“Online a must if you want to survive”
Travel agencies with any aspirations for the future must have an online presence, says Abacus International’s Don Birch.
And he offered this advice – don’t take on the big boys, use the internet as a customer and marketing tool and build an area based on product or a specialised area.
“The big boys spend multi-millions on marketing and their technology, there is no way you can compete. The question you have to ask is, how do I use this facility to better engage with my customers.”
Supplementing Birch’s comments, Brett Henry, Abacus vice president for agency marketing, said, “That doesn’t mean you can’t compete but don’t look at what someone else is doing, for example, Expedia and copying it.
“Take everything your company is today and replicate it in two dimensions and deliver the same service on both fronts. You must be very clear about your business model.”
Cautioning that “the online game is not a cheap story”, Birch said, “You have to make mistakes. If you have to any aspirations for the future, you’ve got to have an online presence and work out how it matches with your product and specialization.”
Abacus recognised three online players at its gala awards ceremony at the closing of its conference in Sabah – ezTravel, Taiwan; Zuji Singapore and Make My Trip, India.
The GDS also recognized agencies in non-air content – Farrington American Express Travel Services, Hong Kong (non-air content, hotels and cars); and Travel Expert, Hong Kong (travel insurance).
It also awarded travel agents who topped their respective markets in bookings, such as Farrington American Express Travel Service, Hong Kong, TOP TRAVEL SERVICE, Korea, American Express international, Taiwan, Akbar Travels of India, Holiday Tours & Travel, Malaysia, Manila International Travel and Tours, the Philippines, Safe2Travel, Singapore, and Hong Ngoc Ha, Vietnam.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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