In this day of age it’s easy for anyone of us to jump on the computer and find the best deals and book our own travel. Thanks to companies such as Hotwire, Priceline, and Orbitz, we really have little need to contact a travel agent to get ideas for our next vacation and purchase our airline tickets.

So why do travel agents still exist? Believe it or not there are still some old fashioned people out there that book all their travel through a travel agent. Are they really saving any money? Probably not- but they are saving the time and hassle of looking for the best deals and some travel agents do get better deals on certain packages. They have created relationships with their vendors to be able to do so.

Some travel agents specialize in certain areas. For example, my work uses a travel agency to book all of our business travel. With so many people traveling so much of the time, it just saves the agency so much money to contract out travel arranging. Other travel agents specialize in setting up complex group tours, such as cruise packages for a club or alumni group. Others just specialize and know so much about specific destinations that they are a great source of knowledge. It would be like going to your friend who has been on an African Safari and asking them for advice on places to stay and things to avoid.

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