How important is a Brand name in the E-volving tourist industry:
the emergence of Travel Link Coordination.
(From 30 years of Travel: Nigel G. Simpson, November 2013: th.linkedin.com/in/nigelgsimpson/)

More information: Local People Worldwide

The tourist industry, especially for holidays abroad has seen significant changes over the last 10 to 15 years, mainly because of the adoption of the Internet. The internet has given everyone>n opportunity to access personal travel and holiday booking links, at the touch of a button.

Joining an “Entrepreneurs workshop” around 15 years ago, people laughed at my business idea of “Travel online”, and the groups rhetoric was people would travel inside a computer!
Now we all travel online, in one form or another…

Whether they book through the declining (Decimated?) number of High Street Travel agents or reply to a media advertisement, via TV, Radio, magazine or newspaper,
they will be using an online call centre of some description, who in turn will deliver their service,
using a myriad of internet derived resources and booking systems.

The internet provided many innovators and SME entrepreneurs the chance to compete
with the Big Fish. Some early adopters and developers were given the opening for a much more localized and personalized holiday booking service.

Companies like Holiday Coordinators and the strangely named Travel councilors
were able to use the skills of individual experienced agents, who could be based at home,
allowing a more flexible and convenient win-win for individuals, companies and specialized events clients.

The Online-ready Holiday Market
The internet or more aptly: the Online holiday market was accepted very quickly, especially by travelers who wanted something different, and not to be restrained, restricted or perhaps you might say, suppressed by the usual Holiday Package conformity………….
And this travel could be conveniently self- booked, and paid for at a home or office computer.

It is almost 50 years ago that “off the shelf” Holidays offered were so tightly packaged that customers were basically ordered, or to put it another way, persuaded, when to fly, what day, which hotel even which resort… the line was often: “Kefalonia – oh, you can only go there on Thursday or Saturday”.
Obviously there were operational reasons and Package Price needs for this problem but travelers wanted more..

In my early days with Holiday Coordinators, (Then called Travel LINK Coordinators),
We were inundated with calls from people who wanted something different –
but actually not different, just more of a holiday buy cheap clomid online designed around them, the customer,
rather than the Holiday company!

The new \”Internet savvy travelers\” were not interested in Brand or “Brand image”,
or even reputations! They just knew what they wanted.
At last, the new internet travel companies cialis daily in canada gave them this freedom and choice.
Giving the customer what they want! (Yep! It always works… funny that!)

As a regular customer, I could never find my exact match for my holidays…
then suddenly It was possible (but not straight forward), to have the ability to Link
different parts of the travel, accommodation type, and daily car hire requirement,
on whatever date, for whatever length of stay –
hence a new breed of Online Companies were set up for example the aptly named:
“Travel LINK Coordinators” with the Moto: “We search – You Relax”

Travel Linking Bringing Families Together

A real example of a Travel Link Coordination was:
a mother and three children flying to one country to meet the father, (who was on business there)
then after a few days “Stop-over”, onward to another country for a holiday together –
then returning to the UK by flying ‘the wrong way’, and completing their around the world coordination…
Imagine walking into a travel agents and asking for that!

The future of Travel now.
Now the customer can decide whether they want, Cruise coordination, Flight coordination,
Hotel coordination, Holiday coordination, even Ski coordination and Villa coordination, activities and events not to mention Wedding coordination, or honeymoon coordination!.

The big companies were excruciatingly slow to adopt the full potential of Online Holidays,
instead, continuing like dinosaurs, to churn out the same, or re-hashed package,
for example “Twin-centre” holidays.
(Whilst on one of these twin centers the holiday rep was over-heard saying “it was an organizational “nightmare”. (No… Just needed personal coordination…)

Meanwhile the exciting and dynamic innovators took the lead.
So much so, the bigger companies began to open holiday websites –
that mimicked this new wave of fast, Personal and more individualized service –
you had to look at the small print to find that the site was owned by….
The Big Four holiday package companies even began to let down the drawbridge,
some of their travel agents were “allowed” to offer, some, flexible (Travel Linked) holiday choices.

This became known as “Dynamic packaging” (The Times Newspaper c.2003?)
i.e. providing Travel LINKs and personal Coordination.
Kuoni have now taken on this idea with a re-termed: “Fully Independent Travel” (FIT).

But companies such as Holiday coordinators and Travel councilors still provided individual
“holiday coordinators” to take a personal interest in the client’s needs, wants and wishes.

Another example of, David and Goliath was: a wedding coordination to the Caribbean…

This Wedding was arranged by liaising with Virgin holidays – even the client (Bride to be)
was playing Virgin call center staff with the local holiday coordinator on price!
The client finally booked through Holiday Coordinators, simply because the bride was able
to devote more time, and offered the continued One on One, personal service, throughout the holiday and wedding arrangements.

Onward Online Travel continued to grow with technical service providers inventing and innovating new ways to speed up, and enhance: “travel by internet”
(Even MSN came out with the Brand domain “Online Travel”. Better late than, never…)

Trouble was…
just as Online holidays came of age, there was a recession causing many companies, in all markets, to fold. The Tourism headlines were all too often littered with “Airline seeking Chapter 7 liquidation”,
or “Another Travel Company collapse, leaving travelers stranded!”

This unfortunately series of world events brought people back to the realization that Brand Name
was important – even though, the New age of Local People Worldwide companies were covered by IATA, ATOL or similar, they were suddenly, no longer thought of as First Choice –
unless they were backed by a Big name.
71% see ABTA Membership as essential or important when booking their travel: (ABTA Magazine)

Further information: What\’s in a Domain – Travel Link Coordination. Evolving Holiday coordinators. – visit th.linkedin.com/in/nigelgsimpson/