Could the Tide be Changing (Travel Agency Management) Essay

Could the Tide be Changing (Travel Agency Management) - Essay instanceand Horner, S. 2006). However the recent proliferation of the e-commerce business model has challenged traditional adage that location, location, location is critical to commercial victory (Chaffey, D. 2006) effectively undermining the traditional rifle agency distribution model, forcing travel agencies to re-develop and reformulate competitive strategies to sustain suppuration (Zhou, Z. 2003).This is further evidenced by the recent merger of package holiday specialists MyTravel and Thomas Cook in 2007 (Taylor, I. 2007). It was reported that the merger was driven by business necessity in order to ensure natural selection in the competitive nature of the market facilitated by the e-commerce business model (Taylor, I. 2007). Moreover, it was propounded that the merger is predicted to save 75million a year by 2009/10 through cuts in duplicated services and assets including staff, shops, aircraft, offices and IT s ystems, particularly in the UK (Taylor, I 2007). Whilst whatever analysts reacted to the merger as a further nail in the coffin of the high passage travel agent, the alternative question posed is whether this in fact matters in the digital arena (Taylor, I. 2007).Moreover, it is arguable that the proliferation of the network and online evolution could in fact have signalled a new tide against the recent trend of losings and closures within the industry. The focus of this analysis is to evaluate recent business analyst forecasts signalling the decline of the high street travel agency within the emerging online market as evidenced by the rapid growth of virtual travel agencies such as Expedia and lastminute.com (Evans, N., Campbell, D. & Stonehouse, G. 2003)Whilst, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) figures indicate a of import reduction in high street travel agencies (www.abta.com), this analysis will evaluate whether such