travel Weekly, 2010).

2.3.4 Competition One of the negative implications of technology in the tourism industry is the high competition between travel agents and the internet. It has become more challenging for travel agents to perform their role. Absence in holiday and travel bookings in-store has created a snowball effect, leaving many travel agent stores across the UK to close down and forcing employees into redundancy (West, 2014). Lawton and Weaver (2009, p. 76) have suggested that consumers are ‘under the impression that you can find lower fares on the internet’ and this is yet the biggest challenge that travel agents face. The latter is, the consumers have a perception that there is not any value in using travel agents, giving no credibility to the nature of the role and purpose of business.

Overall, it seems that the consumers have considerably benefited from technology in comparison to the travel agents, which suggests that it has reached the peak in the product life cycle. Adapting from Vernon’s product life cycle model cited in Hill (2007, p.168), the emergence of technology including the internet, has placed travel agents on the maturity stage. The product is known widely and used by many consumers but the competition is intense, and therefore attempting and venturing to new opportunities to avoid decline of the product.

2.4 Consumer Behaviour Consumer behaviour, which is sometimes referred to as ‘travel behaviour’ or ‘tourist behaviour’, is defined as the ‘involvement of certain decisions, activities, ideas or experiences that satisfy consumer needs and wants’ (Rane, 2016, p.48). It is heavily influenced by the psychological, personal and social attributes of an individual, thus why it remains as one of the utmost studied topic in the tourism and marketing field. In the last decade, there has been a major swift in consumer behaviour towards travel agents. Technological advancement and digital trends has gifted tremendous transformation to the consumer behaviour. Innovative web services have enable customers to get consistent, comfortable and connected experience with optimum level of satisfaction (Infotech, 2016). Fundamentally, technology has created a significant and holistic effect on the consumer behaviour, implementing new attitudes and activities in the decision-making process, consequentially forming new consumer demands that traditional travel agents must meet.

2.4.1 Travel Agent Users According to some findings from the Holiday Habits Report by ABTA (2017a), suggests that people like to book holidays in a range of different ways, as shown on Figure 2.1. The preferred method for booking a holiday abroad remains a travel company or agent, with 45% of people booking a holiday overseas in this way. As for booking domestic holidays, 52% of people prefer to go through a general holiday booking website or otherwise, directly with the service providers, with 48% of people doing so. More so importantly, people aged 35-44 are the most likely to book a holiday abroad with a travel company or agent with 51%, followed by the over 65s with 48%. Booking holidays abroad using a general booking website is most popular with people aged 25-34, with 57% of this age group booking this way. 49% of people aged 45-54 and over 65 are most likely to book directly with service providers.

Figure 2.1 Who holidays have been booked with in 2017.

There is a growing trend amongst traditional travel agents to revitalise their retail portfolio, emphasising the idea of booking a holiday as part of the travel experience, and working up to connect the online and in-store world for customers. ABTA’s Holiday Habits Report (2017a) further shows us that online booking has seen a prominent increase in the last 12 months with 83% of people using this method to book their holiday compared to 76% last year. On the other hand, booking in person have dropped from 19% in 2016 to 17% this year. It also identifies that people from the most affluent households are the most likely to book a holiday in-store, with 29% of those classified as social grade A (see Table 2.1) booking a holiday in-store, in the last 12 months. Young families with children under five also booked in-store with 25%.

Table 2.1 The JICNAR scale segments.

2.4.2 Immersive Connectivity Despite the downfall in numbers, travel agents have been more focused on the recent changes, embracing the digital technology, making travel agents’ shops more interactive and even trialling virtual reality headsets with interactive touch screens to give customers a chance to experience their holiday prior to travel (Gerrard, 2017). These new travel products and services contains vivid information, whch attracts and sustain the attention of an individual, exciting the imagination because it evokes concrete and mental imagery, is emotionally interesting, and stimulates the senses (Miller and Stocia, 2003; Goossens, 2000; Mills and Law, 2005, p.195). It engages with the psychological factor of the consumer behaviour, enhancing the person’s ability to learn or understand information.

2.4.3 Mobile Devices Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets has been growing exponentially in the travel agent sector as a mean of reserving and booking holidays. According to ABTA’s Holiday Habits Report (2017a) PC remains the most popular online booking device, though it dropped from 92% to 85% in 2017. Tablet bookings have remained steady, being used by 23% of people. Mobile bookings on the other hand, have seen a significant jump from 13% to 20%. As far as, which device is easiest to book holidays, PC and laptops came first with 84%, while tablets came to 70% and mobile devices with 60%. Mobile bookings have risen across all age groups, which suggests that progress made by traditional travel agents in improving the mobile booking experience for their customers, has not only broaden the target market but also extends the use of smartphones and larger devices to book holidays. Though it only contributes a fracture segment in the market, it has become a valuable and effective platform in which travel agents, as well as other tourism businesses and organisations connect with the consumers.

2.4.4 Apps and Notifications Furthermore, there is a demand of real-time services from travel companies, customers are now wanting to have personalised alerts and information through their mobile devices, with 24/7 access (Infotech, 2016). Lang (2000) also said that 66% of customers use their mobile device as it is convenient and instantly accessible for

13 availability enquiries and bookings. The research also shows that 33% find mobile devices to have a more up-to-date and detailed information. On the other hand, the research also highlighted that although people would go online, 35% would not book their holidays on the internet due to security issues. The only reasoning to why consumers book their holiday online is that there is no ‘sales pressure’. Consumers have the flexibility to search for holidays without being under pressure into purchasing the product. In essence, travel agents must exploit the use of social media and other apps for consumers to access information conveniently, as the impact of ‘previous, present, and potential travellers’ positive experiences is not only limited in determining the continued intention to do business with the firm but also increases trust and incite confidence’ (Elci et al., 2017, p.133).

2.5 Future Prospects Buhalis (2003, p. 272) expressed the notion that traditional travel agents are putting constraints on their capabilities of exploiting new opportunities, that could enhance the business performance and keep their significance in the market. This remains as a concern to the travel agency sector, particularly in this present time where technology is used as a driver to gain competitive advantage. Rane (2016) argued that the reasoning behind travel agents not utilising technology advancement in their practices and operations, is that it brings negative motive to the role of the travel agents, threating the position of travel agents as they fear that it would diminish the business hastily. Traditional travel agents must be cognizant of the importance of new tools in revolutionising their distribution channels, as consumers can take the opportunities themselves (Egger and Buhalis, 2011).

2.5.1 Travel Agents in the Digital World It could be argued that arranging and booking holidays face-to-face is becoming a thing of the past, the traditional booking process is changing rapidly. Many tourism businesses and organisations, believe that transformational technology will challenge the historic complexities of the travel and tourism sector, evolving as one of the new state-of-the-art industry, globally. According to Statista’s Digital Market Outlook Report (2017, pp.9-12) online travel booking generated a revenue of $18,915m (£14,340m) in the UK, and is forecasted to grow steadily in forthcoming

14 years. The report also showed that in 2017 the number of digital travel bookers increased from 25.3m to 25.9m in 2017 (aged 18-older). This suggests that traditional travel agents should take advantage of technology such as the use of mobile devices, the internet and other electronic equipment, as these tools yield the success of the business.

2.5.2 New Outlook There is a change of behavioural attitudes and motives amongst the consumers regarding the travel business. Firstly, travel agents are eradicating its past practices of focusing solely on the product and instead emphasising on the service that augments a positive experience for the customers. The future priority is now shifted to the quality rather than quantity, fewer but more exciting stores (Coffey, 2017). In correlation, one of the technology trends in 2018 for the tourism industry is immersive connectivity, trialling increased connectivity across device types and rise of virtual/augmented reality (World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), 2017, p.15). Traditional travel agents are developing relevant technology partnerships to generate positive experiences for customers but also to extend beyond the existing consumer base.

Secondly, there is a movement towards mobile apps, delivering first-hand experience for its users with the introduction of fast page load times and useful features that amplify functionality and interaction (Turen, 2017). Smartphones and tablets are becoming popular choice of devices to research travel information and book holiday and travel plans. According to Statista (2017, p.42) 32% of respondents have used their smartphone to research travel information, while 22% used their tablets. “Web-savvy” users such as the millennials, are more respondent on compact mobile devices, as there is that certainty of instant access whenever and wherever.

Traditional travel agents are indeed decreasing in numbers but it will not completely disappear, the outcome is greatly dependant on the consistency and fluidity of the business, whether they decide to move forward with change or remain stagnant. Education remains as the main driver to change, being cognizant and implementing understandings to the issue, allows all stakeholders to be more adaptive (Sheivachman, 2017).

2.6 Chapter Summary This chapter has summoned and discussed all the key literature that is most significant and needed for the study, allowing the researcher to gain an in-depth understanding and detailed knowledge of traditional travel agents and the impacts and influences associated with them instigated by the emergence of advanced technology. There is a comprehensive relationship between traditional travel agents and technology, for example consumer behaviour.

This chapter has allowed the researcher to bring together the desired methodologies that will be used to further research and analysis, which relates to answering the researcher’s individual aims and objectives. The next chapter will assess all the different research methods, choosing which is most appropriate for primary data collection.

Chapter Three: Methodology

3.1 Introduction The aim and purpose of this chapter is to underpin the importance of using a specified technique and being able to give justification as to why that approach is used as an evidence of data collection, but also how the data was constructed so that it would make a legible and digestible to draw conclusions from. This chapter will also review the reliability, validity and the ethical issues of the data accumulated that may be relevant to the research. Finally, any limitations and challenges that may have arisen during the data collection process will be mentioned and reflected upon.

Methodology is defined as “a systematic study of methods… applied within a discipline” (Pochhacker, 2015, p.206). The researcher has reviewed across a mixture of research methods that can be used to collect new data. Some of the options were carefully revised to evaluate its aptness and relevance, with the purpose of finding the best types of research methods in relation to giving the researcher the ability to fully exploit new data whilst being time-efficient. The researcher decided to integrate both primary and secondary research.

3.2 Secondary Research The concept of utilising secondary research is that, it can be used to interoperate views of others, and express the researchers’ opinion on what has been said by another author (Gibbins, 2017). The secondary research that was carried out for this project took the form of the literature review. Much of the secondary research that was attained and employed to construct a concise and critical review, were all from online resources due to the availability and accessibility of a vast range of different resources, but also solely because of the nature of the topic. Using secondary research has led to some significant discoveries on new and relevant literature that reinforce and underpin existing research. The researcher has taken full advantage of the research to identify the gap in knowledge, but also to make use of it in the best way they could to correspond to the aims and objectives of the research project.

Conducing secondary research is imperative to the project, as it emphasises one’s ability to independently study and to make use of the research, to allow the

17 research to build a more concise and coherent literature review; and most importantly, to guide the types of questions and themes for the primary research. As a result, the study used primary research in the form of a questionnaire survey and interviews. This would aid in fulfilling objectives two and three.

3.3 Primary Research Ultimately, the purpose of primary research is to fill in gaps in existing knowledge (Graves and Graves, 2012), it is to simply gain new information and understandings, so that it can be explored in much more detail. In order to attain primary data, an approval was needed from the Cardiff Metropolitan Ethics Committee. The study was successful in gaining this, and the approved ethics form can be viewed in the Appendix (A). It is of utmost importance that the project not only protects the researcher, but also to crucially protect the university. The intention of this whole process is so that if in any circumstances something unfortunate happens, the researcher is secured and can fall back on the Ethics Committee. Though the researcher found that conducting primary research can have its challenges, it was in fact apposite to the research, in comparison to secondary research. Notably, primary research provides a more precise and current reflection of how people and companies alike may think.

3.4 Quantitative and Qualitative Research This section discusses the difference between quantitative and qualitative research. “Quantitative research collects predominantly numerical data and opinions… Qualitative Data research is more concerned with participants’ behaviour and attitudes” (Horn, 2012, p.6). The researcher wanted to utilise both qualitative and quantitative research, gathering a combination of opinions and facts, as this would help contribute towards acquiring a better understanding and knowledge of where gaps and barriers are in the travel agency sector, as far as technology is concerned.

