The travel agents’ role will never disappear and will always be there in the cruise industry.
Quote from Tom Wolber, CEO of Crystal Cruises, in an article on PhocusWire this week.
In The Big Chair - Tom Wolber of Crystal Cruises
Perhaps nowhere is a travel agent more necessary than in the cruise industry.
Compared to simply booking a flight to and accommodation at your location of choice, reserving a stay on a cruise ship is a much more complex endeavor many travelers find difficult to navigate.
And understandably: There are cruise lines, dates, flights, cabin choice, port stops and activities - not to mention the logistics of international travel - to consider ahead of committing to such an expense (especially if the whole family is coming along). And who has that sort of time?
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Fewer and fewer travelers, it seems, which helps explain why cruise bookings via travel agents are actually expected to increase (from 66 to 67%, according to Phocuswright) by 2021.
As shiny and new as chatbots, voice devices or AI-assisted travel planning tools may appear, they don’t always meet the need of just getting something done - properly and efficiently.
Not to mention customers (across industries, arguably) aren’t ready to place their full faith in technology yet as the sole means to an end (call centers still exist for a reason).
As Wolber notes in his interview, where technology has played and will continue to play a fundamental role in cruise is around streamlining back-of-house operations and improving the guest experience onboard the ship.
So indeed, as he says, travel agents will always be there in the cruise industry, despite technology innovations to the booking process.
The same can be said for agents across all segments of travel, which as we also explored this week, are still a major force in the offline travel world.
Humans, for all their flaws, sometimes just make things a little easier.
Alexa, can you argue with that?