How technology has influenced the Thomson Travel Agency - Essay Example

How Technology Has Influenced the Thomson Travel Agency Thomson travel Agency is a tour operation company that mostly deals with package holiday services. The company is based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1965 and was the property of the Thompson Corporation of Canada until it was taken over in the London Stock Exchange in 1998.Later, due to the competitive face of the travel industry, they had to revolutionize their company in 1972 by taking on an even bigger chain of travel agents owned by Lunn Poly.

This move gave them an edge in business since they were now able to take on more consumers by using the web and be able to hold a great advantage in the stock market. From this, it is quite obvious that travel agents play a vital role in this business. When armed with technological knowledge, they form a force to reckon with. Surveys conducted by various people outline the importance of the latter in influencing consumer’s decisions on the destinations to take.From the time a person decides to make any trip, they are usually faced with the decisions of which airline to take, the particular place to visit if on holiday, convenience and efficiency of the whole process.

Due to the boom of technological advancements, potential passengers or tourists can by the click of a button, peruse the options availed to them. However, this information can be mind boggling to an extent that it can became more of a headache than a resourceful tool. Thus, travel agents can make recommendations to their clients and help them in choosing the particular travel package that would best suit them depending on their needs (Howard 1963). It is like they completely allow these people to take over all their travel arrangements so that, all that is required of them are to show up.

Tour operators are thus faced with the key role of advertising their products. Marketing becomes an important tool so as to stay in business, of which, travel agents are made to go out of their way to infuse better marketing strategies (Birner & Booms1982). Computer technology provided a way to effectively manage all the extensive information concerning general travel. For example, with introduction of the Computer reservations systems (CRS) in 1953, that was later converted to the Semi Automated Business Research Environment (Sabre).

This was a combination of CRS and global distribution system (GDS) that provided a wide load of travel information and reservations. “Directional selling” which involved the sale of package holidays using a complex chain of travel agents, is a practice that has become common in Britain that has led to a new way of wowing consumers that was enhanced by the advancement of ICT. People are poached from one agency to another leading to severe competition. This competition was termed good for business since some argue that it does not affect customer base but smaller agents are frustrated by it (Monopolies & Mergers1998).

It can, therefore, be said that technology has changed the way business was done in Thompson Travel Agency since they have grown with the times. It is however, a work in progress since computer advancements continue to be a tool in the working with the passing of time. So far, the changes that have been brought can be said to have made the travel process much easier, convenient, efficient and more accessible to all and sundry. The main task is to stay relevant.BibliographyZHOU, Z. 2003. E-commerce & information technology in hospitality & tourism.

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