3.5 Semi-structured Interview The purpose of a semi-structured interview is to “collect new data in which the interviewer does not strictly follow a formalised list of questions, instead, the interviewee asks more open-ended questions” (Kielmann, Cataldo and Seeley, 2012, p.28). The way semi-structured interview works is that, firstly, it allows the interviewer

18 and interviewee to engage in an informal discussion, thus creating a more comfortable and relaxed environment, which allows the researcher to draw out more specific evidence about the relevant questions asked. Secondly, it enables the researcher to identify any discomfort when talking about a specific topic by observing the interviewees’ body language as an indication to their enthusiasm towards a specific topic or question that may have been asked. Bryman and Bell (2015) supported this notion by expressing that, body language may indicate that the interviewee is becoming uneasy or anxious about a line of questioning. An ethically sensitive interviewer will not want to place undue pressure on the interviewee and will need to be prepared to cut short that line of questioning if it is clearly a source of concern.

Although interviews are a useful method of getting insights into interviewee's perceptions, there are also disadvantages. According to Alshenqeeti (2014), conducting interviews are often time consuming, particularly for a small-scale study. They also added that interviews have the potential for subconscious bias and inconsistencies. Opdenakker (2006) also added that utilising face-to-face interviews is only helpful, when social cues of the interview are very important information sources for the interviewer, or if the interviewer has enough budget and time for travelling and/or if the interviewees are within proximity to the interviewer.

3.5.1 Semi-structured Interview Sample The two semi-structured interviews took place in two different locations, one in Penarth in a coffee shop, while the other one was in Merthyr Tydfil College. The interviewees were both tremendously experienced in the travel agency sector, consequently, all the questions that was asked were all relevant to them. The researcher used a checklist of questions which can be viewed in the Appendix (B).

3.5.2 Semi-structured Interview Sampling The interviewees involved in the study were attained through contacts and all participated on a voluntary basis. “Convenience sampling, is a sampling method that relies on data collection from population members who are conveniently available to participate in the study” (Etikan, Musa and Alkassim, 2016, p.2). Convenience sampling, also known as availability sampling, was therefore utilised.

3.5.3 Recordings Prior to the interview, the researcher asked to grant permission to record the discussion. Both the interviewees agreed to this, and a voice recording was logged onto the researchers’ mobile phone. Consent form and information sheet are attached in the Appendix (C). The researchers’ main recording device was a mobile phone, which meant that it was already secured with a passcode. Additionally, all recordings were encrypted, to ensure that any of the information could not be transferred anywhere else. Once the recordings for the interviews were transcribed and all important key points were written down, they were then destroyed.

3.6 Questionnaire In order, to carry out research on the behaviour and attitudes of consumers relating to purchasing and searching information when arranging and booking holidays, the participants who were involved completed the questionnaire either online or face-to-face. They also had the opportunity to not participate prior to filling the questionnaire out, and since “participants are not signing a separate consent form, consent is obtained by virtue of completion” (St-andrews.ac.uk, 2018). The distribution of the questionnaire was carried out in two different ways, online and paper copy. The online questionnaire was generated on Qualtrics, where the URL link for the final questionnaire, was printed on a piece of paper, fifty times, to be given out to the travel agents for them to hand out to their clients. Additionally, the researcher also chose to used paper copies of the questionnaire, solely for the reason of accessibility, but also because the researcher believed that not everyone has access and/or very comfortable navigating on the internet.

3.6.1 Questionnaire Design The questionnaire for the online format was taken from the paper copy, and both had a very concise and coherent layout, it was very straightforward and therefore would have taken the participants no longer than ten minutes to complete. The questionnaire can be seen in the Appendix (D). As previously mentioned, the researcher decided to use a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative measures such as multiple choices and Likert scales, on the questionnaire, as this would allow

20 the researcher to grasp a better understanding of the issues and matters concerned, as well as being able to construct a plausible analysis and discussion.

3.6.2 Questionnaire Sampling Willing passers-by to Cardiff Queen Street and in St. David’s Shopping Centre completed the questionnaire at their own time, this type of sampling is known as voluntary sampling which is made up of people who self-select into the survey. Often, these people have a strong interest in the main topic of the survey (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Once the questionnaires were completed and collected, the participants were not asked any further questions.

3.7 Data Analysis, Validity and Reliability The data was analysed by using both thematic and statistical analysis, for the interview and survey respectively. Thematic analysis is amongst one of the most common methods used to examine qualitative research (Guest, MacQueen and Namey, 2012, p.11), as it allows the researcher to “pinpoint, examine and record patterns or “themes” within the data collected” (Braun and Clarke, 2006, p.83). On the other hand, statistical analysis is a method that “uncovers patterns and trends by calculating and examining every data sample collected… a sample, in statistics, is a representative selection drawn from a total population” (Nisbet, Miner and Yale, 2017, p.21). For example, some of these data can be found on Qualtrics where all research data is generated into pie charts and tables.

In terms of reliability, the researcher has been consistent throughout the process of conducting data collection. The questions for both the online and face-to- face questionnaire were the same, and not to be confused with the set of questions used for semi-structured interview, which is different as it comprised a more opinion- based questions. The researcher decided to this so that a variety of questions is taken advantage of, to collate an extensive range information from two different perspectives (consumer and business).

The researcher also considered the validity of the project. Construct validity which was identified in the research and is recognised importantly by the researcher, to select the overall, “appropriate way of doing what was intended to do

(methodological approach) in the research according to the aims and objectives that was stated at the beginning of the study” (Mason, 2014, p. 92). As for this case, the researcher used open-ended questions in the interviews, to get the underlying reasons as to what the motivations are towards online booking.

3.8 Ethics It is of utmost importance to be attentive of the ethical steps when conducting the primary research, therefore an ethical form must be completed as this will most likely “increase the validity and rigour of the project, in addition to being responsible and fair to participants” (Halej, 2018, p.4). Prior to undertaking the project, the researcher filled in an ethics form in which it stipulated the intentions to carry out primary research.

Before the interview proceeded, the participant was given an information sheet. This gave the participant an understanding as to how their answers are going to be used for the research and their right to withdraw any information they have given at any time. After the information sheet has been handed, the researcher then gave a consent form in which the participant must mandatorily sign, to show that they agree with what has been discussed and are happy to proceed with the interview. A first copy of the consent form is given to the participant, while the second copy was kept by the researcher in the safe file.

There is an introductory sentence at the beginning of the online and face-to- face questionnaire, informing participants of the aim of research and that participation is voluntary. Additionally, only participants 18 and over were able to complete the questionnaire. The results for the online questionnaires were automatically formulated into bar charts on a trusted website, Qualtrics, while on the other hand, paper copy questionnaires were kept safely in a file, where the researcher will place in a locked room. The questionnaire was also constituent of the ethical research, ensuring that the researcher have used neutral questions and that they did not have to compromise with the project, researcher and/or the university. The questionnaire was generated online, and it is safeguarded by a password, while the paper copies was kept in a file locked away in a secured room.

3.9 Limitations The researcher has encountered numerous limitations when collecting data. One of the major limitations was arranging and negotiating an appointment for an interview due to a few variables, this includes busy schedules, business policies and simply just not getting a response back. This has lead reliability on the online surveys as opposed to face-to-face at the travel agency itself. Fortunately, the researcher knew a friend of a friend who currently works at a well-known travel agency, therefore an appointment was arranged.

With regards to the online questionnaire, due to the travel agency not getting back to the researcher, it was then decided to carry out the online questionnaire on Qualtrics and distributed through social media platforms, to ensure that the objectives were still achieved. There were also other variables that contributed to such decision, including time constraints and infeasible method. There was a range of different ages on the online questionnaires, though it was predominantly millennials. This can be helpful as it shows differing opinions but it could also be detrimental to the study, as the researcher believes that the topic is still a very generational thing, as it can be argued that “millennials are more familiar with technology” (Vacca, 2017, p. 280), as oppose to older generation (Ramasubbu, 2017; Alton, 2017).

Moreover, collated data from the face-to-face questionnaire survey were limited due to the time of the year and people not having time to stop. This has lead the researcher to carry out the face-to-face questionnaire at another location, though the result were the same. Fortunately, the online questionnaire was able to gather ample amount of new data, which ratios 2:1 of the overall questionnaires’ results.

Though, semi-structured interviews have proven its suitability and appropriateness for the research, the researcher identified some drawbacks. The questions should have been a lot more concise, as opposed to having different questions asking similar answers. This would have allowed more time for the researcher to ask the other questions and/or enabled for a thorough discussion.

3.10 Chapter Summary In this chapter, the researcher has, firstly, discussed the two-different data collecting methods that were used specifically for this project (qualitative and quantitative) and the rational decisions behind why they have been chosen. Secondly, the researcher also mentioned the justifiable sampling (thematic and voluntarily), the reliability and validity of the data involved, ethical research and lastly, improvements that could be made.

This chapter has enabled the researcher to understand the different sort of research options available, and which ones are the most suitable and appropriate to use. The interviews produced a valuable and fruitful contribution to the research, as it provided a detailed information specific to the study. Though, it must be pointed out that it was time-consuming particularly for projects that have a small time-frame completion. On the other hand, the questionnaire survey gathered a substantial and extensive amount of sample data all at once, which was efficient and effective. In the next chapter, there will be an in-depth discussion into the findings of the research, against the literature review.

Chapter Four: Findings, Analysis and Discussion

4.1 Introduction The objective of this chapter is to present the results of the research question: “Is technology affecting the role and business of travel agents?”. This chapter will emphasise the primary research, which gathered qualitative and quantitative data from the interview transcripts and the questionnaire survey. The structure of this chapter will take review of the themes, discussing and presenting the two sets of primary research. Ultimately, thematic analysis will be utilised, allowing the researcher to focus on the key themes which includes travel information, time and communication. There will also be subsections to discuss insights. The findings will be discussed in the light of corresponding literature. The key themes, will be viewed in terms of support and contradiction to the literature and the new ideas that have emerged from these findings.

4.1.1 Questionnaire Survey The questionnaire was conducted for a duration of 5 weeks from the beginning of January, to the first week of February, and returned with 94 completed survey. The questionnaire was completed both online and face-to-face. 79 samples were collated using the Qualtrics Survey software, while the remaining 15 samples were from willing passers-by. The researcher chose to combine the results for easier data analysis (See Appendix E).

4.1.2 Questionnaire Demographics As this study reviews the consumer behaviour of tourists towards the use of travel agents, it is critical to identify the quantifiable characteristics of the given survey participants. Figure 4.1 displays the age range of the participants. The chart shows that most of the survey participants in this study is within the 18-24 range (51.06%). The results also show that 15.96% who participated are in the 25-34 range, followed by 13.83% of respondents who are in the 45-54 range. Only 3.19% of this group were in the age bracket of 65+. Hypothetically, this data will help support further findings later in the chapter as to what age range books online and who visits in-store.

Figure 4.1 Participants age.

The questionnaire survey also looked at the martial status of the respondents, to review whether people that have no commitments are likely to book online, as oppose to those that have a busy lifestyle and would prefer someone to arrange their holidays for them. The results on Figure 4.2 displays that 62.77% of respondents are single and/or have no children, followed by 17.03% which said that they are married and/or living with partner who have no children. On the other hand, 14.89% of the respondents said that they are married and/or living with a partner and have children.

Figure 4.2 Participants marital status.

Figure 4.3 shows that 32.98% of the survey participants are earning under £9,999 per annum. This was then followed by two higher sums of £10,000-£14,000 (15.96%) and £30,000-£39,000 (10.64%). There was only a relatively small amount of people who were earning over £90,000. This data will come in support to find correlations and anomalies concerning whether household income affects where consumers book their holiday and trips.

