Acknowledgements
I would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete my questionnaire I am very grateful as I managed to reach my target of 30 people. I would also like to thank my parents for taking the questionnaires into work and getting people to fill them in.
I would also like to thank every author whose secondary data I have used. Whether it is books or the internet I found a lot of relevant information and I am grateful that people have written about this subject before.
Chapter 1 – Research Proposal
1.1 Aims and Objectives
The aim of my research is “is booking travel over the internet causing the decline of the High Street travel agents?” To find this out I will follow the following objectives:
- To show the rise of booking travel over the internet since the year 1998 to the end of 2006.
- To identify how people research their holiday.
- To identify, if anything what travel services they purchase online.
- To identify how people last booked their holiday and why they chose this method.
- To identify what company their holiday was booked through.
- To identify why people do not use the internet to book their holiday.
- To identify why people do not use the High Street travel agents to book their holiday.
- To identify any trends with age as to who books via the internet and who doesn’t.
1.2 Parameters
There is only 12 weeks in which to complete this subject so the timescale is a parameter. I will devise an action plan (see chapter 2) with the dates I plan to have achieved certain parts of the project. I will stick to this in order to get this unit in on time. The timescale I am going to look at for my secondary data is any data since the year 1998 as this is all I am interested in as this is when internet bookings started. If I look at anything before this date it will be contradictory to my assignment as the High Street travel agents will still be very popular.
When it comes to budget I want to keep it as low as possible so I have emailed my questionnaire to some people who have access to a computer so that will save on some printing costs. The rest I will print of at college using my print credits. I will also print my final assignment off at college as well.
1.3 Methodology
1.3.1 Primary Data
I will devise a questionnaire which will be how I gather my primary data.
1.3.2.1 Questionnaire
The primary data I am going to use in this assignment is the answers generated by my questionnaire. My questionnaire will ask relevant questions about how a person has booked their holiday and why they have chosen that particular method of booking. This will help me in answering my hypothesis by seeing if more people use the internet or the high street travel agent to book their holiday. In my questionnaire I will also ask people’s age range and gender in order to see if there are any age groups or a particular gender that that use one method of booking a holiday significantly more than the other ways of booking. Most of my questions will be closed questions (see appendix 1) with an other please state space at the bottom if it hasn’t been included. This way I will not get loads of different answers and will be able to produce graphs from my quantitative research within my questionnaire. The sample I will use for my questionnaire will be convenience sampling due to the amount of time I have to complete this assignment. I will take my questionnaire into my workplace, my parent’s workplace, send emails and ask relatives over the phone in order to get 30 people to complete my questionnaire.
1.3.2 Secondary Data
I will gather secondary data from both books and the internet. I will spend a couple of weeks searching the internet and finding relevant books that have information on my chosen subject. I will search the internet at both home and at college. I will use search engines such as Google to find out as much information as I can about booking holidays on the internet and the decline in High Street travel agents. Any articles I find will be from the last ten years as the internet was not popular for booking travel products before this time. I will go to both the local and college library in order to find as much relevant information as I can. In the library I will look in the travel and tourism section to see if any books are relevant for this topic and that has been published within the last ten years. This is because I am only looking at data from the last ten years as before 1998 there was not much happening in the way of booking holidays through the internet. This information will be both qualitative and quantitative data.
Chapter 2 – Research Plan
2.1 Action Plan
On the following page is an action plan of when I am going to have each individual task completed in order to finish the unit, Research Methods on time. I am going to stick to this plan by making sure I give myself enough time to complete the work.
2.2 Justification
2.2.1 Title
I decided on the title I did for this project because I am interested in seeing how many people use the internet to book their holiday and why they have chosen this method and vice versa with High Street travel agents. It is a subject that interests me and I thought I would be able to get a lot of secondary data on this subject off the internet.
2.2.2 Questionnaire
I decided to device a questionnaire to find out why people use the internet or the High Street travel agent to book their holiday as my primary data. I decided on this because it’s a good way of collecting data and from the results I can produce graphs that will show the results of the questionnaire.
2.2.2.1 Questions I Chose
I decided on the questions for my questionnaire by looking at what it is I wanted to find out and what questions I need to ask to find this out. I used the internet as well to see if there were any previous questionnaires on this subject to help me decide what questions to ask.
