Just when you’re saying “hey, things might be looking up…” we get this; the Swine flu.  For those of you in the industry, you’ll recall what SARS did to us.  This is a very fluid situation, changing by the minute.  As for right now at time of this writing, we’re not at SARS type status.

I’m not a big fan of panic.  Unnecessary panic has the potential to paralyze travel and further America’s ongoing economic crisis.  However, travelers, like all citizens, should heed the advice of experts when determining how best to manage health concerns.

Since you might be looking for more information, I thought I would pass on what the US Travel Association  reporting.  Here’s their press release from 4/27.  Again though, information is changing as fast as someone can type, so keep checking the US Travel Association site for updates.

Lastly, here’s what ASTA, via SmartBrief writes.  If you don’t get SmartBrief, you should. 

§        Health officials warn travelers about outbreak in Mexico
An outbreak of swine flu in Mexico has prompted health officials in the U.S. to advise Americans against nonessential travel to the southern neighbor. Swine flu has been linked to more than 150 deaths in Mexico. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has raised its alert level for global pandemic flu. However, the WHO has recommended keeping borders open and is not issuing any travel bans. Read the State Department’s Travel Alert for Mexico. The Wall Street Journal (4/28) , The New York Times (4/28) , Yahoo!/The Associated Press (4/28) Bloomberg (4/28)

It is amazing really.  You wouldn’t believe how many times I get the question (from the press, from potential investors, from friends and yes, from FAMILY) “Why should I use a travel agent?”

Really?  So you want a reason? How about 117 of them? You think you want to want to book your vacation on your own? We hear this all the time.  We’re so happy that so many consumers come to our site each month. 

Forrester just updated some research to indicate that 26% of online travelers would rather use a good offline travel agent if they new where to find one. Enter Tripology.  We’ll help you connect with these folks.  They’re tired of trying to make their vacation fit into some online booking engine. They want you, so be sure to take advantage of our leads.

And as for why someone should use a travel agent, we started asking consumers why they ended up at Tripology. The answers had the same themes; the value of time, the need for expertise and trust.

I happen to think there are over a hundred good reasons to use a travel agent. 117 actually. So, I’m going to start listing them, five or six at a time.

In no particular order:

1. A travel agent will be your Advocate
If your customer has a problem during their trip, a travel agent will act on their behalf.  You’ll help re-book flights, get them on the next train or rearrange their itinerary or direct them to the local authorities so they can get a new passport.  Whatever might go wrong, you the travel agent, are there for them.

2. Easy, One-Stop Shopping
Consumers spend so much time researching their trips these days, but in the end, they want a travel agent to handle every aspect of their trip from the air reservation to your accommodations, sightseeing, dining arrangements and so much more. 

3. Travel Expertise
Unfortunately, people think being a travel agent is easy. I hate that. Travel agents are experts / specialists in all sorts of destinations and travel types.  A good travel agent, a real travel specialist can put together an awesome unique itinerary that most consumers couldn’t even dream about.

4. How valuable is time?
Like I stated above, many people come to Tripology after (ready?) weeks of doing research online.  Yep, they spend days or weeks on really neat sites like TripAdvisor, AOL, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and the other millions of sites Google sends you to etc.  All of these are really great, but smart consumers will want to talk to someone about your trip.  Someone as in a real, live person.  Someone to sweat all the details. I keep telling people to save themselves the headache (likely a migraine) and let a travel agent do all the work. I tell them they should concentrate on packing and bringing the right amount of clean underwear.

5. Options
If you’re like me, you love to pick from lists.  You love options. I get to make my own decision but someone else did all the hard work putting together a list for me. Right? Well, I tell consumers all the time that travel agents offer options and prices from travel suppliers worldwide, giving them (the consumer) the ability to make their own travel decisions.  

6. Value
Not “Cheap” but value. If you want cheap, then sure, hit the web and take risks. In life and especially in travel, you get what you pay for? For me, “cheap” once meant a hotel with bedbugs, so I’d rather get value any day.

So that’s the first six.  There are 111 more that I can think of off the top of my head.

Happy selling.

John

Hello all.  I’ve been traveling and I’m sorry there haven’t been too many posts.  I was in Atlanta for TravelCom.  It was a wonderful conference. The US Travel Association (formerly TIA) did a great job, especially in light of the economy.  (Are you a member? If not, you should be. Go to www.ustravel.org) I was posting tweets from the conference so I hope you had the chance to read those.  If not, be sure to follow us at www.twitter.com/tripology

I’m most happy to announce that we won the “Innovator of the Year” award.   

John T. Peters accepts the "Innovator of the Year" award at TravelCom in Atlanta

So thanks for helping us win this award.  Keep up the good work!

Happy selling.

John