Figure 4.3 Participants income per annum.

4.1.3 Semi-structured Interviews In total, two interviews were formally conducted from participants who are highly experienced travel agents. The interview transcripts generated valuable and fruitful qualitative data (See Appendix F), therefore it is vital that this data is analysed effectively. The data gathered from the semi-structured interviews will triangulate the data received from the questionnaires.

4.2 Travel Information The internet has been a major key player in the tourism industry, and the travel agency sector is no exception. One of the positive implications from the internet is that, it has provided a gateway for new distribution channels within the tourist service system (Connolly, Olsen and Moore, 1998; Morgan and Ranchhod, 2010; Carmen, 2015). For example, the emergence of the internet, alongside the rapid development of online travel agencies (OTA), has given customers the flexibility to dynamically arrange and package their own holiday. Essentially, this allows the customers to purchase travel products and services such as hotel accommodation and flights, directly from the organisations website without going through the travel agencies. Additionally, the internet and the OTAs can provide sufficient information to customers. Travel websites such as the likes of TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, allows “customers to look at reviews which helps them during the decision-making process” (Gov.co.uk, 2017, p.61) to determine whether they want to travel to that place or not (Lee, Law and Murphy, 2011).

During the data collection period, survey participants were asked who have they booked their holiday with in the last 12 months. Figure 4.4 shows that Booking.com is the most used platform with 25.93%, followed by Expedia (15.34%) and Skyscanner (13.23%). On the other hand, travel agents remain as a third-place location for customers to purchase travel, but they have decreased in numbers with 8.99% of respondents still visiting Thomas Cook and 5.82% with TUI/ Thomson.

Figure 4.5 What do you use the internet for when booking a holiday?

Figure 4.4 Which of these have you used to book a holiday in the last 12 months?

The results are very evident, suggesting that OTAs are used frequently as oppose to visiting a travel agent. Interestingly, this notion is supported with further quantitative data from the primary research, when survey participants were asked what they use the internet for. Figure 4.5 confirms that most of the respondents use the internet to search for information about a destination and/or hotel (25.27%). The study also showed that 25.40% of the respondents use the internet to check for flight fares and schedule and 22.19% use it to look for offers, deals ad last minute online specials. On the other hand, only 6.43% of survey participants have said that they use it to obtain information before going into a travel agent. Fundamentally, customers are becoming more familiar with the use of the internet and the OTAs, thus creating a negative implication that footfall in travel agencies could see a decline in the next decade. Based on a report from LSE Consulting (2016, p.41), states that “OTAs have grown rapidly and changed the landscape of travel distribution radically.”

Figure 4.5 What do use the internet for when booking a holiday?

However, it can be argued that despite the growing popularity of the internet and OTAs, there is still a significant number of consumers and tourists alike, who are shifting back to personal service. Many customers still visit in-store to seek for first- hand knowledge and recommendations, as well as expertise on travel destinations and how they can get there and get around when they are there. This is a positive outlook for the travel agents as a means of continuous service (Pantuso, 2016). Additionally, some people are still fond of the idea of having someone arrange and book their holiday for them, as oppose to booking online; collaborative booking is important to the holiday experience (Brown and Chalmers, 2003; Johnson and de Rouw, 2017).

This notion is supported by interviewee A by stating that:

“A lot of people are going back to personal recommendations. Some people aren’t confident navigating the internet, because not everything you see on there is what they say they are. We can give invaluable knowledge and recommendations which the internet can’t.”

Interviewee B, also expressed:

“People do still visit and use the travel agents – we wouldn’t be here if they didn’t! Customers need as much information as possible to ensure they are booking the right thing for them. You can get cheap prices online but how do you know the company actually exists? Or that the information they give you is correct? For many people a holiday is the most expensive thing they buy in the year so it’s important they get it right.”

4.2.1 Tailored Holidays The internet not only exerts influence on the role of travel agents, but also on the searching travel information and purchasing behaviour of consumers. The options for holidaymakers online have become limitless, providing an extensive range of sources to look and acquire travel products and services from. Consequently, “giving customers the choice to freely tailor their own trips and holidays” (Benckendorff, Sheldon and Fesenmaier, 2014, p.43).

Figure 4.6 illustrates the results when survey participants were asked what best describe their travel personality. 50% of the respondents said that they prefer to try new things when abroad but keeping it close to comfort, while 29.79% of respondents said that they prefer to go to undiscovered places and seek out new things before other people. Although, most people prefer to explore and discover new travel experiences, 20.21% of the respondents still favours to travel to popular destinations for downtime and relaxation. These findings suggest that due to the advantage of self-service and tailored holidays, people take holidays with the flexibility of trying new experiences at their own leisure. It is also notable, that perhaps the reason why the travel agents remain, is that those who seek new adventures need specific knowledge and personal expertise about a destination and/or how to get around the location.

Figure 4.6 Which of the following best describe you travel personality?

There is also a correlation between the behaviour of consumers and packaged holiday. Usually, travel agents would provide packaged holidays to customers, this would comprise arrangements of accommodation, flights and transports at an inclusive price. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, tours and activities (ABTA, 2018). Despite, having travel arrangements provided, people are becoming more confident abroad and more so with the use of the internet and the OTAs, people do not want a planned day. Travellers have been influenced greatly by the array of choices available, when arranging and booking a holiday. It is important to highlight that customers are shifting more towards tailored and personalised holidays, where it is more refined to their demands (Deloitte.com, 2015).

Figure 4.7 which demonstrates that accommodation (42.55%) is ‘extremely important’ or otherwise, ‘very important’ (32.98%) to the survey participants. Travel insurance came second with 29.79% of respondents saying that it is ‘extremely important’. 38.30% said that transport it is ‘very important’. On the other hand, car hire (46.81%), and similarly attraction tickets and excursion tours (18.09%) were deemed as ‘not at all important’ by the survey participants.

Figure 4.7 In order of importance, indicate your preferences when booking a holiday.

Noticeably, the findings indicate that people focus more on accommodation, transport and travel insurance, whereas the other travel services such as attraction tickets, excursion tours and car hire are only seen as a complementary to the holiday experience rather than a necessity (Candela and Figini, 2012; Altinay and Poude, 2015).

One of the negative implications of booking online is that, though there is an extensive range of choices, consumers often find it difficult to find the right holiday, thus creating lengthy searches. Frequently, the search results compile of holidays that are closely similar or otherwise. These findings can argue that the internet can only refine information to a certain extent until it gets narrowed down to desired holiday (Mansoor, 2002; Theobald and Dunsmore, 2009).

Interviewee A supported this statement by expressing that:

“The internet, generally sells what they want to get rid of. So even – just for example, when you ask for a holiday at a certain destination, at a certain date, the first cluster of hotels that come up are the ones that haven’t been bought by e-agents. They are committed bed stock that they just want to get rid of first. That really isn’t tailoring, that is just putting money in the bank. Whereas travel agents don’t really know which ones the customer wants, so we just use our personal experience.”

Interviewee B also expressed that:

“The internet does have an extensive range of products on offer. In fact, you can book almost anything on there. There are also lots of reviews and information sites for customers to use. However, the internet has not been to these destinations, it has no first-hand knowledge. It can’t ask customers lots of questions to really understand what they want and if that product is right for them. It can’t tailor their trip without a person doing it for them. The internet is a great tool but it can’t do the same things a travel agent can but much quicker.”

4.2.2 Accessibility The location of the travel agent also plays an influential factor in the decision- making process and the buying behaviour of customers. Lack of parking space and accessibility puts potential customers off, solely because of the inconvenience it creates for customers who possibly do not possess a lot of time. The location of travel agents is essential, particularly as a “third-place location to purchase travel” (Page and Connell, 2014, p.118). During the interview process, a question was asked to both interviewees concerning whether the location and accessibility of the travel store plays a role in attracting customers.

Interviewee A expressed that:

“Many travel agents are position in prime location, though the issue sometimes is often with parking and accessibility, which puts people off. So, that then send people to other stores with free unlimited parking.”

Interview B added with:

“Location is definitely key. You will find that regular customers will always come back if the travel store is easy to find and get to. However, when it comes to attracting potential customers, it is always very important to start off with a prime high street location, where people can conveniently come in and seek advice or book their holidays.”

However, findings from the primary data shows no correlation between the travel agents proximity to customers and whether this influence people booking in- store. On the questionnaire survey, participants were asked how many holidays they book per annum. Figure 4.8 establishes that the largest segment of this results shows that most of the respondents purchases 0-2 holidays annually (74.47%). 21.28% explained that they book 3-4 holidays yearly and 4.26% chose to book 5-6 holidays a year.

Figure 4.8 How many holidays do you book annually?

The survey continued to ask the participants a question regarding if they have used a travel agent to book their holidays within the last 12 months. The results from Figure 4.9 shows clarity, that the many of the survey participants have not visited in- store to purchase a holiday (79.79%), and only 20.21% said they have. The age of the survey participants was also taken into consideration, particularly that the majority of those who took part in survey were aged 18-24, see Figure 4.1. This could may well affect this result, since that this age range are “digital natives” and are more exposed to the internet and OTAs as oppose to visiting in-store (Fromm and Garton, 2013).

Figure 4.9 Have you booked a holiday in a travel agent in the last 12 months?

However, this further contradicted the data collected from the primary research. After asking those two questions, it followed up with a question of ‘where is the nearest travel agent to you?’. The results were very compelling, Figure 4.10 entails that most of the respondents’ proximity to a travel agent is within 1-3 miles (42.55%), followed closely by less than a mile radius to a travel agent (32.98%). The mileage of 7-9 miles received the smallest number of answers (4.26%), while 4-6 miles and 10 or more miles were close in number at 10.64% and 9.57%. The results illustrate that, unrelatedly, the location of travel agents does not influence consumers to book in- store. People are still susceptible to using the internet and the OTAs, because it satisfies impulsive buyers better, due to the easiness of information searching (Koufaris, 2002; Jayawardhena, Tiu Wright and Masterson, 2003; Saarela, Stoorvogel and Zinkweg, 2008). This has been proven on Figure 4.4 where it evidently showed that people uses OTAs more to arrange and book their holidays, in comparison to travel agents. Essentially, it creates a negative connotation that the location of travel stores is not influential to the decision-making and purchasing process. This puts pressure for travel agents to focus on their positioning on the high street to attract customers.

Figure 4.10 Where is the nearest travel agent to you?

Additional research also reviewed whether car ownership may have a correlation to the likelihood of people visiting in-store. During the questionnaire survey, participants were asked whether they could drive or not and 59.57% of the respondents said yes, while 40.43% said no, see Figure 4.11. These findings also contradicted with the results on Figure 4.9. Despite, having the advantage of mobility to get to the nearest travel agent, most people still book their holidays online.

Figure 4.11 Do you drive?

Moreover, accessibility is not only subject to the location and ease of access to the travel store, but it is also concerned with access to available information. There are still a significant number of people that are familiarising themselves to technology, some due to “techno-fear”, while others may not have access to technology altogether. This may refer to older generations, who are less computer literate as oppose to millennials (Smith 2014; Schmidt-Hertha and Strobel-Dumer, 2014).

Interviewee A also supported this by adding:

“People still use travel agents. However, there’s still a lot of people that don’t really have access to the internet or a printer, and that’s why they come to us for personal recommendations and information.”

4.3 Time Computers have always been an integral and vital part of the travel agency sector. It was not until the development of technology that has led to new innovations. Since the widespread adoption of the internet, the dominance of the technological era has brought considerable new benefits to the 21st century. Firstly, “advanced hardware and updated software, enables the data to be stored instantly” (Holloway and Humphries, 2012, p.642). Travel agents can now download specialised programmes dedicated exclusively to manage the business efficiently and categorise data in a structured and organised manner. Secondly, the data can also be sent promptly from the travel agency to the components, which can be relayed to the customers. This makes sure bookings, which might have taken longer in the past, to be process with immediate effect, thus reducing wait times and increasing productivity (Manvi, 2017). During the semi-structured interview, the participants were asked what were the positive attributes of the advancement of technology to the role and business of the travel agent.