2.2.2.2 Open and Closed Questions
My questionnaire features both open and closed questions. Open questions give the interviewee the chance to give any answer they choose, meaning they don’t have to choose from a list. For example in my questionnaire an open question is, “What company did you book your last holiday through?” Closed questions give the interviewee an option to choose from. For example in my questionnaire a closed question is, “Have you ever booked a holiday or aspect of a holiday online?”, then it gives a yes or no option. My questionnaire features a lot more closed questions than open questions this is because I will not get as many different answers from closed questions as I would open questions. It is also easier to produce graphs from closed questions than open questions.
2.2.2.3 Sampling
For my questionnaire I had to decide on a sampling method to decide on who I would ask to complete my questionnaire. I decided on convenience sampling due to how much time I had realised this would be the quickest and best way to get my questionnaires completed. Convenience sampling involved me gathering information from anybody available for me to survey no matter what their background.
Other sampling methods I could have used for this assignment are:
- Simple random sampling – the researcher decides the size of the sample and then picks them from the whole group for example by drawing the names out of a hat. The method used must ensure that every name has an equal chance of being selected.
- Stratified random sampling – this method weights the sample on the basis of the importance of each group. For example, if an organisation has 500 small users accounting for £1 million of their sales, but 100 big users accounting for £2 million of their sales, then they need to make sure that they interview twice as many big users as small users to represent their total sales.
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Systematic sampling – this involves selecting names from a list from a list at regular intervals, after choosing a random starting point. For example if you needed 20 names you could select every 50th name from number 72. So you would sample the names numbered 72, 122, 172 etc.
- Cluster sampling – the whole group is divided into small subgroups, but instead of choosing a random sample, you select those subgroups typical of the market. For example you may break an area like Cambridge into 100 sections, but only choose to survey those that have tourist attractions.
- Quota sampling – interviewers are given instructions to select a certain number of people according to their characteristics such as gender and age.
- Judgement sampling – this involves selecting the respondents by the interviewer based on his or her judgement that they seem to be and look representative of the group being researched.
2.3 Secondary Data
I have chosen to look at secondary data online and in books from 1998 to the end off 2006. I have chosen this time period because 1998 is when websites started appearing on the internet offering consumers the chance to buy holiday and other travel products online. I also decided to look at data up to the end of 2006, as then I can see what recent relevant information is available now about the internet and the decline in the High Street travel agents.
Chapter 3 – Secondary Data Results
3.1 What Was Predicted
In November 1998 Expedia was launched, which has proven to be one of the biggest travel buying websites on the internet. Even back in 1998 it was predicted that the internet could affect the High Street travel agent as Chris Nuttall wrote in the article “Online Travel Taking Off” from . The article states, “In the long run, it could do more damage to the traditional High Street travel agent by boosting consumer confidence and awareness of the advantages of buying over the internet.” The whole article can be seen in appendix 2. Below is a pie chart that shows how people booked their holidays in 1998.
As the pie chart shows most people booked their holiday through the High Street travel agent with hardly anyone booking their holiday through the internet, which is a big comparison compared with today as my questionnaire results prove.
3.2 Consumer Doubts
The book Tourism in the 21st Century Lessons from Experience by Bill Faulkner et al published by Continuum features a whole chapter on how information technology is changing the structure of the tourism industry. However the book is 7 years old and some of the information is now not relevant as it has been updated further.
The book states, “although many consumers currently use the internet for collecting information and building their itinerary, the majority still use traditional intermediaries to book their tourism products.” The table below shows the reasons why people are discouraged from purchasing tourism products on-line. The source of this table is adapted from PhoCusWright 1998, Forrester 1999.
Many of these reasons are still upheld today however some would not be as common a reason not to book via the internet now such as:
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Unfamiliar name – most high street travel agents and tour operators are now online so customers can book online with a company whose name they know. Many Internet based companies have also become so big over the years they are now a well known name such as and .
- Internet too slow – the introduction of broadband has made most people’s Internet connections faster and with most people having a fixed rate they can use the Internet whenever they want.
