Travel agents are blooming again, as the chaotic season of 2022 travel ramps up, with overbooked airlines making everything much more difficult than it has to be.
The internet nearly killed travel agencies, who could rarely get you anything in terms of rates or packages that you couldn’t find with a quick google. But an internet search can’t (or often won’t) help you with the sheer unpredictability of modern travel. Airlines in staffing crisis canceling half their flights over a busy weekend, destinations changing their open border status or ordering all lodgings to close due to a disease outbreak, runaway global inflation causing prices to change after bookings, they all make it extremely difficult to trust what you’re booking.
Travel agents are valuable when what you need are options and alternatives. Many also offer travel insurance at rates better than the airlines, insurance which can cover changed or canceled plans, illness or injury, theft, pretty much anything but war breaking out – although this year, that’s definitely been worth consideration too.
Travel agencies have been reporting huge booms in business, just in the past few months, to around 250 percent of what they were before the pandemic in 2019. And they aren’t the dusty storefronts with faded posters of Bora Bora anymore. Many travel agents now are geared towards a comprehensive and/or luxury experience, not just getting you there and finding you a place to sleep.
“People are learning to distinguish proper advisers from simple hotel-bookers—there’s a big difference,” says Paul Tumpowsky, owner of Skylark Travel Advisers. His company offers online booking, all-hours human support, and travel insurance, he’s predicting to triple his 2019 business figures by the end of the year.
“It’s all about making people’s lives a little easier at a time when there are so many question marks,” said Jack Ezon, co-founder of Embark Beyond.
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