Interviewee A stated that:

“Technology has defiantly enhanced the way that we work, the way that the travel agent work. I remember when we had to phone for holidays with certain tour operators or for them to phone hotels and airlines for any amendments in the package. However, in this day of age everything is instant, the availability is instant. Whereas, a long time ago, only 30% could only be accessed quickly and the rest were all paper and pen.”

Interviewee B also added that:

“Technology has made it easier to make reservations and find out information quickly. 20 years ago, when I started all bookings were made over the phone – this

38 meant lengthy phone calls and a drawn-out process. Today, everything is automated from booking systems, skype, live chat etc. making our jobs much easier and professional.”

Though travel agents were not the only ones to have benefited from this change. For much of the tourists’ anticipation, they too can book their holidays instantly online without visiting in-store. Figure 4.12 reviews the answers of the survey participants when asked ‘where is quicker to book a holiday?’. The results were very enthralling, as it showed that 71.28% of respondents found that PC/ Internet is the quickest way to book a holiday. This was relatively followed by 13.83% of respondents who said that a smartphone is a quicker platform to book holiday, while simultaneously 7.45% of respondents said tablet. Whereas, only 4.26% of the survey participants approved that visiting in-store is much quicker.

Figure 4.12 Where is quicker to book a holiday?

4.3.1 Mobile Devices Major technology shifts come in roughly decade-long waves, from the PC to the web to the smartphone. The instant effect of the internet combined with mobile accessibility has created an influence on the holiday booking habits of consumers and tourists alike (World Travel &Tourism Council (WTTC), 2017, p.15). Noticeably, there has been an increase growth in the use of mobile devices as a platform to book holidays, as already seen on Figure 4.12.

Although, the PC/ Internet remains as by far the most popular device to book a holiday, mobile devices are most preferred devices to purchase tickets or room reservations, particularly last-minute bookings. Additionally, when consumers are researching for their next holiday or trip, they are more inclined to use their mobile device. During the primary research, survey participants were questioned about where they look for information when looking to book a holiday. According to Figure 4.13, PC/Internet (41.03%) was favoured as the most used medium to look for information when booking holiday, while smartphone came second with 27.69% and tablet lands a third place with 7.69%. The study also emphasised that 7.69% of the survey participants use brochures and magazines to look for information, which surpassed in-store visits with only 6.15%.

Figure 4.13 Where do you look for information when looking to book a holiday?

Concurrently, the survey participants were also asked what influenced them to book a holiday, to see correlation between what made the decision to book a holiday and what they have used to search further information about the destination and/or specific travel product and service. Findings on Figure 4.14, exemplifies that most of the respondents were influenced to book their holiday from recommendations and word of mouth from friends and family (35.79%). Notably, social media (26.32%) is second influential drive to book a holiday, jointly followed by

Films/TV Shows, with 14.21% of respondents saying that they have booked their holiday accordingly to what they have seen on screen. The results also showed that people are more influenced to book their holiday if they have seen a digital advertisement such as TV and internet ads (13.16%), in comparison to when they see ads on print materials such as magazines, newspaper and posters (6.84%).

Figure 4.14 What influenced you to book a holiday?

This data implicates that though people like to hear personal stories and experiences from friends and families, they are still obliged to proceed online to search for information and the potentiality to purchase travel. It is important to mention that digital mediums are significantly influential to the decision-making and buying behaviour of an individual, this could may well be due to the immediate response of the internet and the flexibility of mobile devices that satisfies the impulsive buyers better (Jayawardhena, Tiu Wright and Masterson, 2003).

4.3.2 Security Issues Although technology has provided considerable benefits to consumers and the travel agents, one of the negative implications from the advancement of technology is the issue of security and the exposure of consumers to possible fraudulent websites. Technology can impose a high risk of providing and offering misleading or false holidays and travel products to customers (Sammons and Cross, 2017). Most of the

41 websites on the internet are unreliable and fabricated, this could be “because of the high level of competition in the travel industry” (Elhaj and Barakeh, 2015, p.437). For example, uncertified online websites and OTAs will try and compete against travel agents for potential customers, by using deception as a mean to generate sales.

Interviewee B added that:

“It is now really easy to search for and book your own travel online. Search engines such as Skyscanner, Emondo, Kayak, etc. mean that you can check the best deal in just a couple of clicks. However, these search engines conduct no checks that the companies they are recommending to book through are legitimate. There have been hundreds of documented cases where customers have booked through a site and not got what they paid for or have been called later to ask them to pay more. Customers are often not aware of this.”

Remarkably, one of the quantitative data collected from the questionnaire survey corresponds with the statement expressed by one of the interviewees. Not surprisingly, Figure 4.15 displays that the most stated disadvantage of not booking via the internet was the issue of security (24.39%). Of the group of 94 respondents, 21.46% claimed that deceitful websites are the second most reason of not booking online. The study also shows that people feel that booking online could create information overload and confusion, given by 15.12% of the survey participants. This was closely followed by 11.71% of respondents that said there is no personal service when it comes to booking online, and that it is part of their tradition to visit in-store. Lastly, only 2.93% of the survey participants said that booking online can take up too much time, which clearly proves that people still significantly use the internet to book online or to search for information.

Figure 4.15 What do you think are the disadvantages of booking online.

The internet has its benefits when it comes to arranging holiday and trips. For example; looking for information, comparing prices, looking for last minute deals and not to mention how fast and accessible they are. However, it is important that consumers are aware of these types of risks and exposures. More so with apps and websites such as TripAdvisor, where personal data is stored and later used to present suggestions based on saved information.

4.3.3 Virtual Experience Technology has indisputably influenced the role and business of travel agents. There is an increasing technology shift among travel agents, as well as tour operators to regenerate their retail portfolio, emphasising the idea of merging the online and in- store world for customers (Ireland, 2017). Notably, bookings are being made more online, as consumers and tourists alike are becoming increasingly cognizant of the different ways to arrange and book holiday and trips (ABTA, 2017b). As a result, the

43 introduction of immersive connectivity through the use of virtual reality, interactive touchscreens and personalised bar were introduced. Travel agents needed to embrace the importance of customer service and begin to sell travel products and services as an “experience” as oppose to just sales (Buhalis, 2003). During the interview, both participants were asked if these implementations have added value to the travel service booking experience.

Interviewee A said that:

“I think that It’s really clever. I think that it’s great to give customers a real-life experience and something that travel agents don’t have. To put them on the beach, around the pool, all that virtual – as long as they have time, some customers just want to come in and book holiday and go – so they don’t really need that. It just depends, sometimes we can just tell if customers are going to come in and book and we wouldn’t sort of waste their time, but if we do see someone undecided, we try and create a better picture.”

Interviewee B similarly shared the same views:

“As a company we do have 2 sets of virtual reality headsets which are taken to travel shows/events for customers to experience locations around the world i.e. walking down the strip in Las Vegas, standing on edge of Grand Canyon. They are great for customers it creates that image in their minds, like the videos, they can see the facilities in the hotel, they can see people enjoying themselves, it just brings it all to life. However, they are just a bit of a gimmick and as yet don’t really change customers’ ideas / buying habits. It has had no impact on the customer numbers visiting stores.”

Although it seems an ingenious idea, using digital technology as a marketing tool to encourage the information search and purchasing behaviour of consumers, it is limited. This is because technology can only enhance the minds and create a composite view (Miller and Stocia, 2003; Mills and Law, 2005; Chatzimichali and Potter, 2015).

4.4 Communication Amongst some of the positive implications of technology on the role and business of travel agents, is the vastly improved communications which has greatly widened the ways in which travel agents can communicate. According to Mihajlović (2012), improved communication technology has expanded the channel of communication between travel agents and its customers both internally and externally. Data and information can be sent almost instantly from travel agents to an airline, hotel, or other services, and then relayed to customers. This does not only relate to customers, but also with business connections and partner services. High- speed internet connections allow instantaneous video, text and voice communication right across the globe, often at considerably less expense than normal, traditional methods such as long-distance telephone communications can offer (Laverty, 2016). With this said, interviewees who have worked for a long time and have had experienced major technology shifts in roughly decade-long waves, were asked about the impacts of employing advanced technology on the business operations and systems.

Interviewee A expressed:

“We have conference calls twice a week, this would often be just the senior area managers and the retail managers within a branch area. They then escalate any information to us. 10 years ago, before conference calls we would always just have general briefings and meetings. I think it has improved the way I work, personally. We used to write things down and that would normally get lost but, whereas now it’s quicker. I mean, we are able to contact other shops from other regions but most importantly, we can get in touch with our customers whenever and wherever.”

Similarly, Interviewee B added:

“In previous years we have used standard telephone conference calls for group communications. In the last 12 months we have introduced business Skype calls which can be more interactive by using slideshows at the same time. Over the next 12 months our normal phone systems are being removed and all calls will go operate via Skype. We also use Yammer to communicate information internally with over 100 groups to

45 add and gain information from. This is quicker than e-mail and everyone can get the information they need quickly and easily.”

These statements from both interviewees suggests that their initial thoughts of the impacts of using technology such as the internet and the web, has proven to have improved the communication channels in travel stores, both internally and externally. This creates a great awareness of how technology can be integrated within the operations and functions of travel agents, to move forward into the future.

4.4.1 Training Over the last few years, travel agencies have made investments towards acquiring the latest hardware as well as updated software. Consequently, this has drastically changed training methods, in order to meet consumer demands and boost business performance. Based on the theory of Stewart, Warburton and Smith (2016), technology advancements have made a positive influence to travel agents, as they are now able to learn new skills and knowledge at a much quicker and efficient way. This allows travel agencies to run far more productively, preventing losses of earnings due to slow running loading times and other arduous tasks. This literature has been supported by two interviewees, who have given their initial thoughts as to how advanced hardware and high-speed software, improved their training.

Interviewee A states:

“We got to keep up with times. Customers are always travelling and we don’t get to go where our customers goes to, so we must keep up to date with it as well. We do loads of online training all the time. We’ve always got modules to complete, but it could be anything from countries to hotel categories. We used to have a lot more of educational trips than we do now, they seem to have cut back. I remember when I started 23 years ago, we only had the brochures or a book from libraries to know about a destination or the hotel, whereas now we got the online websites. We’ve got access to everything, and I can find you the top best 10 beaches within 3 seconds. Also, we can use the modules we’ve completed and whenever a customer comes in looking for a particular holiday, we can go back to the modules and sort of recap. So, we have shifted more towards online and the internet.”

Similarly, Interviewee B articulated:

“Over the last 2 years, our training has evolved from almost all classroom style courses to 90% now being e-learning. This has had a big impact on the business. Firstly, it has cut costs – less travel/ accommodation needed for training courses. Secondly, it means consultants can do the training in between serving customers and at their own pace – it also gives them something to refer to or do again at regular intervals to ensure they fully understand. This has resulted in a big change in the knowledge of all staff.”

This has proven that transformational technology has been an overall positive outcome for travel agents. Firstly, it allows the them to learn and develop in a consistent manner, without the business spending on travel expenses. Secondly, the travel agents can comprehend and gain better insights in the searching information and purchasing behaviour of consumers and tourists. Lastly, it is an encouragement for travel agents to keep up to date with the latest hardware and software, and in doing so, this could help them understand the benefits of technology and exploit these at an advantage.

4.4.2 Apps and Notifications With the internet, booking habits have considerably evolved. Amongst these changes is the need for constant personalised alerts and information, with 24/7 access through the consumers’ mobile devices. In light of the findings from the Holiday Habits Report by ABTA (2017a), similar findings from the qualitative data collected extracted from the semi-structured interviews have paralleled with this literature.

