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Travel agents have been rated highly by consumers in a study by Holiday Which? magazine.

Of holidaymakers using travel agents, 81% felt they’d received honest, trustworthy advice and 90% said they would recommend the travel agent to friends and family who wanted to take a similar type of holiday.

Of respondents who had booked a holiday abroad in the past year, 44% had used a travel agent to book all or part of the trip, and another 29% had phoned or visited an agent to research the holiday before booking.

Those who used travel agents were less likely to shop around – three quarters visited just one.  Thomas Cook was the most popular travel agent, followed by Thomson and Going Places. Independent travel agents were also thought to be worth a visit.

Holiday Which? editor Lorna Cowan said: “Lots of people are still using a travel agent to book their holiday and as a source of information and advice.  People trust them, perhaps because there’s a human face to talk to.

“While travel agents are certainly no longer the automatic first port of call they once were for everyone, there’s clearly still a demand for them – maybe people want the reassurance of speaking to a specialist before making an important, relatively expensive decision like booking a holiday.”

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