- Higher prices – the Internet is now known for providing cheaper travel products than the High Street travel agents.
3.2.1 What is being done about Consumer Doubts?
The book Tourism in the 21st Century by Bill Faulkner et al states, “It is estimated that consumers will familiarise themselves with the new tools and take increasing advantage of the Internet. Progress is also evident in the design and interactivity of Internet pages as well as the speed, security and reliability of funds transfers. Tourism organisations also realise their benefits and change their business practices to take advantage of the on-line bookings. As a result they offer special discounts to on-line bookers distribute their excess capacity on-line for a fraction of the cost and include telephone numbers with support operators should consumers require assistance.”
3.3 Internet in 2003
In 2003 the travel industry saw many difficulties and suffered because of it. These difficulties included foot and mouth, September 11th, SARS virus and the war in Iraq. However according to , “In the midst of all this pessimism, one segment of the tourism sector that has bucked the downward trend and witnessed an explosion in growth has been online travel.” In 2003 “Travel is currently the largest e-commerce category on the internet representing around one third of total online transactions”, is according to the same article. The article seen as appendix 3 continues, “Advances in technology and growth of the Internet as an e-commerce medium has led to the emergence of online travel intermediaries (or agencies). Over recent years, the increased popularity of these online travel agencies among consumers has led to a rapid migration of travel bookings from traditional means such as the High Street travel agent to the online channel.” The article then continues with the growth of online agencies and how they do the same job as the High Street travel agent, however the online agencies have added conveniences such as, “24-hour access, up-to-date content, powerful aggregation capability (facilitating the choice of several brands and products) and of course the promise of the lowest price (even though in some cases this may only represent perception rather than reality).” The article also features a paragraph on commission costs that the High Street travel agents get. The article states, “As tourism suppliers encourage a greater proportion of direct bookings through their own websites and forge strategic alliances with online intermediaries, a number of suppliers have either capped or scrapped the commission traditionally paid to traditional travel agents, forcing a large percentage of travel agents to charge service fees to secure their future survival. This is particularly evident among the smaller independent travel agents who, unlike the High Street agent belonging to one of the major tour operators, are unable to benefit from directional selling that support the level of underlying sales of group packages.” The article says that a survey was carried out by MORI who found out that 50% of the interviewees said that they were likely to book a holiday using the internet over the next two years. This is bad news for the High Street travel agent who in 1998 had 64% of total travel bookings. The article states that in 1999 there were 9,097 High Street travel agents in the UK; however in 2002 this was down to 8,863 that’s a closure of 234 travel agents in three years which equates to 73 travel agents closing a year. The table below shows the decline of bookings with a travel agent.
Share of Package Holiday Bookings in the UK
Source: 2002 Mori Study, ABTA Travel Statistics and Trends, 2003
3.4 2005 – Bad Year for the High Street Travel Agents
In 2005 Thomson, MyTavel, Travelcare and Thomas Cook all announced closure of some of their stores. The worst hit was Thomson who announced they were to close 300 of their shops, MyTravel announced the closure of 110 Going Places stores. Thomas Cook was to close 80 shops and Travelcare closed 40 of its stores.
3.4.1 Thomson
According to an article (see appendix 4) on , “The planned closure of more than 300 shops by Thomson over the next 5 years may herald an industry-wide trend. Thomson plans to shut a third of its outlets by 2010 – affecting up to 1,100 jobs – after admitting it cannot make money in many locations.” Most of these closures will be in the south of England where rents and internet usage were high. In 2005 Thomson took 23% of its bookings online in 2004 this was at 15% this is an 8% increase in Internet bookings within a year. However this could increase by an even higher percentage next year if many of the High Street Thomson stores are closing as in the South (where the stores are closing) the only way to book would be by phone or internet or use a different tour operator.
However according to another article found on Thomson travel agents were going to start selling Mediterranean real estate in order to make more money and get more customers. The article states, “The Company has teamed up with property agent Parador to advertise villas in Spain, Portugal and Cyprus. This has obviously worked as Thomson still advertises Parador properties in their shops now.