Interviewee A expressed:

“8/10 of our customers are happy to get our notification, this is generally through emails. It helps us send them exclusive discount codes that they can come use when they visit the next time. We also get customers that come in to the store and who doesn’t necessarily book a holiday but just enquire for information – sometimes we take their e-mail so that we can contact them to check that what eve given them was right or if at any given time, they’ve changed their mind and want something else.”

However, Interviewee B contradicted this by expressing:

“Often, customers come into the store we take their e-mail – this automatically signs them up to receive offers on a daily basis unless they opt out. However, people are very good at saying no or making up an excuse to avoid further hassle, and most times customers will just simply delete their e-mails without reading.”

For travel agencies an app is the perfect tool to keep in touch with clients by sharing relevant information, to provide services and to deliver special offers. Push notifications would also mean that travel agents will no longer need to wait for consumers to check their inbox and run the risk of their campaigns getting lost in the flow of other newsletters. This would also mean that travel agents will be able to provide personal service digitally.

Interestingly, when survey participants were asked what travel agents would be useful for in the future, 21.20% said that it would be to deliver personal service, see Figure 4.16. Out of the 94 participants, the second reason why travel agents are important in the future is to book complicated travel (20.28%), followed closely together by providing expertise and experience (19.82%) and coordinate travel details and design customer packages (16.59%). The study also shows that 12.44% of the given participants claims that travel agents will simplify options and reduce confusion and information overload, in the future, while 6.91% said that it will offer cheaper packages and fares.

Figure 4.16 Travel agents are important in the future to…

This implicates that ultimately travel agents as a third-place location to purchase travel, will lessen in the next decade or two and that mobile experience will advance gradually within the travel agency sector, and a new era of digital world will be born (Hobbs, 2015). This will focus on the role of the travel agents, as an assistant throughout the holiday experience, and not just during searching information and purchasing process.

4.5 Chapter Summary This chapter has presented the key data findings from the primary research and was critically analysed and discussed in detail. The researcher has decided to triangulate the qualitative data from the semi-structured interviews and quantitative data from the questionnaire survey which compiled of accurate graphs and figures, in order to create a coherent discussion and since that the two sets of primary data flowed like two separate plots. The researcher has focus on the interviews as justifications for the answers to questionnaire survey.

The positive and negative impacts of the technological advancements on the role and business of the travel agents were established, whilst the, consumer behaviour were touched upon in order to show an understanding of the changes in the searching information and purchasing behaviour of the tourists, since the advancements in technology.

In the fifth and final chapter, the researcher will conclude the study by evaluating the limitations, giving future recommendations and drawing up the main key findings.

Chapter Five: Conclusion

5.1 Introduction In this final chapter, the researcher will draw up a rigorous conclusion, to determine if the study has been a success or not. Ultimately, this will be achieved by evaluating the aims and objectives. The chapter will also emphasise the limitations of the study and will provide recommendations to businesses and travel agencies, as well as for further research, based upon the findings from this study.

5.2 Aim and Objectives In the introduction chapter, the researcher deliberated the study’s aim and objectives, which was to try and bridge a gap between modern technology and traditional travel agents. The aim of the study was to examine and explore the impacts of technology on the role of traditional travel agents and their position as a component of the tourism system. The researcher will discuss the four fundamental objectives, as follows.

5.2.1 Objective One “To critically review the literature of the subject of travel agents and the advancement of the technology.”

This objective was attained by researching the impacts of advanced technology on travel agents, which can be found in the literature review in chapter two. Having done work experience at a travel agent and previous research of the subject, the researcher has great awareness and knowledge of where information can be found, but also the data collection process. Consequently, the critical review was fruitful and exemplifies a comprehensive literature and theories of both dated and recent studies. As a result, the researcher was able to pinpoint the gap and formulate a research approach.

5.2.2 Objective Two “To identify the positive and negative effects and influences of modern technology on travel agent.”

The secondary data collected in the literature chapter evidently distinguishes some of the positive and negative impacts of modern technology on travel agent. Using the qualitative data from the interviews and the quantitative data from the questionnaire survey, enabled the researcher to focus on the key themes and discuss insights. Thus, making the objective simpler to achieve, as it further reinforces the literature. 5.2.3 Objective Three “To provide a deeper insight and analysis of purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumers and its impact on travel agents.”

This objective was initially set out to analyse whether there are any correlations between the purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumer the impacts of technology on travel agents. Using the research from the literature chapter enabled the researcher to correspond the data with the findings’ analysis and discussion, allowed the study to provide an in-depth and formative analysis. 5.2.4 Objective Four “To make conclusions about the effect and impacts of the technology on traditional travel agents and make recommendations to business and to travel agencies.”

Utilising the findings from the previous chapter, conclusions and recommendations will be discussed later in this chapter, presenting the positive and negative impacts of technology, and how this has been highly influential towards the purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumers. A positive correlation has been found between the advent of modern technology and the consumer behaviour towards the use of travel agents. It appears that the internet and mobile devices have become increasingly more the “norm” platform to arrange and book holidays.

5.3 Limitations Limitations to the study were encountered predominantly during the primary research stage, of which has caused inevitable challenges on the latter half of the project. Though the findings’ analysis and discussion chapter saw some interesting and correlating results, there were some data that did not fit entirely into the study because of limited data. These limitations will be considered as follows.

5.3.1 Primary Research One of the biggest limitation is negotiating a date to meet up with the interviewees. Despite, contacting and reaching out to various travel agencies, the companies were unable to meet up due to certain circumstances, including busy schedules, business policies and simply just not getting a response back.

The scheduling of the primary research was also a limitation to the study, due to the time of the year (December/ January), being the peak season for booking holidays. This meant that travel agents were unable to get time off, but it also meant that participants did not have time to fill in the questionnaire. Essentially, the process took longer than it should have been, which delayed and pressurised the researcher to keep up with the workload.

5.3.2 Secondary Research

As far as secondary data is concerned, there were difficulties finding academic literature specifically towards booking holidays behaviour, as well as impacts of technology on the internal working environment of travel agents. Therefore, creating a constraint on the study due to limited information. However, the researcher has exploited alternative and relevant reports as well as academic journals for this study to gain better understanding and awareness.

5.4 Recommendations As previously mentioned, one of the objectives of this study was to draw up a conclusion and use this to formulate recommendations for future studies, as well as for businesses and travel agents. Therefore, achieving the objective in this section.

5.4.1 Recommendations for Future Studies If the study was to be carried out again or be referenced for further studies, there are a few recommendations which could help to improve it. These are:

 Explore and examine the effects from two different scopes or focus specifically on one, using either or both a small independent-run travel agent and a large- chain travel store, or both. It will enable the researcher to see whether the impacts of technology apply more to larger travel stores than smaller travel agencies who may not be able to afford these expenses.  Allow more time to research around the topic and create a short but concise list of questions for the interview. It is important that the researcher asks the interviewees shorter questions, in which they can further elaborate when asked.  Identify and explore age demographics to gain an in-depth and better understanding of the information searching and purchasing behaviour. The benefits of this is that, the researcher will be able to explicitly identify insights, and distinguish the difference in attitudes and motivations between millennials and the older generation.

5.4.2 Recommendations for Businesses and Travel Agents Although there have already been various ingenious and innovative applications of technology on the operational practices and functions of travel agents, this study present new and pertinent discoveries which can provide relevant recommendations.

 Recommendation one: Recognise and review where the business struggled with its profits from the previous years and use this as a guideline to boost the profits for current/upcoming years by offering store local vouchers. This would also be an opportunity for the business to deliver exclusive deals and offers as a mean to pilot new products.  Recommendation two: Take a more proactive approach to technology and keep up-to-date with emerging retail technologies such as efficient hardware and software. The use of the internet and mobile devices have also become

increasingly popular. Provide security updates for PCs, smartphone and tablets to ensure consumers data protection. Also provide loyalty card schemes via apps, this would encourage more people to use company’s own product.  Recommendation three: Voucher inclusivity, make online and instore voucher code work so they are not separated, allowing the consumers to book in-store and online. Travel agents must provide options and the flexibility for consumers to book wherever and whenever.

5.5 Overall Conclusion The literature review provided ample secondary data in a short time-frame, ultimately giving the foundation base of the project. The methodology in chapter three gave a comprehensive understanding of the research method utilised as well as the individual techniques that can relate to it, such as the sampling methods. Regarding the findings’ analysis and discussion in chapter four, the researcher was very surprised to the extent of how some of the results both goes in support and contradiction to the literature review. For much of the anticipation, there were also some prominent discoveries from using a mixed research approach. This will be valuable to utilised when reinforcing justifications and arguments on the idea that in the 21st century, technology is integral to the business for it to be successful, financially and operationally, as well as thriving in a competitive market.

The researcher believes that modern technology will challenge travel agents to reimagine their core business, resulting in innovative approaches to the historic complexities of the sector. Essentially, the companies that can empathise with customers’ needs at whatever stage of their holiday experience and create communications that reflects their needs, will be able to build long-term and stronger relationships.

5.5.1 Key Findings  Time and knowledge are valubale commodities when it comes to arranging and booking holiday trips.  Tourists and consumers alike, are shifting towards tailored-packaged holidays, due to the flexibility and array of choices provided by the internet.

 Travel agents’ proximity to consumers shows no correlation to the probability of people visiting in-store. The accessibility to book online has determined the importance of travel agents positioning on the high street.  The website and mobile platform has become increasingly popular in the last decade, as a mean to book and arrange holiday trips. Though, security issues remain key factor to the purchasing behaviour.  The use of virtual reality in travel stores only projects vivid information on the consumers’ head, thus only enhancing the mind and creating a composite view.  Investments in up-to-date hardware and software has greatly developed the learning and training methods of staff, which has been efficient for employees and cost-effective for the business.  People are shifting back to personal service, more so digitally. Tourists wants more alerts and notifications prior and during their holidays.

Chapter Six: Appendices 6.1 Appendix A – Ethics Application Form

6.2 Appendix B – Semi-structured Template

Order of Semi – structured Interview Discussed 1) Introduce yourself and the purpose of the interview.  Ask respondent to sign and acknowledge consent form.  Ask respondent approval to use recording system and write down notes. 2) Ask background questions.  Name of the organisation  Respondents position  Years working for the organisation 3) Discuss about the role and the business traditional travel agents.  In your opinion, do people still use travel agents? And if so what is the reason and/ or purpose of their visit?  What sort of customers do you get on a daily basis? E.g. booking a holiday, travel enquiries, etc. Do you get a specific type of customers or a variety?  In your opinion, do you think that people still visits travel agents because they prefer personal interaction, as well as the expertise and the extensive knowledge of the agent?  In what way do you think that excellent customer service is key determinant into creating loyal customers as well as attracting wider demographics?  Is the location and the accessibility of the travel store plays a role in attracting customers?  Do you believe that the internet and e- agents provides an extensive range of travel products and services? And if they do are they more tailored to an individuals’ demands? 4) Discuss about the effects and influences of technology advancements on travel agents.  What has been the positive impacts of the implementation of new technology in the travel store? E.g. immersive connectivity through virtual reality,

interactive touchscreens, personalised bar.  What were the benefits to the customers? Has it affected the number of customers coming into the store? Has it increased, decreased or stayed stagnant?  From your personal experiences, how has technology impacted you in a positive way?  In contrast, have there been any negative impacts of the implementation of new technology in the travel store?  The emergence of e-agents became popular, and allowed people to package their own holidays, what were the challenges that the travel agents faced? Did it affect the revenue, customer numbers, etc.?  What changes have you made to rival the e-agents and the internet? Have you worked with online operators? e.g. cheaper and negotiated prices  What has been the changes in travel agents that was implemented in order to attract new customers? e.g. physical appearance, store outlook, decorations, etc. 5) Discuss the impacts of technology on the training of employees in travel agents  In what way do you think that training is important within the travel agent?  What has been the role of technology in improving the employees’ knowledge, skills and experience? Has technology simplified and enhanced the training of employees?  Has the advancement of technology improved the productivity of employees for the better? Or does it depend on other variables?  In your opinion do you think that the majority of employee training will be completed online in the future? Or would it be a balanced between the other methods of training?

