Function of travel agency

1. Save transaction costs and provide cheap and high-quality products

Travel agencies have made significant contributions to the development of the tourism industry by saving transaction costs. The emergence of travel agencies has changed the original N*M tourism market transaction model into an N+M model, but the transaction costs it saves are limited. Similarly, assume that there are N heterogeneous product producers and M consumers in the market, and there are X travel agencies with the same level of competition. Due to incomplete information and regional independence, during the same period, there are N/X producers and M/X consumers trading in each travel agency. In this way, the transaction cost saved by each travel agency is N/X*M/X-(N/X+M/X). Then, the cost saved in the entire market △TXC1=X*〔N/X*M/X-(N ／X＋M／X）〕=N*M／X-（N＋M）. But if a complete information Internet is used as an intermediary, the result obtained is △TXC2=N*M-(N＋M).

Compared with traditional travel agency business, tourism e-commerce saves (1-1/X)*N*M units of funds, and this value will increase as the number of travel agencies increases. This shows that tourism e-commerce is more suitable for a region with a vast market like China. As the trend of global business integration intensifies, tourism e-commerce will play a greater role. Tourism e-commerce not only reduces the sales links between food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment and other products and tourists, but more importantly, it achieves "organizational streamlining" within the travel agency industry. Traditional travel groups operate in a relatively closed environment that is highly competitive. The travel agent adds a commission and sells it to domestic wholesalers. The domestic wholesaler adds a commission and sells it to foreign retailers, who then sell it to consumers through local travel agents. Because every merchant has the need to obtain the price difference, after many twists and turns, it will not only waste time and money, but also increase additional expenses for consumers. The difference between the tour package price that consumers finally get and the total retail price of various travel products they need is very small. Tourism e-commerce eliminates many intermediate links and directly connects producers and consumers through online platforms. It also achieves the purpose of wholesale and transfer of tourism products at low prices. If each transaction increases by 7 points, travel agencies will go through a series of wholesale and retail links, and the cost will increase by at least 30%. However, for the world's largest e-commerce travel companies, such as Yahoo Online and Expedia, the cost of their products reaching the market is only But add 3-5 points. Compared with travel agencies, their costs are much lower, achieving real value for money.

2. Information is highly concentrated and easy to operate

Tourism products are intangible, which prevents them from entering the circulation field in physical form and can only be expressed in the form of information . Messaging is key to travel agency marketing. Information in the traditional tourism industry is usually delivered through media advertisements such as television and newspapers. The information has the characteristics of small capacity, lack of richness, and poor pertinence. This shortcoming increases people's workload of searching and filtering information. In order to get cheap and high-quality products, people often shop around, and even go to great lengths to find a large amount of advertising materials and conduct hotline consultations, while online travel allows products to meet users. As long as consumers select the specifications and prices of the products they need on the online platform, and then click to query, it will be clear at a glance. What’s even more convenient is that complex processes including reservations, transactions, and settlement can all be completed online at once.

3. Pursue personalization and adapt to market demand

Currently, travel agencies operate in a buyer’s market, and market demand has shifted from passively accepting the “packages” provided by travel agencies in the past to pursuing diversity and individualization. active selective transformation. More and more businesses have realized that "marketability" has become the mainstream of the market, and are gradually shifting from product sales to product development. However, facing the trend of independent and personalized international independent travel, they feel powerless. Which kind of personalized market to choose to develop has become a long-standing problem. People's desire for novelty and difference has increased their autonomy and independence in consumption, and the market has been further segmented. It is obviously unrealistic for a relatively closed and weak travel agency to produce all-inclusive products, but market segmentation means a reduction in market share. Online tourism emerged in the context of personalized tourism, fully meeting the needs of consumers with different personalities and psychology. Online tourism collects demand information from different tourists in a timely manner through the community on the website and obtains sales feedback information from producers. The BtoC and CtoB models of tourism e-commerce use the information obtained from both supply and demand to find new highlights in the development market. The BtoB and CtoC models further strengthen the connection between producers and producers, consumers and consumers, making self-organized lines , Self-guided travel has completely become a reality. Not long ago, the success of the "online tourism test" of Goodbye City, a well-known domestic tourism website, further confirmed the feasibility of online tourism.

4. Coordinate the contradiction between supply and demand and guide resource allocation

Tourism demand is characterized by "variety and small quantity", while tourism supply is characterized by "little variety and large quantity". How can this supply and demand be alleviated? What about contradictions? Travel agencies in the traditional tourism industry play an important role in this regard. They can use effective information from both supply and demand to diversify supply, quantify demand, and ultimately balance it.