3.4.2 Travelcare
“Travelcare has admitted closing 40 loss making or marginal shops over the past year as part of its bid to drive more bookings online and through call centres”, stated an article on dated 11th November 2005 (see appendix 5). As Travelcare is not one of the big four tour operators it has probably done a wise thing by trying to get people to book their products through the internet or direct over the phone. This is because Travelcare as a company will save a lot of money on rent as they will not need to pay as much now like they had to before when they had lots more shops. The company also saves on wages as not as many staff will needed as 40 shops have closed. The articles also states that, “Travelcare aims to shift 45% of sales to its direct internet – based or dynamic packaging channels by 2008.” The chart on the next page shows how bookings were made through Travelcare in 2005 and in 2002.
As this chart shows online bookings at Travelcare are increasing and bookings within their travel agents are decreasing. By 2008 judging by the increase of online bookings Travelcare are likely to reach their aim to have 45% of bookings online.
3.5 Not all Bad News for Travel Agents in 2005
The travel agent, Flight Centre did the opposite of most travel agents in 2005 and opened more stores rather than close them. The article (see appendix 6) on states, “Independent chain Flight Centre, owned by an Australian parent company, is opening a new store every three weeks, targeting High Streets across the country.” The Flight Centre does not just sell flights it focuses on ‘tailor made’ travel which has become popular through the internet. Because of what the Flight Centre offers this is probably why it is doing well and doing the opposite of normal High Street travel agents.
3.6 Online Survey Results 2006
At the end of 2006 Nielsen and NetRatings conducted research to look at internet usage when it came to travel.
3.6.1 Different to 1998
The article that showed these results (see appendix 7) taken from states, “55% of holidays are booked online while only 7% are booked using High Street travel agents.” This is a big difference to the structure of the industry compared to 1998 when only 1% booked their holiday online and 64% booked via their High Street travel agents.
3.6.2 Researching
The internet is used a lot for researching holidays. This is evident from the survey Nielsen//NetRatings conducted. states, “9% of internet users book their holidays on the High Street after researching online and a further 17% research holidays online then book over the telephone.” The internet has many useful websites to look at when researching a holiday. People can use websites like to see where they can buy the cheapest holiday from over the internet. If consumers are buying a holiday from Thomson or Thomas Cook they can watch videos on the internet off the accommodation and the destination. Another very popular website for researching holidays is , Trip Advisor provides reviews of accommodation, holidays and more. Many people will look at reviews on here before booking a particular hotel or holiday.
3.6.3 Types of Holiday
states, “A beach holiday is the most common type of holiday booked online followed by a long-haul trip, cruise or fly-drive whilst activity holidays are more popular on the High Street.” The reason why activity holidays are more popular on the High Street than the internet could be down to the fact they are quite hard to book and expensive. It is probably cheaper to book for example a skiing holiday through say Thomas Cook who own Neilson who provide skiing holidays, than to try and book each component of the holiday separately. This is because it won’t just be flights, accommodation and transfers needed, ski equipment and ski passes will also be needed.
3.6.4 Choosing a Potential Holiday
The following paragraph taken from the article on looks at what is important when choosing a holiday. It states, “Almost half of internet users book holidays based on recommendations from friends and family while a third of people read the travel articles in magazines and newspapers, 15% use Teletext and one in five respondents watch holiday programmes on TV. Almost two thirds of internet users also use a search engine and other online sources also rate highly: 40% of people research on airline websites, over a third use travel agents websites and local tourism guides such as VisitScotland.com are a resource for 28% of internet users. 27% of people use their High Street travel agent as a source of information; far higher than the number of people who book instore. 60% of those who use a search engine book four or more major holidays per year along with 38% of magazine – readers which contrasts with just 13% of those who visit their local travel agent.”
3.6.5 Who Books on the Internet?
According to the research carried out by Nielsen//NetRatings it is mostly the age group 25-34 who book via the internet. From the research carried out 68% of this age group booked their holiday directly over the Internet. People going on a last minute are also the most likely to book via the internet. This could be due to time and they believe it is quicker to find something online, and it could also be to do with the cost as there are many late deals online on most travel websites. Again 68% of people booking a holiday within 4 weeks of their departure date would book their holiday online.
Chapter 4 – Primary Data Results
I gave out a questionnaire to a range of people to get 30 different sets of results to see how people booked their last holiday and why they chose this method.
