Growth opportunities for Philippine travel agencies

• Main Authors: Garcia, Gwendolyn G., Mallari, Ma. Ana Patricia R., Tiu, Charles Jimson D., Tiu, Nicole Chrisette L.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/10938
• Institution: De La Salle University

Travel agencies used to perform functions in which airline companies have consciously outsourced to manual labor due to the absence of electronic booking. This outsourcing movement precipitated the creation of travel agencies. However, due to technological advancements and the availability of online booking, travel agencies lost its once strong customer base. The researchers explored the factors that influence a traveler's choice to use either a travel agency or online booking. They surveyed 400 outbound travelers in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to identify the four major factors -- context factors, traveler's personal characteristics, awareness of services and service dimension do affect their decision. Running the data through Stata11 and Ph Stat, the researchers found that aside from the four major factors, the choice to use a travel agency or online booking also depends on the type of service a traveler wishes to purchase--package, air transportation, accommodation and tours. The results revealed that for each type of services, travel agencies could tap different markets. The value added of this study is the determination of possible target segments in the Philippine setting that travel agencies can tap.