However, due to the incomplete information of travel agencies, it is impossible for it to guide supply and demand completely correctly. Its response to market changes is relatively slow, which can create the illusion of a short-term seller's market and worsen the contradiction between supply and demand. Take the holiday tourism economy as an example. Blind speculation by travel agencies only for immediate profits often leads to an imbalance in supply and demand, creating the illusion that supply exceeds demand. However, because the tourism e-commerce system possesses a considerable amount of information, it can respond sensitively to subtle changes in the market. Through the nationwide early warning system, we can promptly coordinate the contradiction between supply and demand and divert passenger flow, which is conducive to the comprehensive and all-round development of the tourism market and the sustainable development of the tourism industry.

(◎◎◎◎◎◎(3) There is no doubt about the existence of travel agencies

Tourism e-commerce has occupied the travel agency market with huge advantages. Does this mean that travel agencies will withdraw from history? Where is the stage?

1. The Internet is not fully developed and travel agencies will not withdraw from the market in the short term.

The concept of online tourism is indeed refreshing, but the real arrival of the online tourism era is to establish Based on a mature and sound network. At present, the development of the network is still very imperfect, and it cannot take over the historical responsibility of travel agencies as travel intermediaries. First, the network has poor operability and must be based on certain computer network knowledge, which is not easy to popularize. . Most online consumers are high-income or well-educated, and users are mostly located in open coastal cities, and the eastern coastal areas are generally higher than those in the northwest inland areas. Secondly, security and speed are the bottlenecks of network development. And the invasion of network hackers has increased the imperceptibility of travel products and the risk of purchasing behavior. The speed of the Internet is far from the level of consumers' expectations. It is difficult to imagine that a consumer will order a book online. You can buy the newspaper of the day. Thirdly, the credibility of the Internet cannot be guaranteed, but the "promise" made online may not be fulfilled. The form of law restricts this "commitment" and ensures its realization.

2. In the long run, travel agencies' humanized services will always be a vacancy in tourism e-commerce.

Travel agencies. It is a kind of humanized service. With the development of social economy, people's call for humanity and their desire for emotions are getting stronger and stronger, and human emotions cannot be replaced by electronics and information technology. People will rely heavily on online information to choose travel products, and even have professional electronic tour guides to provide them with explanation services. However, they do not have the need to be respected and realize their self-worth. From the perspective of Maslow's needs theory, people have to be respected. The need for respect from others. People’s travels are driven to a certain extent by the unmet need to be respected. Only real human services can satisfy this innate vanity. Furthermore, for different consumer groups. Special services should also fall into the category of humanized services, such as the elderly and children. These two groups have their own age characteristics, so it is impossible for them to catch up with the wave of online self-guided travel and require more care during travel. To ensure the smooth progress of tourism activities, only the additional high-quality and high-grade services provided by travel agencies can make them feel at home and feel safe and comfortable.)

(4) The new travel agency business model is about to emerge

1. Take advantage of business advantages to carry out e-commerce and transform from real operations to "virtual operations" on the Internet

Online tourism is not a subversion of traditional tourism, but an integration of the Internet and tourism. The performance and role of travel agencies must not be negated because of the advantages of tourism e-commerce. The shortcomings of modern tourism networks in information collection and market development are the result of the lack of tourism industry involvement. Travel agencies are middlemen in the tourism industry. They should use their proficient business skills to intervene in the Internet, carry out e-commerce, and use the Internet platform as their desk to conduct "virtual operations." The so-called virtual operation is to engage in information processing and transmission, switching from price difference profit to information profit. Travel agencies should transform their business models on the basis of possessing resources and marketing networks to cooperate with online tourism and complement each other's advantages, so that my country's travel agencies will have strong competitiveness after joining the WTO.

2. Segment the market and strengthen humanized services

If "virtual management" is just a reinvention, then market segmentation is the true evolution of travel agencies. A travel agency is still a travel agency, but it must be positioned in the specific market given to it in the era of online travel. First, it provides intermediary services between tour guides and individual tourists and charges intermediary fees. This requires the establishment of a large number of complete tourist guide information files. The transformation of the employment relationship between travel agencies and tour guides into the employment relationship between tourists and tour guides respects the autonomy of tourists and fully complies with the development trend of the tourism industry. Second, develop the children's market and the elderly market. Children and the elderly are two markets with both money and yang elements, and have great potential for development.