4.1 How Last Holiday was Booked
The pie chart above shows the results for question 4 of my questionnaire. This question was, “How did you book your last holiday?” As you can see most people booked their last holiday via the internet this is a big difference compared to 1998 when only 1% of people booked through the internet. 37% of people went to the High Street travel agent to book their last holiday. Yes this has declined from the 67% in 1998 however; many people still use and book through the High Street travel agents so at this point in time there is still a place for travel agents on the High Street. 3% of people booked their holiday via the telephone direct with the tour operator. No one booked via digital television or any other methods of booking a holiday.
4.2 How many People have booked Online Before?
The pie chart on the following page shows that 77% of people who filled out my questionnaire have booked some sort of travel product on the internet before. This could mean that people take more than one holiday a year as only 60% booked their last holiday online. Or maybe people have booked online before but prefer to book through the High Street travel agent. Some people may book their main holiday through the internet but book weekends away via the internet as there are usually good offers available on the internet for short breaks thanks to low cost airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet. 23% of people however have never booked travel products through the internet, which is quite a big percentage.
4.2.1 Package Holiday or Aspect of a Holiday?
The chart above shows that most people who have bought travel products buy an aspect of a holiday. The aspect of a holiday they have bought is show in the table on the following page. The internet is important when it comes to buying an aspect of a holiday as lots of people buy things such as flights, accommodation and car hire over the internet. Without the internet people might not have bought aspects of holiday and just bought a package holiday instead through the High Street travel agent. 17% of people book package holidays over the internet, this is probably due to time and because the price is cheaper on the internet than in the High Street travel agent.
4.2.2 What Travel Products were bought Online?
The bar chart above shows that the two most popular aspects of a holiday to buy online are flights and accommodation. This could be due to the rise of the low cost airlines. The low cost airlines didn’t really exist before buying travel on the internet surfaced. Because of these low cost airlines many more people now have the money to go on weekends away to European cities. Accommodation on the internet can be booked through websites such as expedia.co.uk, lastminute.co.uk and hotels.co.uk. Most hotels also have direct web sites where bookings can be purchased. Car hire is also a popular part of the holiday to book online. By booking online customers save money by booking in advance and not booking in resort. I think it is booking aspects of a holiday online that is causing the decline of High Street travel agents as more people are going on tailor-made holidays and shorter breaks which they book themselves over the internet. Flights and accommodation can be booked separately through the High Street travel agent; however this works out more expensive than booking it yourself through the internet.
4.3 People who used the Internet – Results
I have now divided my results in to two sections the people who used the internet to book their last holiday and the people who used the High Street travel agent to book their last holiday. I have done this to see if there are any trends on who uses which one and see if there are any similarities or differences between people who book on the internet and the people who book through the High Street travel agents.
4.3.1 How last Holiday was Researched
As this graph shows everyone except one person researched their holiday through the internet. This means that some people researched their holiday in more than one way which some people do. The internet has many websites that give reviews on holidays such as tripadvisor.co.uk. Many people will look at this website for reviews on hotels and if they are negative they will look at alternative hotels. Some people used brochures to research their holiday, but this does not necessarily mean they went into the High Street travel agent as brochures can be ordered from the internet. Only one person who uses the internet to book their holiday went to research their holiday in a High Street travel agent the same number of people used travel guides to help them research their holiday. One person also said other, the reason they said other was because they had been to the resort before and already had their own knowledge of the area.
4.3.2 Why did they choose the Internet?
The graph on the next page shows that most people booked their holiday through the internet due to cost. This is one area that the High Street travel agent has problems competing with. A travel agent on the High Street has a lot more outgoings than a company based on the Internet such as rent, wages etc. So they have to price their holidays higher to cover these costs. The big four tour operators sometimes do price match with the internet, where in their travel agents you can pay the same price for their holiday that you saw on the internet.
Ease of use was also another big reason why people used the internet to book their last holiday. Most travel websites are very easy to navigate around and it takes customers through the payment process step by step. Also most people will probably have used the internet before so now how it works.
