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Article: Death of a salesman: travel agents. (travel agent profits declining)(Business)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 23, 1995
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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LAST year some $170 billion swilled through travel agencies in Europe and America. The World Tourism Organisation predicts that the industry it follows, arguably the world's biggest, will grow in real terms by 3.7% a year until 2010. Most estimates of spending on air travel or leisure are similarly optimistic. So you would think that travel agents should be sitting back and enjoying the ride (and the commission on it). But they aren't. Despite the growth of tourism, their profits are under threat.
The travel-agent business can be divided into three parts. First are the big chains, or "multiples", that dominate the market--firms such as American Express and Britain's ...