Agents remain key for travellers choosing complex itineraries despite the dominance of online retailers among the youth market, STA Travel says.
Speaking at the launch of the agency’s new travel trends report, UK country manager Tim Fryer said that while 70-80% of their customers start their journey online, face-to-face guidance remains key at a time when tailor-made, multi-stop trips featuring lesser-known destinations are on the up.
“Online is an absolute key booking channel for this market, however many of them have never done a trip like this before, so the expertise and the hand-holding that agents can provide is really important, especially now when there’s so much uncertainty in the UK and around the world,” said Fryer.
“Gone are the days of a simple core itinerary. Trips are more tailor-made now than ever before.
“Gap year trips have also got shorter. Three-month, multi-stop trips are really popular and travellers are wanting to squeeze more and more into those three months, so then it becomes complicated. You can’t book a five-stop round-the-world trip visiting this, this and this online, so they still want to speak to someone.”
He said that the rise of social media means travellers now come in knowing where they want to go, so demands and requests have gradually changed.
“Now our customers want that much more from agents – requests for additional luggage, seats on the plane and so on didn’t exist before, but now these things are really important.”
At the launch of the report, Youth Travel: Past, Present and Future, Fryer said flexibility and independence were also key for the market, with independent trips on the up and tour operators adapting to the trend.
“We’ve seen our overland tours grow significantly in the last five to six years and actually change what is offered from a tour itinerary perspective.
“It’s no longer just about jumping on a coach and moving around – it’s about cultural immersion, getting off the beaten track. Almost every one of our tour operator products works with a local community project, for example.
“You have a demographic which is fiercely independent and they know what they want to do. I didn’t necessarily see these things [touring and independence] going hand in hand but they definitely have, and I think this links to the fact that while our customers have all this knowledge accessible, they still very much want that hand-holding approach – they want things organised for them while still having some independence.”