In a new study conducted by Deloitte, traveling is presented to have its ups and downs throughout history, which is explained by the recessional downturns of the global economy. However, in 2019 and prior to the emergence of Covid19 pandemic, the US travel sector reached a milestone as it witnessed a remarkable decade in travel just after the Great recession of 2008.
With this global increase in interest in traveling the amount of information available to people has spiked up as well which leaves a lot of them confused and in need of help when planning their trips. This marked a turn in the travel sector as travel agents progressively evolved to travel advisors. Indeed, in a recent article in Forbes travel agents are referred as the past, whereas travel advisors are the future of travel. The major difference in respect to their job description is that travel advisors have a more decisive role while consulting and assisting travelers in planning their trips, as well as during the trips, with expert knowledge, local information and handy tips.
One interesting aspect that arises refers to the attitude differences of different age groups towards travel advisors, and namely millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). Initial statistics show that 55% of millennials are inclined to hire travel experts to help with planning their trips, while only 28% of Baby Boomers say the same (ASTA statistics). This notable discrepancy can be explained by different reasons.
Reason No1: Technology comfort level
Adaptation to the digital era is vital nowadays in order to complete different tasks, including traveling. Hence, millennials being raised in the digital era means that their norm is using technology, which for baby boomers often is difficult to understand and exploit.
Reason No2: Time requirements
Millennials seem to live very fast-paced and busy lives, where there is no room to go over all alternative options when trying to plan a trip. Fore, the travel advisor might do it for them, saving them the precious free time they have to not be spent on the planning. On the contrary, baby boomers are in their majority retired, which means they have more time on their hands to weight out the options and choose their best-fit option while planning their trips.
Reason No3: Digital scepticism
As millennials are raised in the digital era they seem to not show any signs of skepticism when they have to plan, book, or pay anything online. On the contrary, baby boomers seem to prefer doing everything face-to-face, because doing everything online can be seen often as too risky and unreliable. Hence, even when millennials do not meet the travel advisors face-to-face they seem to be comfortable using their services.
Reason No4: the Do-Everything-Myself approach
The final reason might be the fact that baby boomers have been raised in an era when they had to do everything by themselves and looking for or finding help was either very hard to do or not worth the cost. On the other hand, millennials are more eager to search for help in trip planning, as they acknowledge that this is a time-consuming task and requires a lot of effort in searching, booking, reviewing. Travel advisors can help them find an easy way out in this sense.
Verdict
One of the many responsibilities that travel advisors have is to satisfy and even exceed their customers’ expectations, with the traveling sector evolving and the travel tech booming. Travel2Fit fully supports this digital transformation and the work of travel advisors to support and reach travelers in their quest for discovering the world! Check our travel proposal building software and engage more prospects now!