6) Discuss the impacts of technology in communication both internally and externally to the travel agent.  The emergence of telephone and web conferences has become popular in many business, has this affected the way employees and employers communicate internally at the travel agent?  Has the implementation of technology been effective? If yes how so? And if not, what were the challenges faced?  New updated software allows workload to be completed quicker, reducing tedious and monotonous tasks, is this true? Is the work completed effectively and efficiently, with new and updated equipment?  In your opinion, do you think that having your own website online allows you to communicate with existing target market better? Do you think that it maintains customer loyalty and competitiveness?  People who sign up to receive notifications for deals and offers have their data save on the travel agent, do you think that this good for the consumers as they get a personal connection with the company? Or do you think that people are more likely to avoid signing up for anything due to personal security issues. 7.) Discuss the purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumers.  Has the advancement of technology improved the software in travel agents, allowing to provide an extensive range of up-to-date information for customers? Does it find more specific and tailored information?  In your own opinion, do you think that customers miss out on good value-for- money holidays as well as offers and deals when they book their holiday online e.g. smartphone, tablet, pc, etc.

 In addition to the last question, do you think that people research appropriate and up-to-date information when they do it by themselves online, rather than seeking advice from an expert? Or do you think that it is the similar?  In your own opinion, do you get customers who visits in-store to research information about a particular destination or to even check prices/ fares?  In your opinion, does the speed of booking a holiday a determinant to why people arrange and book their holiday online, rather than in-store?  Does the effect of sales pressure deter customers from travel agent? Or does it depend on other variables? 8.) Discuss the future prospects of the role and business of travel agents.  Do you think that there is still a role and business for travel agents in the 21st century? What would be the main focus of operation in order to thrive in the tourism sector? E.g. travel agents are important in the future because…  Will people go back to arranging and booking their holidays with travel agents in the future? Or would it be the balance of online and face-to-face?  There have been many travel agents’ closures around the UK, do you think travel agents are shifting focus on the quality of the role and business of travel agent rather than quantity – the number of businesses?  Will there be any more implementation of technology in travel agents? E.g. swapping tablets for brochures, in-store computers for customers to book their own holiday.

6.3 Appendix C – Consent Form and Information Sheet

PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM

Cardiff Metropolitan University Ethics Reference Number: 2016D53601

Participant Name:

PLEASE HAND BACK THE CONSENT FORM TO INTERVIEWEE AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW.

If you would like a copy of the consent form please mention at the start of the interview, so that a copy is printed and/ or e-mail to yourself.

Title of Project: Modern Technology v. Travel Agents; Is there still a role for travel agents in the 21st century?

Name of Researcher: Isaiah John Vaughan

______

Participant to complete this section: Please initial each box.

1. I confirm that I have read and understand the information sheet for the above study. I have had the opportunity to consider the information, ask questions and have had these answered satisfactorily. [ ] 2. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving any reason. [ ] 3. I agree to take part in the above study. [ ] 4. I agree to the interview being recorded [ ] 5. I agree to the use of anonymised quotes in publications [ ] Yes [ ] No

6. I would like my organisations’ name to be anonymised in all publications. [ ] Yes [ ] No

Signature of Participant Date

Name of person taking consent Date

Signature of person taking consent

Print:

Sign: Date:

Modern Technology v. Travel Agents; is there still a role for travel agents in the 21st century?

Researcher Name: Isaiah Vaughan

Project summary

The purpose of this research project is to explore the impacts of technology on the role of traditional travel agents and their position as a component of the tourism system. The project will involve the identification of the positive and negative effects and influences of the internet on travel agent, and a deeper insight and analysis of purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumers and its impact on travel agents.

Reason for your participation

You have been asked to partake in an interview because you are employed in the service industry company at managerial level and below, therefore fits the profile of the population being studied. In addition, your participation will enable the collection of data which will form part of a study being undertaken at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

What is required from you?

Before any questions are asked, you will need to sign a consent form to ensure that you understand what the proposed project is about, it will also prompt you that your participation is entirely voluntary and you may withdraw at any time. All that is needed from you then, is to turn up and answer the questions as freely and honest as you can! The interview will be semi-structured and therefore will not be rigid and will cover a range of relevant topics, so please do not hesitate to ask any questions that comes to your mind.

Project risks

The research involves the completion of a series of questions and participation in a semi- structured interview and which will be recorded for later analysis. We are not seeking to collect any sensitive data on you; this study is only concerned with technology and its impacts on the role and business of travel agents. We do not think that there are any significant risks associated with this study. However, if you do feel that any of the questions are inappropriate then you can stop at any time. Furthermore, you can change your mind and withdraw from the study at any time – we will completely respect your decision.

How we protect your privacy

All the information you provide will be held in confidence. We have taken careful steps to make sure that you cannot be directly identified from the information given by you. Your personal details (e.g. signature on the consent form) will be kept in a secure location by the research team. When we have finished the study and analysed all the information, the documentation used to gather the raw data will be destroyed except your signed consent

72 form which will be held securely for 5 years. The recordings of the interview will also be held in a secure and confidential environment during the study and destroyed after 5 years.

YOU WILL BE OFFERED A COPY OF THIS INFORMATION SHEET TO KEEP

If you require any further information about this project then please contact:

Isaiah Vaughan, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Cardiff Metropolitan University email: [email protected] or [email protected]

6.4 Appendix D – Questionnaire Template

6.5 Appendix E – Questionnaire Results Summary

Q1 - Gender

Q2 - Age

Q3 - Status

Q4 - Income per annum

Q5 - Do you drive?

Q6 - Which of the following best describe your travel personality?

Q7 - How many holidays do you book annually?

Q8 - What is your budget for a holiday?

Q9 - Who do you travel with? (Please tick all that apply).

Q10 - Where do you look for information when looking to book a holiday? (Please tick all that apply).

Q11 - What influenced you to book a holiday? (Please tick all that apply).

Q12 - Have you booked a holiday in a travel agent in the last 12 months?

Q13 - Where is the nearest travel agent to you?

Q14 - Which of these have you used to book a holiday in the last 12 months? (Please tick all that apply).

Q15 - What do you use the internet for when booking a holiday? (Please tick all that apply).

Q16 - Where is quicker to book a holiday?

Q17 - How often do you book holidays online?

Q18 - In order of importance, indicate your preferences.

Q19 - What do you think are the advantages of using the internet when booking a holiday? (Please tick all that apply).

Q20 - What do you think are the disadvantages of booking online? (Please tick all that apply).

Q21 - Travel agents are important in the future to... (Please tick all that apply).

6.6 Appendix F – Semi-structured Interview Transcripts

Interviewee A

Order of Semi – Discussed structured Interview

1) Introduce yourself and the purpose of the interview.  Ask respondent to sign and acknowledge consent form.  Ask respondent approval to use recording system and write down notes. 2) Ask background questions.  Name of the TUI organisation  Respondents Travel advisor position  Years working for 23 years the organisation 3) Discuss about the role and the business traditional travel agents.  In your opinion, They still visit a lot. There’s a lot of people that don’t do people still really have full access to the internet or the printer. use travel Some people also visit for personal recommendations. agents? And if so People also visit for the expertise and personal what is the interaction, it’s a mixture really. reason and/ or purpose of their visit?  What sort of It’s anything really. I would say at the moment, per customers do week, on our conversion rate, 20% are enquiries and you get on a then 80% are enquiries and bookings. daily basis? E.g. booking a holiday, travel enquiries, etc. Do you get a

specific type of customers or a variety?  In your opinion, A lot of people are going back to personal do you think that recommendations. Some people aren’t really confident people still visits navigating the internet, because not everything you see travel agents on there is what they say they are, and like I’ve because they mentioned earlier, some people don’t really have the prefer personal access to the internet. interaction, as well as the expertise and the extensive knowledge of the agent?  In what way do Huge. Everything starts with customer service and then you think that is about driving the bookings. Were given key points of excellent what to ask things and when to ask them. We start the customer service conversation at the door, interacting with customers is key and then find out where they’ve been on holiday determinant into before. So, it’s all about happy conversations before we creating loyal go in, into selling. Then, we have a general conversation customers as and find out what they like and where they want to go well as attracting and then tailor that to what we think is best for them, wider but it is all about customer service regardless, even just demographics? when they’re picking up holiday brochures, because not every person is going to book a holiday.

 Is the location Many travel agents are position in prime location, and the though the issue sometimes is often with parking and accessibility of accessibility, which puts people off. So, that then send the travel store people to other stores with free unlimited parking. plays a role in However, we email the customers, we telephone call attracting them. So, we reach out to them in other ways. customers?  Do you believe The internet, generally sells what they want to get rid that the internet of. So even – just for example, when you asked for a and e-agents holiday at a certain airport, at a certain date, the first provides an cluster of hotels that come up are the ones that haven’t extensive range been bought by e-agents. They are committed bed of travel stock, that they want to get rid of first. That really isn’t products and tailoring, that is just putting money in the bank. services? And if Whereas, Thomson don’t really know which ones the they do are they customer wants, so we just use our personal more tailored to experience. We don’t really know what those e-agents an individuals’ do but they throw things at you. demands?

4) Discuss about the effects and influences of technology advancements on travel agents.  What has been It’s really clever. I think that it’s great to give customers the positive a real-life experience and something that travel agents impacts of the don’t have. To put them on the beach, around the pool, implementation all that virtual – as long as they have time, some of new customers just want to come in and book holiday and technology in the go – so they don’t really need that. It just depends, travel store? E.g. sometimes we can just tell if customers are going to immersive come in and book and we wouldn’t sort of waste their connectivity time, but if we do see someone undecided, we try and through virtual create a better picture – I mean we haven’t got virtual reality, reality, so we just use YouTube and find their hotel. We interactive have got other websites that we use to show clients - touchscreens, hotels, tour operators, etc. and use that so that it can personalised bar. help us bring the holiday to life. But, yes technology has become huge!

I remember when I started 23 years ago, we didn’t have any technology, we had a little computer with dialects to find holidays and it was just a black screen with white writing. So, the only pictures that we had was from the brochure because we didn’t have the internet, it was just what we experienced and brochures. Now, it’s all enhanced.  What were the Definitely. It creates that image in their minds, like the benefits to the videos, they can see the facilities in the hotel, they can customers? Has see people enjoying themselves, it just brings it all to it affected the life. number of customers coming into the store? Has it increased, decreased or stayed stagnant?  From your Definitely enhanced it. I remember when we had to personal phone for holidays, with certain tour operators. They experiences, how then had to phone the hotels for any tiny details or has technology changes in the package.However, in this day of age impacted you in everything is instant, the availability is instant – the a positive way? internet. Whereas, a long time ago, only 50% could only be accessed instantly and the rest were all phone calls, and piece things together. The way we would contact

the customers back then, was by using telephones, were we would only be able to ring them, now we are able to send them a quick email.

We also encourage customers to have the app on their phone, TUI or First Choice holiday app, so that then gives them reminders on extras that they can book, so that really, is also about making sure that we make extra profit, we want people to be pre-booking their seats and adding transfers, and persuading them every now and then - don’t forget to do this or would you like to book other things.

