More excursions being booked with travel agents, fewer online

RACINE COUNTY — One of these three — the triceratops, the dodo bird and the travel agent — is not extinct.

Do-it-yourself, online travel booking thinned the ranks of brick-and-mortar travel agencies in recent years. But people in that industry, and those who monitor it, say it is flying high and travel agents are enjoying a rebound in popularity.

For example, revenue for Community Travel, 1500 Main St. in Union Grove, grew by a whopping 25 percent last year, Manager Ann Kerkman said.

“The Internet certainly hurt us,” said the 29-year travel industry veteran, “but I think it’s really turning around. … And people are coming back to travel agents.”

There are numbers to back that. The number of airline tickets bought through travel agents in the past 12 months grew by 1.78 percent, according to Airlines Reporting Corp., which processes ticket transactions for U.S. airlines and travel agencies including travel websites such as Expedia and Orbitz.

But the increase in tickets purchased through traditional travel agencies was almost quadruple that, 6.75 percent.

“I think a lot of people over the years have been burned by Internet travel,” Kerkman said.

“The complexity of travel is increasing,” said Chuck Thackston, ARC’s managing director of data and analysis. “The information is available (online), but most travel agents have it readily at hand.”

Holly Stritchko, 24, and her now-husband Taylor Shannon, 28, of Sturtevant, recently selected and booked their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic with an agent.

Stritchko, a teacher, said they wanted “somebody who had been to some of these places and offer firsthand experience. Online, you’re in the dark, and you don’t know if it’s a reputable place or not.

“There are so many places to choose from,” she added, “and they all look good – so how do you choose?”

More profitable travelers

“There’s no question the online giants … have taken a huge chunk out of the number of people booking (through travel agents),” said Rob Fixmer, editor of Travel Weekly, an industry print and online publication. “But that’s not the important point to travel agents.”

Agents usually make their money from commissions and/or fees, he said, so they earn more from bigger spenders.

Travel Weekly’s just-completed annual traveler survey showed the average amount spent per trip was $6,760, Fixmer said. People who booked their own trips online averaged $5,980, and those who booked through an agent averaged $10,310, or 72.4 percent more.

“The Internet is taking away the sort of nuisance client” who just wants the cheapest flight and is “not really serious about travel,” Fixmer said.

Those in the travel industry say using an agent adds security in cases of calamitous weather, political upheavals and so on. Most agencies have 24-hour, third-party operations in case travelers get stranded, Fixmer said.

“And (agents) will usually sell travel insurance, which is not very expensive,” he said.

“I always recommend anyone going out of the country buy insurance — and when you’re buying (a trip) online, you don’t buy it,” said Kathy Grant, manager at Travel Market Vacations, 6220 Washington Ave.

Internet travel booking “went into full gear in the early 2000s and a lot of agencies were closing,” said Grant, a 31-year industry veteran. “There were some left: the ones that are really doing it right.”

Advice and crises

“People who are just going to go to Las Vegas for three nights, they don’t need a travel agent,” Grant said. But for more involved trips, she said, an agent’s advice helps.

A few years ago, she said, a local family booked a Jamaica trip online. They didn’t know they needed passport books, and their daughter only had a passport card. She was denied entry, and they canceled the vacation.

“They had no insurance, and they had to fight the credit card company to get some of their money back,” Grant added.

Karen Schinke, owner of Chocolate City Travel, 1402 Linden Court, had two clients on safari in South Africa who were attacked and bitten by a baboon that had gotten inside their room. That ended the vacation early.

“They called me on the way to the hospital,” Schinke said, and she made new arrangements to get them home.

“I talked to the insurance company,” she added, “and got that going to make sure everyone was cared for.”