The products on offer are another big reason people booked over the internet. This goes back to tailor made holidays which is quite a big travel product sold on the internet and without the internet tailor made holidays may never have become so popular.
Just over half of the people who booked via the internet said time was a reason why they chose this method. With the internet there is no closing time another thing the High Street travel agent cannot compete with. People who book via the internet can do so at any time day or night, unlike a travel agent where you have to book when they are open which is usually Monday – Saturday 9:00am – 5:00pm.
Finally no one said they booked via the internet due to customer service and only one person booked through the internet due to security reasons.
4.3.3 What Companies did People book through?
The bar chart on the following page shows that many different companies were used by the people who booked via the internet. Also what is evident is that many people bought their holiday through more than one company meaning that they bought different aspects of a holiday from different companies.
The most popular company used was Ryanair, the people who bought from Ryanair probably bought a flight for a weekend and then bought accommodation from Last Minute and Expedia.
4.3.4 Why they did not use a High Street Travel Agent
The most popular reason for people not buying their holiday through the High Street travel agent is the cost. Again High Street travel agents find it tough to keep their prices as low as the internet as they have more outgoings than internet companies. Time is also a popular reason for not booking through the High Street travel agent again travel agents close and the internet doesn’t. It is also quicker to book a holiday off the internet than going into a High Street travel agent and during busy times you might not get served right away in a travel agent but on the internet there is no queues.
Travel costs/time and products not on offer were also reasons for not booking through the High Street travel agent. Other reasons why people would not buy through a High Street travel agent are:
- Believe online is the only option to buy that companies products.
- To book a flight the travel agent would just look at the internet anyway.
- Too expensive to tailor a holiday – no benefit to using a High Street travel agent.
- Prefer to research holiday options themselves.
4.3.5 Age
44% of the people who booked their holiday via the internet are aged between 46 and 55. 22% are aged between 36 and 45. This means that most people who book via the internet are aged between 36 and 55. 34% of people who book online are aged between 18 and 35.
4.4 People who used the High Street Travel Agents – Results
4.4.1 How last Holiday was Researched
The graph shows that there were three ways that most people researched their holidays. Unlike the people who booked over the internet who mostly only researched their holiday in one method mostly the internet, people who book via the High Street travel agent use different ways to research their holiday. Looking at brochures was the way most people researched their holiday followed by the travel agent and then the internet. Even though they don’t book over the internet, the internet is still important for researching holidays to, as both people who book through the internet and people who book through the High Street travel agent both do some research on the internet. Only one person chose the other option, when ask to specify they said they did their research via friends’ recommendations.
4.4.2 Why did they choose the High Street Travel Agents?
Customer service and ease of use are the most popular reasons why people booked their last holiday through the High Street travel agents. This is very different to the reasons why people book on the internet, as no one said they booked via the internet because of customer service. However 6 people who booked via the High Street travel agent said they did so because of the customer service. Customer service is still an important reason why people choose one way of booking over another, these people that chose customer service as a reason still like that face to face contact and the service that the sales consultant provides them when they go in to book their holiday. Ease of use was the other popular reason why people booked through the High Street travel agent. This is because you go in chose a holiday then the sales consultant does all the hard work. Where as if you book over the internet you have to find the holiday you want, find the website that sells it and do all the payments etc yourself. However the people that used the internet for booking their holiday also said ease of use was one of the main reasons they booked over the internet. Security is also another reason people used the High Street travel agent. A lot of people don’t like using the internet to pay for things especially on a debit or credit card due to security and cards being cloned. At least by booking in a High Street travel agent a person can see what is being done with their card and some people think this is more secure than paying on the internet.
4.4.3 What Companies did People book through?
This chart of what company people who booked through the High Street travel agent is a big difference to the companies’ chart that people who booked over the internet used. People who booked over the internet used lots of different companies where as people who booked with the High Street travel agents only used the big four tour operators. This shows there is a lot more competition on the internet than the High Street. This also proves that the big four tour operators dominate the High Street travel market and that due to the internet and the big four tour operators this is pushing small and medium sized businesses to close. The chart shows that over 50% of people who filled out my questionnaire booked their holiday through Thomson, with First Choice being the least popular out of the 4 big tour operators.
