Travel’s mobile revolution to drive expert agents

The wave of trends impacting the travel industry, including the rise of mobile technologies, will lead to the creation of niche travel agencies offering expert services.

This is the view of Robert Bailey, president & CEO of Abacus International, who last week revealed his vision for the near-term future of the industry to Travel Daily.

“I see agents as being like ‘centres of excellence’. If you look at any of these knowledge-based businesses, the core [value] is the know-how,” Bailey said in an interview at the Abacus International Conference (AIC) in Abu Dhabi.

“[They are] adding value by understanding travellers’ requirements, understanding what is required in terms of the supply side, how to put it together, how to package it, and how to [turn it into] a compelling value proposition, and supporting their customers.

“So I would say that the logical evolution is that travel agents… [start to] act as a concierge. They can be a ‘virtual concierge’, they can be a concierge acting through a mobile-enabled delivery channel, or they can be a destination expert or a subject matter expert, like a niche diving site. And that will add value to the consumer side,” he continued.

Bailey went on to say that “gone are the days” of travellers simply turning up at a travel shop, flicking through a brochure and booking a holiday. This “purely transactional model”, according to Bailey, is “not adding value”.  “The internet has all these tools already available. And if [travel agencies] don’t evolve from that, I think they will struggle,” he warned.

But there will still be “a place for the big boys”, as Bailey put it. “Big OTAs and big TMCs… will be able to drive value through the deals they cut with suppliers. They’ll be able to drive scale and complete on price.

“But,” he added, “where I think there’s a lot of opportunity for agents is in the niche [sectors] – getting close to the customer and using technology to become a ‘virtual local store’.”

And is likely to be driven by mobile technologies, according to Bailey, who explained the reasons for this trend.

“The cost of entry is much lower… [and] if it’s secure, it’s easy, reliable and intuitive, then I think people will use [mobile channels]. The consumers who will be looking at these will have grown up with mobile devices – we’re very close to that point now.”

He added that operators succeeding in the mobile space will be those “who know how to use those tools and present themselves in a way that makes it easy.”

And Abacus is preparing agents for this technology-led future with a new range of solutions. Last week, at the company’s biennial AIC event, Abacus unveiled three brand new products to an audience of 500 Asia Pacific-based agents. These included Abacus MobileConnect, which is designed to allow smaller travel agencies to launch their own branded mobile apps.

And with these new solutions, along with Abacus’ portfolio of agency products, Bailey said he believes his company is positioning Asia’s agents for the industry changes that are occurring.

“[The travel industry is moving into] a multi-channel world that’s enabled by technology and I think it’s going to be predominantly mobile,” Bailey predicted.

“The objective [for Abacus] is to make sure we’re participating in the growth of the travel industry – transforming travel in Asia Pacific.”