Factors Affecting Adoption of Travel Agencies : A Comparative Study

This paper aims to investigate the key reasons that influence the adoption of services offered by offline or online travel agencies among travelers in India. It elucidates and categorises those factors that exactly motivate the travelers towards offline and online travel agencies. The paper concludes that personalised counseling services and human interface are two most influencing and primary reasons for the choice of offline travel agency as an intermediary whereas anywhere anytime services and large variety of offerings are the two most influencing and primary reasons for the choice of online travel agency as an intermediary. The findings of the paper provide a valuable source of information to offline and online travel agencies to design strategies that could convince travelers' for the usefulness and added value of their travel offerings. This paper develops an argument that both the traditional and new intermediaries can co-exist by focusing on those reasons that influence the traveler to adopt the services offered by them