by Tim Wood
Last updated: 2:17 PM ET, Wed January 21, 2015
We've written plenty about the rise of the millennial traveler over the past year. You can read our takes here, here and here for starters.
But here's a great take on why the millennial is so important to the future of travel.
It turns out the millennial is actually more apt to use a travel agent than other demographics.
That's crazy, right? Isn't this the group that is using OTAs and is more independent, looking for experiential, fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants vacations?
Turns out, not so much. See, as we've said, the OTAs and the fact that everything you ever could want is on the Internet is causing an information overload.
The travel agent is the person who cuts through that noise for the millennial.
Kansas City Business Journal reporter Leslie Collins has the stats.
"Tech savvy millennials could easily use online travel aggregators, such as Expedia or Priceline, to book a leisure trip, but they're choosing to use travel agents instead. In 2014, 28 percent of millennials used a traditional travel agent, compared to only 13 percent of Baby Boomers (ages 50 to 65) and 15 percent of Generation X (ages 36 to 49)."
That kind of outreach to the travel agent fueled a 50 percent rise in American travelers using traditional travel agents in 2014 - 18 percent last year versus 12 percent in 2013, according to research by MMGY Global.
More encouraging news from Collins:
"MMGY's research found that those who booked a leisure trip through a travel agent within the last year were more satisfied with their overall trip than those who booked through online third parties, such as Orbitz. In addition, three out of four leisure travelers said travel agents are in the best position to make recommendations for their travel."
Read the full article here.
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