 In contrast, have Not that I know of. It’s only when the computer and the there been any printers go down, then we have a problem. But other negative impacts than that - I mean – I would only say that technological of the faults are sometimes the issue, because now that we implementation rely on it so much that when we don’t have it, of new everything falls apart, it can be difficult to manage. technology in the travel store? We just have to resolve the situation quick, and it usually getting the engineers down. So, technology can be very tricky, I mean everything we used to write down and now I very rarely pick up the pen and paper. Every now and then, we do have to write things down for a customer who’s come to pay some money, when the printer is not working and want a copy of their receipt, so we just handwrite them a receipt. That way then, we have also had a hard copy.  The emergence Yes definitely. Everyone's trying to book their holidays of e-agents online and putting them together. So, a cheap flight became popular, with Ryanair and then they'll find a cheap hotel. So, it and allowed has impacted, which is why we go back and rely on people to customer service because the internet doesn't provide package their that. So, when asking about your holidays, were own holidays, personalising your experience, which is where we have what were the to do it because the internet won't. But what we found challenges that with is that there have been a lot of people who have the travel agents tried the online thing which they've done once or twice faced? Did it and then had the problem, and then always come back affect the to travel agents because it's such a nightmare. revenue, customer One example, is the ash clouds that happened six years numbers, etc.? ago, in Iceland. There were no planes flying in the airspace for about two weeks. We've got people going on holidays every day and then all of a sudden none of these people could travel - because they book in the

internet and what happens? They don't get any contact with the internet to inform them. Everyone, who booked in store had personal contact and everybody had been refunded immediately with their flight. Whereas people who had booked their holidays online had to find contact and nothing instant and were just left stuck in airports queuing for days

 What changes Even Thomson Holidays has an online website, are we in have you made competition with e-agents? I suppose we are. People to rival the e- book in the evenings when we are a not open, so there agents and the is a lot of time. What we find is that people will book internet? Have online and then a couple of months down the line, will you worked with have problems or need to amend their holidays. online Whatever telephone number they got would just rings operators? e.g. and rings, or is engaged, or goes in a queueing system, cheaper and and they get really frustrated – and they’ll come in negotiated prices asking for our advice and help but because its online we can’t help but we just show them the best customer service. We sort of would then step in and politely tell them that book with us next time and we’ll find a same holiday or something similar at the same price that it is on the internet. It is just reminding people how much more we can do in comparison to the internet, because ultimately, we book everything through website and on the internet.

 What has been I would say it has decreased, and it definitely impacted, the changes in but the more people did book online and when do travel agents things happen out of control like hurricanes, it does put that was people off. It takes one person to have a problem with implemented in the flight or their luggage, or the hotel when they book order to attract online and they can’t get a response, that they realise new customers? how much valuable we are. It’s generally the customers e.g. physical that have come backed are the ones who had issues appearance, abroad or with their bookings. There was a lot of things store outlook, that we didn’t lose to the internet, people just didn’t decorations, etc. want to trust a computer, they don’t want to have print the boarding passes.

Also, you would most probably notice that in most travel agents there’s a foreign currency bureau. A lot of people that do come in who aren’t are customers but they’ve just come in for money, we use that as our opportunity to chat to them and grab them and make them come back to us one day. We will always try and start a conversation about holidays and convince them

to book holidays with us. That footfall of people walking straight to the foreign bureau is a protentional a new customer. 5) Discuss the impacts of technology on the training of employees in travel agents  In what way do We got to keep up with times. Customers are always you think that travelling and we don’t get to go where our customers training is goes to, so we have to keep up date with it as well. We important within do loads of online training all the time. We’ve always the travel agent? got modules to complete, but it could be anything from countries to hotel categories. We also have some niche products from Gold Holidays to Adult Only, we have family holidays and sports tours – just to know the products really, even if we don’t know about the country they’re in.

Educational trips, we use to have a lot more than we do now, they seem have to cut back and it’s all cost effective and there isn’t company that wants to give too much away these days. So, they’re not frequent as they used to be, but then I remember when we first started, 23 years ago, we only had the brochures or a book from libraries to know about a destination or the hotel, whereas now we got the online websites. We’ve got access to everything, and I can find you the top best 10 beaches within 3 seconds. So, we have shifted more towards online and the internet.  What has been I think it has because we got everything in our the role of fingertips, and instant. Also, we use the modules we’ve technology in done and learned, so when a customer comes in and improving the I’m thinking OK I’ve seen something, I can go back to employees’ this modules and sort of recap. I would say that it has knowledge, skills definitely simplify the choices for customers, as we are and experience? able to provide them a package full of information. Has technology simplified and enhanced the training of employees?  Has the advancement of technology improved the productivity of

employees for the better? Or does it depend on other variables?  In your opinion They’ll be more online, but they’ll still do the odd do you think that educational trips, but not just that many – there’s just the majority of too many people. employee training will be We used to train from 9 till 10 in the morning, on completed online certain times of the year. So, in April we launch the in the future? Or brochures for the upcoming summer, so we’ll always would it be a have a three-hour meeting and it all be about new balanced destinations, discounts and targets. Then we do the between the same thing at Christmas time, we call it turnover year. other methods Again, it is just such a busy booking time, January and of training? February, because people are looking to book ahead. I believe that 35% of our bookings will happen in January and February. 6) Discuss the impacts of technology in communication both internally and externally to the travel agent.  The emergence We have conference calls twice a week, but it’s just the of telephone and senior area manager, and the retail managers within the web conferences branch. They then escalate any information to us. 10 has become years ago, before conference calls we’d always just have popular in many general briefings and meetings. business, has this affected the way Also, the only time that we ever shared a product is employees and currency because with holidays we’ve all got the same employers access on our systems, we don’t have our own communicate allocation. Now, if a customer comes in and we don’t internally at the have the currency we will check with other stores within travel agent? the branch. We also use other colleagues in other stores quite a lot, especially if we know someone’s been to another shop or for example a customer’s made booking with us but don’t live in the area, we’ll make sure that their documents then are ready for them to pick it up at their local agency store, so they won’t have to travel.  Has the implementation of technology been effective? If yes how so? And

if not, what were the challenges faced?  New updated I think it has definitely improve the way I work, software allows personally. We used to write things and that would workload to be normally get lost but whereas now it’s just quicker. I completed mean, e-mail, were probably the last company to get e- quicker, reducing mail, but now its valuable, we are able to contact other tedious and shops from other regions but most importantly, we can monotonous get in touch with our customers tasks, is this true? Is the work completed effectively and efficiently, with new and updated equipment?  In your opinion, do you think that having your own website online allows you to communicate with existing target market better? Do you think that it maintains customer loyalty and competitiveness?  People who sign 9/10 of our customers are happy to get our up to receive notifications, its generally we would send out emails or notifications for vice versa. It just helps us and sometimes we send deals and offers discount codes that they can come in with. We do email have their data direct from the shop, but we don’t use social media, this save on the is because it’s such a big company that it is hard to travel agent, do manage. Trading standards and things like that, so in you think that the windows we don’t put anything handwritten, its this good for the only what the head office have given us to display, consumers as which has been looked at multiple times and verified. I they get a think it is just partly to keep the boundaries, not personal revealing too much and not getting things wrong. You connection with know, we don’t want to be advertising holidays that the company? Or aren’t quite there. I suppose, what goes on the do you think that

people are more windows, you don’t choose someone tells you what likely to avoid needs to be put on display. signing up for anything due to personal security issues. 7.) Discuss the purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumers.  Has the advancement of technology improved the software in travel agents, allowing to provide an extensive range of up-to-date information for customers? Does it find more specific and tailored information?  In your own It depends, it’s difficult sometimes. People will be opinion, do you booking low cost airlines and sometimes we can’t think that always match those prices, as we don’t really offer customers miss those prices. however, they do get a good deal but like I out on good said, the internet is trying to sell products that they value-for-money want to get rid of, like the committed bed stock that holidays as well they bought from the hotels - those are the hotels that as offers and are going to be push first. So even though it’ll advertise deals when they as a good deal, actually it is just not selling and they book their want to get rid of. So, it doesn’t always filter what you holiday online want or expect it to be. e.g. smartphone, tablet, pc, etc. Take cruises for example, you get amazing deals on cruises and its because once that ship sails, and there’s no beds and you haven’t sold the beds, then no one can buy the beds. Whereas with hotels, if tour operators haven’t sold the beds they could give the beds back to the hotelier and they can just grab tourists easily. So, with cruise ships they need to fill every cabin on board because that’s profit. There is no point sailing if the cabins on the ship is empty, so they will reduce the price at the last minute really cheaply.

 In addition to the It’s difficult, we find a lot of people who have come in, last question, do and we’ve had it quite a few times, they’ll come in and you think that want us to book a holiday, but they’ve found the holiday people research but then complain that was an awful holiday or before appropriate and they go on holiday they’ll check on trip advisor and then up-to-date don’t want to go. It is a difficult situation sometimes, I information mean when we’re searching for a holiday and you want when they do it something near a quite beach and it’s very difficult to by themselves filter that, but in the shops because we look at a lot of online, rather holidays we can recommend something as close as to than seeking what customers expect. It’s hard to filter on the internet advice from an to exactly what you want, you can filter and narrow as expert? Or do much but nothing is guaranteed. you think that it is the similar?  In your own I would say that, at every opportunity we will take their opinion, do you name and address and we will phone them just to check get customers that what we’ve given them was right or if they’ve who visits in- changed their mind, we could change it to something store to research else. So again, it gives us another hook to get them back information to the shops, so we wouldn’t ever just give them a price about a or a quote and let them go, because it’s a waste of our particular time but whereas if we take their details we can follow destination or to up and update them with any changes like prices going even check down or even to provide other alternatives. prices/ fares?  In your opinion, I would say, that because we talk too much, some does the speed people would just rather go online. But, I suppose of booking a people like to chat, it’s what makes booking a holiday holiday a exciting. Monetary wise it’s probably one of the biggest determinant to investment, the biggest thing you’re going to spend why people your money on, is a holiday. That’s why I suppose you arrange and would want to talk to people, you want them to feel book their special and excited. Also, people want to hear what you holiday online, have to say. But there are people who just wants to rather than in- book a holiday, particularly those who have been to a store? particular destination several times, they just don’t need our specialist knowledge.  Does the effect of sales pressure deter customers from travel agent? Or does it depend on other variables?

8.) Discuss the future prospects of the role and business of travel agents.  Do you think that It’s going to be down to the personal experience, there is still a because what the system we use is very similar to the role and business internet at home. So, the only thing then we got is for travel agents person service. in the 21st century? What would be the main focus of operation in order to thrive in the tourism sector? E.g. travel agents are important in the future because…  Will people go back to arranging and booking their holidays with travel agents in the future? Or would it be the balance of online and face-to-face?  There have been To get the profit you got to give the personal service, many travel but they are changing things to make it different to agents’ closures what the internet can offer. For example, some stores around the UK, are closing down to create superstores to provide a do you think more different feel to your normal travel agents. The travel agents are new stores you have an advice bar, it’s all about the shifting focus on personal interaction, it’s about the customer and just the quality of the turning store visits into more of an experience. role and business of travel agent rather than quantity – the number of businesses?  Will there be any There has been news that brochures are going to be more gone by 2020. In the brochures that we have now, we implementation don’t have prices, whereas 23 years ago there was of technology in exams on how to cost a holiday from brochures. The travel agents? reason for this is because of fluid pricing, if things are on

E.g. swapping demand they can bring the price up and if they can’t get tablets for rid of it the bring the price down – everything is just in brochures, in- control. At the moment, I don’t know about the store computers computers being installed in our stores, I suppose it’s for customers to too early to tell what they’re going to be doing, but then book their own again there is this shift towards personalised holiday. experience, and is all about making sure that we keep up with that.

