The Internet didn’t kill off the travel agent
after all.
Classic
travel companies were supposed to be dead and buried as online sites such
as Expedia and Trip Advisor let travelers make their own, often cheaper,
arrangements.
But full-service agencies are booking more
trips, catering to travelers willing to pay an expert to develop smart
itineraries.
Flights booked by traditional travel agencies
increased 11 percent over the past four years; according to the Airlines
Reporting Corp. Boston expansion is underway for several travel companies.
Indeed, David and Carol Greenfield usually
plan their vacations on the Internet. But when the Newton couple chose Japan
for their vacation in December, they realized they needed more than a mouse to
fully experience a foreign culture and overcome the language barrier.
They reached out to Audley Travel, a British
company that specializes in customized trips. Audley opened its first US office
on North Washington Street in Boston in March.“It was unbelievable how
knowledgeable they were and how precisely they laid out this plan,” said David
Greenfield, 67.
Traditional travel services can vary from
basic group trips with predetermined itineraries to vacations in which
seemingly every minute detail is seen to, down to providing pictures of signs
found in foreign subways. Many travel agents and tour guides have arrangements with
the hotels, guides, and companies used in their trips and can vouch for the
experience — or answer for any problems. (These companies typically receive a
commission from the operators their clients use.)
Growth
in the travel agency business is driven mostly by baby boomers, such as the
Greenfields, looking for a more immersive experience from their vacations and
able to pay for it. A two-week Audley trip to Japan during the off-season
starts at about $3,000 per person, without airfare, but includes some hotel
stays and meals, guided services, local transportation, and other services.
A more elaborate month long trip may include
multiple excursions and meals, luxury hotel accommodations, and an overnight
stay with monks at a monastery on the majestic Mount Koya, the birthplace of
the Shingon Buddhist sect more than 1,200 years ago, for about $18,000 a
person.
The steady business has not only prompted
several travel companies to expand their offices in Boston, but also to offer
more destinations.
Grand Circle Travel Corp., which offers group
tours targeting consumers in their 50s and older, has added more than 70
employees in Boston since 2012. The company reports a sharp increase in baby
boomers participating in small group travel excursions offered by its Overseas
Adventure Travel unit.
In 2013, the adventure unit served 40,270
travelers; this year Grand Circle expects 49,000 customers and has added nine
trips to its offerings — including Sicily, Indonesia, and Brazil. In the last
decade, business at Overseas Adventure Travel has jumped 67 percent.
Priscilla O’Reilly, a spokeswoman for Grand
Circle, said trips that offer opportunities for cultural immersion are
particularly popular.
In India, for example, travelers stay in
tent-roof cottages, ride camels and elephants, and visit a village, local
school, and women’s cooperative during a 16-day trip, starting at $2,395
without airfare. A 13-day trip to Costa Rica can include visits to a farming
cooperative or dinner with families in rural, out-of-the way communities, and
start at $1,895. Some of the excursions are exclusive to the company and not
available to outside travelers.
“This US population growth of boomers is
really impacting the industry because you have this whole group of people that
have the time and money to travel, which they didn’t when they were raising
kids,” O’Reilly said.
Carol and David
Greenfield of Newton experienced a traditional tea ceremony in Kyoto, Japan.
Joseph and Diane Zinck of Dorchester have
taken three trips with Overseas Adventure Travel, to Southeast Asia, the
Amazon, and Morocco since they retired a few years ago.
“When we went to Vietnam and Cambodia, one
day you’d be riding camels, the next day you’d be in rickshaws or on boats or
barges,” said Joseph Zinck, a 67-year-old former Boston police officer. “It’s
really a cultural experience.”
Zinck said he considers the cost of the trips
he has taken — $8,000 to $10,000 per couple — worthwhile because it includes
all expenses, from meals to lodging and airport transfers.
Earlier this year, Liberty Travel of New
Jersey opened a 10,000 square-foot flagship location in Downtown Crossing. The
store marks the eighth location in Boston, the agency’s third-best grossing
market in the United States.
Clients typically visit as many as 20
websites before reaching out to make a purchase through the agency, said Karen
Kent, vice president of marketing for Flight Centre USA, the parent company of
Liberty Travel.
“The relevancy of the travel consultants is
definitely increasing,” Kent said. “People want to come to us for validation
and for the expertise and the security.”
Audley Travel, the British company that just
expanded to Boston, connects travelers with in-house specialists who have
traveled extensively or lived in the destination country and tailor trips to
customer preferences. Vacations cost $3,000 to $50,000 per person.
Audley managing director Jacqui Lewis said
the company decided to open a US office because it was seeing more American
travelers visiting its website. She said Americans are become more discerning
about how they travel. In a post-recession era, many people who have the money
to travel want to experience something unique, she said. “The beauty of
tailor-made is that you set your own departure date and pace at which you’re
traveling, considering your own likes and dislikes and all of those things are
important to you,” Lewis said.
The Greenfields said the trip Audley planned
for them in Japan was not inexpensive, but they thought the value of the
experience was worth the expense. The couple thought that as Americans they
needed to visit the site of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, and the company
connected them with a guide whose father was sent to the area to help survivors
after the attack. David Greenfield, 67, described the experience as “very
difficult to imagine or duplicate.”
They aspire to visit New Zealand and South
America and said they plan to use Audley again.
“We had no idea this was such a great
option,” said Carol Greenfield, 65. “But we’re sold.”
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