4.4.4 Why they didn’t book through the Internet?
There is only one main reason why people who booked their holiday through the High Street travel agent didn’t use the internet and that is they prefer to speak with someone face to face. This is probably linked with security and by speaking with someone face to face they will know that there holiday is booked with a reputable company and they feel safe and secure about their purchase. All the options only got small votes; only two people do not own a computer which proves that most people do have a computer so they could use the computer for internet bookings.
4.4.5 Age
The pie chart showing the age groups that buy travel products through the High Street travel agents shows that the 18-35 year olds use the travel agents most. Where as it is the 36-55 year olds who book on the internet. This means that the internet and the High Street travel agents both attract different age groups.
4.5 Conclusion
From the results of my questionnaire and the secondary data I have found I believe there is a place for both the internet and the High Street travel agents. Yes the internet has caused some High Street travel agents to close but other factors need to be taken into account as well such as terrorism and disposable income.
Both the internet and the High Street travel agents attract different age groups. The High Street travel agents attracts the younger ages and the over 55 whilst the internet attracts the 36-55 year olds.
The internet can offer lower prices on travel products but as was discovered in my questionnaire a lot of people focus on customer service and may buy a higher priced product if they know the customer service is going to be good.
In conclusion the internet has caused some High Street travel agents to decline but I don’t think they will ever totally disappear of the High Street and that there is a place for both the internet and the High Street travel agent.
Chapter 5 – Evaluation
5.1 Aims and Objectives
I believe if I had more time to do this assignment, I could have looked at more aims and objectives to help me achieve results to answer my hypothesis. However given the time I was given I believe I made use of the time and selected relevant aims and objectives which I have answered in both my secondary and primary data.
5.2 Action Plan
My action plan went well I stuck with the dates I made I gave myself sufficient time to do each task and I got the work completed on time. I would have liked to have given myself extra time on some tasks as it was hard to get it done on time, such as writing up the results as this was quite a lengthy process. But I will bear that in mind for if I have to do a project again like this in the future.
5.3 Primary Data
I think I selected the right method of primary research by conducted a questionnaire. However if I had more time, in wish to complete the assignment I would have chosen a different sample. For this project I picked convenience sampling, however if I had more time I would have chosen quota sampling and made sure I got the same number from each group and each gender to answer my questions then I could have seen if there were more trends about who purchased on the internet and who went to the High Street travel agents. I think my findings would have been better by being more specific if I had used quota sampling.
I believe the way I went about getting people to fill out my questionnaires was positive. I gave some to my parents to take to work and got plenty of them back. I emailed some to people’s email addresses that I had and got many of them back. I also gave some to my work colleagues and when my friends or relatives came round gave them out then to.
5.4 Secondary Data
I think I got plenty of secondary data from books and the internet about the subject I had chosen for this assignment. I am happy that I found a survey online that had been conducted looking at people who use the internet. I also found many articles on the closure of High Street travel agents.
However I was a little disappointed that there are many books just focusing on the internet and High Street travel agents that are new and not available in any of the local libraries yet and the books cost to much to purchase.
References
Internet
Collins Education (no date), Current Issues in Travel and Tourism (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 March 2007).
Creative Match (10 January 2007), More than half of internet users book holidays online (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 March 2007).
Harvest Digital (20 December 2006), New survey reveals the online travel habits of UK consumers (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 March 2007).
The Observer (4 December2005), Internet ‘will kill off a third of travel agents’ (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 March 2007).
Deloitte (5 September 2003), Online travel agents cast their web wide (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 Mark 2007).
Armitage J. (2 June 2005), High St travel agents fight back (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 March 2007).
Walker A. (19 February 2007), Internet retailing to hit 15% of retail sales at year end (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 Mark 2007).
Nuttall C. (12 November 1998), Online travel taking off (on-line). Available from: (accessed 12 March 2007).
Hospitality Trends (11 September 2003), Feature – Online travel agents cast their web wide (on-line). Available from (accessed 17 April 2007).
visited on the 17th April.
Books
Dawson C. (2006) A Practical Guide to research Methods, Oxford: How to Books.
Faulkner B. (2001) Tourism in the 21st Century Lessons from Experience, Trowbridge: Continuum.
