The travel industry today is the perfect example of the great divide between "high tech and high touch."
The high tech-high touch concept-that in a world of technology, people long for personal, human contact-is credited to author John Naisbitt in his 1982 bestseller "Megatrends."
It's a fitting description of the dichotomy we face at every turn. We're surrounded in our everyday lives by devices and apps and services all designed to cut out the human factor from our dealings with just about anything and anyone.
At the same time-no doubt as a result of this tsunami of technology-we more than ever crave the human touch. Well, I do anyhow. And it's only getting worse-or better, of course-depending on your point of view.
In travel we can use the internet-on any of our devices-to research just about any hotel and resort or cruise line or tour operator or airline, plus any destination around the globe. After which we, hopefully, contact our travel agent to make the booking. (A little plug here!)
We can search for and read thousands of reviews of the above on multiple websites. We can download numerous sophisticated apps for anything from checking in to our flight to getting the latest weather report anywhere to finding emergency service numbers in virtually every country around the world.
And, of course, we can communicate with anyone, damn near close to anywhere, about our trip-before, during and after it. Think: contacting your airline for flight updates, your travel agent from any destination at any hour with a problem (yup, another plug), and your friends and family to post photos and messages about your trip on an ever-growing collection of social media platforms.
Then there's the OTAs that allow travelers to book flights, hotel stays, and vacations online, although there's evidence now-both anecdotal and statistical-that many people are veering away from booking online. It's just way too confusing and time-consuming, certainly for complicated trips. And it leaves the traveler holding the bag if there's any kind of problem.
Yet ironically, the OTAs have added another piece of powerful evidence to what we already know: despite the technology, one of the greatest-if not the greatest-thing about travel remains the "high touch."
This is an industry whose allure, in no small measure, lies in the experience of visiting different countries-even destinations within our own country-and having that up front and personal contact with people, with different cultures and traditions, with authentic cuisines, with fascinating histories that come to life, and with much more.
In a word: the "experiential" travel trend that now sells hundreds of thousands of trips.
Also ironically, the Millennials-who are steeped in technology-are today "leading the way" in travel agent usage. That's part of a quote from ASTA President and CEO Zane Kerby, commenting on ASTA research released this spring.
"Thirty percent [of Millennials] have used a travel agent in the last 12 months, and they're also most likely to recommend agents to a friend," Kerby added.
So while it's no longer possible to turn back the clock on technology, even if we wanted to, now more than ever, we should keep in mind-and celebrate and promote-travel's "high touch."
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