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Travel House Blues

India's big travel agencies are struggling to formulate survival strategies. So expect them to start charging consultancy fees on your holidays.

The Squeeze: Biggies wince

Innovate or perish. Faced with economic gloom, plummeting airline commissions and a drop in in-bound and out-bound traffic, Indian travel agencies -- even the biggest of them all -- are rushing to formulate survival strategies.

The most interesting of these is the idea of charging a consultancy fee for their advisory services. "If you have to pay for a visit to your doctor or lawyer, then why can't a travel agent charge a service fee?" argues Adi Katgara of Travel Corporation India. "After all, a travel professional is much more than a mere ticketing agent and offers a complete service package -- from visas to hotel bookings, to car rentals and selection of the best route."

It is, undeniably, a knowledge business -- and this is the reason for their existence, right? Knowing how best to maximise the customer's pleasure (or whatever's being sought) within the constraints of visas, budget et al.

It's also a business that deals with quite a complex set of variables, worldwide, given the manner in which tensions have turned so volatile, post-911. Wouldn't travellers to Bali have welcomed an intelligent guess on the associated risks of partying on the island (and perhaps a recommendation to try Malaysia instead)?

The fee idea in itself is not new. Many agencies in the US have already started charging customers for advisory services. And with airlines gradually doing away with commissions, travel agencies feel that the only way to survive is ask the direct beneficiary, the customer, to cough up the money. Arguably, this would also make the industry more customer-sensitive, since it's the satisfaction of customer needs that will deliver profit.

For much too long, too many industries have been structured to suit third-party interests (hidden or otherwise), and it's never too late to rip it all up and begin again with a new kind of heightened customer-orientation.

Others, like Cox & Kings, see salvation in globalisation. They feel that Indian agencies need to go global to attract new business. Cox & Kings recently tied up with the $2-million travel company Radius, which has a presence in over 70 countries. "We'll now be able to offer our corporate clients -- many of whom are travelling more frequently -- with personalised service and local contacts," says Jayram D. Ketkar, Director (Finance), Cox & Kings.

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