Skift Take
Managing complexity and adding a human touch has always been the strength of travel agents. They'll need to embrace that as they face the latest travel tech disruptions.
Travel agents have been left for dead before – and while some are not known to be the most tech-savvy, they've adapted when faced with massive disruptions.
They survived the Internet and the pandemic. But now comes AI, and these are particularly unpredictable times.
“For the last 20 to 25 years, we've been destined to be left back in the history books. And yet we are a resilient industry,” said Otto de Vries, CEO of the Association of Southern African Travel Agents about the impact of OpenAi's ChatGPT and its potential to disrupt travel planning. "We have always found ways to re-engineer ourselves, drive value and carve out a meaningful role that speaks to our customers."
Personalization is at the core of the shift from travel agent to travel advisor, according to Erika Richter, American Society of Travel Advisors vice president of communications.
"We've moved away from the transactional nature of what an agent would do and into the more holistic nature of what advisors do," said Richter. “Travel agents look at the trip, but they also look at the whole person and ask important questions like ‘what does this trip mean to you?’