Interviewee B

Order of Semi – structured Discussed Interview 1) Introduce yourself and the purpose of the interview.  Ask respondent to sign and acknowledge consent form.  Ask respondent approval to use recording system and write down notes. 2) Ask background questions.  Name of the STA Travel organisation  Respondents Store Manager position  Years working for 4 years with STA Travel / 20 years in Travel retail the organisation overall 3) Discuss about the role and the business traditional travel agents.  In your opinion, do Yes people do still use travel agents – we wouldn’t be people still use here if they didn’t! We specialise in more tailor made travel agents? And / adventure travel. Customers want information on if so what is the off the beaten track locations, first-hand knowledge reason and/ or (as we have been there), And ideas of how they get purpose of their there / get around when there. We can give visit? invaluable knowledge and recommendations which the internet can’t.  What sort of We get a wide variety of customers on a daily basis. customers do you Our core customer base is the student / youth get on a daily basis? market however over the last year this has changed E.g. booking a with approximately a 50/50 split between student holiday, travel market and older travellers. enquiries, etc. Do Our holidays consist of adventure tours / gap year/ you get a specific working holidays/luxury holidays / budget trips. type of customers or a variety?  In your opinion, do Yes, customers need as much information as possible you think that to ensure they are booking the right things for them.

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people still visits You can get cheap prices online but how do you know travel agents the company actually exists? Or that the information because they prefer they give you is correct? For many people a holiday is personal the most expensive thing they buying the year so it’s interaction, as well important they get it right. as the expertise and the extensive knowledge of the agent?  In what way do you For Millennials there is a difference in expectations think that excellent than older customers. Millennials are more customer service is interested in getting the cheapest price – there is no key determinant brand loyalty or real interest in customer service. into creating loyal Many often come into a travel agents for information customers as well on destinations and often in fact bring in their iPad to as attracting wider try to price match us there and then! For the older demographics? generation customer service is far more important. If they get good advice and a good deal they will return for their next holiday.  Is the location and Location is definitely key. Regular customers will the accessibility of always come back however we need to attract new the travel store business and have a prime high street location is key. plays a role in attracting customers?  Do you believe that The internet does have an extensive range of the internet and e- products on offer. In fact you can book almost agents provides an anything on there. There are also lots of reviews and extensive range of information sites for customers to use. However, the travel products and internet has not been to these destinations, it has no services? And if first-hand knowledge, it can’t ask the customer lots of they do are they questions to really understand what they want and if more tailored to an that product is right for them, it can’t tailor their trip individuals’ without a person doing it for them. The internet is a demands? great tool but it can’t do the same things a travel agent can. 4) Discuss about the effects and influences of technology advancements on travel agents.  What has been the At store level this has had little impact as most positive impacts of companies don’t have the cash flow to put these the implementation technologies into stores. They may be used in the of new technology large flagship store but not elsewhere. in the travel store? E.g. immersive connectivity

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through virtual reality, interactive touchscreens, personalised bar.  What were the As a company we do have 2 sets of virtual reality benefits to the headsets which are taken to travel shows / events for customers? Has it customers to experience locations around the world affected the i.e. walking down the strip in las Vegas, standing on number of edge of grand canyon. They are great for customers customers coming however they are just a bit of a gimmick and as yet into the store? Has don’t really change customers’ ideas / buying habits. it increased, It has had no impact on the customer numbers decreased or stayed visiting stores. stagnant?  From your personal Technology has made it much easier to make experiences, how reservations and find out information quickly. 20 has technology years ago when I started in travel all bookings were impacted you in a made over the phone – this meant lengthy phone positive way? calls and a drawn out process. Everything is automated from booking systems, skype, live chat etc. making our jobs much easier and more professional.  In contrast, have We have become reliant on the internet for all there been any functions from booking systems to phones. The negative impacts of internet can often run slow or even crash completely the implementation – sometimes for days. This means that we are unable of new technology to even explain to customers over the phone what is in the travel store? happening. This has definitely lost us business in the past and will continue to do so in the future I am sure.  The emergence of It is now really easy to search for and book your own e-agents became travel online. Search engines such as Skyscanner, popular, and Emondo, Kayak etc. mean that you can check the allowed people to best deal in just a couple of clicks. However, these package their own search engines conduct no checks that the holidays, what were companies they are recommending to book through the challenges that are legitimate. There have been hundreds of the travel agents documented cases where customer have book faced? Did it affect through a site and not got what they paid for or have the revenue, been called later to ask them to pay more. Customers customer numbers, are often not aware of this. Other customers use the etc.? internet to search for the deal they want and then come into store for us to match the price. This is often done as they are not confident booking online and ant a second opinion by someone experienced before booking. This has resulted in a reduction of our revenue overall. The internet has no overheads

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so can sell at bottom price – if we match then we often make a loss on the booking.  What changes have At STA we don’t deal with mainstream package you made to rival holidays. We sell adventure travel – everything from the e-agents and flights, hotels, tours campervans, car hire etc. We the internet? Have deal with smaller niche operators and have very close you worked with links. We offer the same prices as they do directly on online operators? their websites so we do not normally have a price e.g. cheaper and issue. We also have agreements with several negotiated prices operators who actively direct customers to book with STA via their websites. Building close links is what will keep travel agents alive.  What has been the STA stores are very modern looking – no more long changes in travel desks with agents sitting behind them. We have 2 agents that was large communal tables so the customer can sit next implemented in to you and see what you are looking at. This makes order to attract for a friendlier environment and the customers really new customers? seem to enjoy this type of interaction. e.g. physical appearance, store outlook, decorations, etc. 5) Discuss the impacts of technology on the training of employees in travel agents  In what way do you Training is vital to ensure every member of the team think that training is is a skilled professional. We have training for systems, important within compliance processes, products and locations. the travel agent? Without training we would not be in business!  What has been the Over the last 2 years our training has evolved from role of technology almost all classroom style courses to 90% now being in improving the e-learning. This has had a big impact on the business. employees’ Firstly it has cut costs – less travel / accommodation knowledge, skills needed for training courses. Secondly it means and experience? consultants can do the training in between serving Has technology customers and at their own pace – it also gives them simplified and something to refer back to or do again at regular enhanced the intervals to ensure they fully understand. This has training of resulted in a big change in the knowledge of all staff. employees?  Has the The move to e-learning has not had an impact on advancement of productivity. It has however had a positive impact on technology the companies’ expenses which have been improved the significantly reduced. productivity of employees for the

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better? Or does it depend on other variables?  In your opinion do More and more training will be done online in the you think that the future. I do not expect this to be more than the majority of current 90 % as some level of classroom learning will employee training always be needed especially for initial training will be completed courses where consultants will have lots of questions. online in the future? Or would it be a balanced between the other methods of training? 6) Discuss the impacts of technology in communication both internally and externally to the travel agent.  The emergence of In previous years we have used standard telephone telephone and web conference calls for group communications. In the conferences has last 12 months we have introduced business Skype become popular in calls which can be much more interactive by using a many business, has slide show at the same time. Over the next 12 this affected the months our normal phone systems are being way employees and removed and all calls will go operate via Skype. employers communicate We also use Yammer to communicate information internally at the internally with over 100 groups to add and gain travel agent? information from. This is quicker than email and everyone can get the information they need quickly and easily.  Has the Overall the implementation has been effective and implementation of has streamlined processes. The only challenges come technology been when processes don’t work at the initial roll out stage effective? If yes although it happens infrequently. how so? And if not, what were the challenges faced?  New updated Although new software, laptops etc. are often software allows quicker we are still limited by slow internet speeds workload to be and over company server issues. New technology is completed quicker, great but expensive and most companies can’t afford reducing tedious to update as soon as new technology comes out. For and monotonous example it is only in the last 3 months that we have tasks, is this true? Is started using laptops rather than desk tops, we have the work completed only had Wi-Fi installed 3 months ago etc. Cost is a

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effectively and superior overriding factors for companies and the efficiently, with benefits of new technology must far out way the new and updated negatives before investment is made. equipment?  In your opinion, do Having our own website enables us to get the latest you think that deals out to customers quickly. However websites do having your own not build customer loyalty – it is far too easy to website online compare prices with numerous companies at the allows you to same time online and if you find a deal cheaper you communicate with will book elsewhere. Websites can give great deals existing target but you are simply buying a product – face to face market better? Do you are buying that person. you think that it maintains customer loyalty and competitiveness?  People who sign up When customers come into store we take their email to receive address – this automatically signs them up to receive notifications for offer emails unless they opt out. Our marketing team deals and offers then email them offers on a daily basis. My personal have their data save opinion is that this is way too much – customers on the travel agent, simply delete the emails without reading. do you think that this good for the consumers as they get a personal connection with the company? Or do you think that people are more likely to avoid signing up for anything due to personal security issues. 7.) Discuss the purchasing and information searching behaviour of consumers.  Has the No – as mentioned we do not have technology in- advancement of stores as soon as it comes out due to costs. technology improved the software in travel agents, allowing to provide an extensive range of up-to-date

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information for customers? Does it find more specific and tailored information?  In your own Yes they often do – websites are great but you often opinion, do you need to add an offer code to get the best deal. We do think that not need this in store and can therefore find the best customers miss out deals quickly. on good value-for- money holidays as well as offers and deals when they book their holiday online e.g. smartphone, tablet, pc, etc.  In addition to the Customers buying online often do it on impulse i.e. last question, do they see what they think is a good deal and book it. you think that They often don’t think about important things such people research as visa / entry requirements / is the holiday really appropriate and up- what they want or need. When customers come in to-date information store we build a good rapport and this allows us to when they do it by better understand what they want and match all the themselves online, right products. rather than seeking advice from an expert? Or do you think that it is the similar?  In your own Yes – sometime we are just an information centre opinion, do you get with customers using us for information then going customers who to book it themselves. We also have customers who visits in-store to come in to get a price just so they can tell us they research have found it for £100 cheaper themselves! Often information about a customers also ask us ‘ what is the benefit of booking particular in store when I can get the same online’ - we destination or to obviously then point out the 1hr conversation we even check prices/ have had to find them the perfect deal and that this fares? is not possible online.  In your opinion, I don’t think it is the speed – more like the fact that does the speed of everyone works long hours and it is often only in the booking a holiday a evening when most companies are closed that you determinant to why have time to look at holidays. If you then find people arrange and something good it is tempting to just book online book their holiday rather than waiting for a store to open the next day.

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online, rather than in-store?  Does the effect of Most people are very good at saying no or making up sales pressure deter an excuse to not book there and then. We do not customers from pressure customers to book – we give them all the travel agent? Or information they need to make an informed decision does it depend on and book at the right time for them. other variables? 8.) Discuss the future prospects of the role and business of travel agents.  Do you think that I definitely think travel agents are still important in there is still a role the 21st century. We are lucky in that the type of and business for travel STA book is quite independent and the kind of travel agents in the trips people need a lot of advice on. It is very difficult 21st century? What to do this online and therefore customers still need would be the main to speak to us. Some other high street agents focus of operation however will find it more difficult to service. The likes in order to thrive in of Thomas Cook / TUI who sell package holidays will the tourism sector? need to evolve if they are to survive on the high E.g. travel agents street. They may become more of an advice service are important in the with terminals in store linked to their websites where future because… customers can just book their own holiday with assistance.  Will people go back This is dependent on a number of factors. If a lot of to arranging and online companies go bankrupt then this will drive booking their customers into more stable high street stores. If high holidays with travel street stores are open for longer i.e. evenings this agents in the could mean customers will come instead of just future? Or would it looking online. It’s very difficult to predict the future. be the balance of online and face-to- face?  There have been Over the last 15 years the travel industry has gone many travel agents’ through a large change. Most of the stores closing closures around the are from the big multiples. Around 8 years ago UK, do you think Thomas cook merged with Going Places and later Co- travel agents are op Travel. TUI merged with First Choice. If you shifting focus on visualise a typical high street before the merger they the quality of the would have had 5 travel agency shops (1 of each role and business of brand). After the mergers many remained open for travel agent rather the first few years however as time has gone on and than quantity – the leases have expired some of the duplicate stores number of have closed….why would you need a Thomas Cook, businesses? Going Places and Co-op store in the same town when they are ultimately the same company? I think public

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perception is that store closures mean a company is not succeeding. This is not always the case.  Will there be any Potentially but this needs to come only if the benefits more outweigh the cost. implementation of technology in travel agents? E.g. swapping tablets for brochures, in- store computers for customers to book their own holiday.

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