Travel Agency Management: Issues, Challenges, and Solutions

This report delves into the complexities of travel agency management, examining critical issues and challenges within the industry. It begins by identifying and discussing key problems such as cost-cutting on business travel expenses, the increasing competition from online travel agencies, ensuring employee safety and well-being, and the challenges associated with ensuring travel program compliance. The report then provides a personal statement and recommendations for addressing these issues, offering practical solutions and strategies to improve operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. The recommendations include tracking expenses, building a niche to combat online competition, providing employee incentives, and updating compliance programs. The report draws on research and industry insights to offer a comprehensive analysis of travel agency management.

Running head: TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
Travel Agency Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

1
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Identification and Discussion of the Key Issues and Challenges faced in the Travel Agency
Management...............................................................................................................................2
2. Personal Statement and Recommendations over Identified Issues and Challenges..............4
References..................................................................................................................................7

2
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
1. Identification and Discussion of the Key Issues and Challenges faced in the Travel
Agency Management
Travel agency management is required for hiring, training as well as evaluation of
staff members. It refers any specific organization or individual, who are planning for travel
itinerary for others, before eventually facilitating them an entire tour guide and plan (Ling,
Guo & Yang, 2014). There are numerous important and significant activities of a travel
agency business that are involve in selling several tourism products or services directly to
respective tourists as well as performing normal functions like issuing air tickets, providing
special services, making accommodations or recommendations and many more. It is needed
to include HRM in the business for ensuring better effectiveness in business processes.
HRM or human resource management is referred to as the strategic approach towards
efficient people management within any organization in such a manner that they help the
business in obtaining the competitive advantages (Dima, Ţenescu & Bosun, 2014). It is quite
important to manage a travel agency, to ensure that better effectiveness and efficiency in the
business. Human resource management is usually designed in maximization of the employee
performances in the service of strategic objectives of the employer. It is majorly concerned
with the entire people management only after focusing on the systems and policies. The
departments of human resource are solely responsible to oversee the employee benefits
design, performance appraisal, reward management and many more. Travel agency
management helps in better planning, organizing, directing as well as controlling the various
operations of travel associated companies (Ling et al., 2015). The staff activities are being
coordinated and directed, so that regular tasks are overseen eventually.
In spite of having such distinctive advantages, there are few issues and challenges that
are needed to be eradicated on time, for ensuring that there is absolutely no disruption in the

3
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
business processes and operations. These issues could easily bring out major problems
associated with profit of the organization. The main issues or problems in travel agency
management are as follows:
i) Cost cutting on the Business Travel Expenses: The first and the foremost issue or
problem that is being faced in the travel agency management is cost cutting over the business
travel expenses (Rusu, 2016). The organizations are eventually shrinking budgets and hence
the travel requirements of businesses are not evolving. Moreover, the total expenses of the
travel is exponentially incrementing over the years. The travel agencies hence find it
extremely problematic to secure the savings over total expenses of the trip and also fulfil
budget expectations. The agency could even maximize the savings after looking at the costs
holistically, for obtaining great transparency over the expenses (van der Rest et al., 2016). It
becomes quite difficult when the travel agencies become a failure in utilizing tools of travel
management.
ii) Competition from Online Travel Agencies: The second important and significant
issue or problem that is being faced in the travel agency management is high competition
from the online travel agencies (Lai, 2014). In present days, there has been a high
competition from online travel agencies. Several corporate travellers are eventually feeling
empowered for opting to be their own travel managers to the respective influx of every online
travel agency. With the subsequent availability of the wider range of services, the travellers
could easily dodge organizational plans as well as travel packages. Tourism services are
being carried efficiently after provided by agencies. It could be a significant issue, when
travel agencies are not being acquainted with the subsequent current trends (Chang, 2015).
The services, provided by the competitor agencies, are needed to be studied thoroughly for
ensuring comparable travel packages for the staff to increment the respective total trip
savings for business.

4
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
iii) Employee Safety and Well Being: This is the next vital and important issue or
problem that is being faced in the travel agency management. Since, it is the responsibility of
the human resource management department to ensure safety and security of the employees,
it often becomes extremely difficult for the travel agency to manage the security of staff and
they might lose their jobs (Kim, 2014). For emergency, the travellers subsequently expect in
having the core capability to communicate with the specific organization. However, several
travel agencies are completely unaware of the time, it takes approval for safety and security
of every employee within an event (Wen & Hou, 2015). A dynamic travel support system
helps the travel agencies in reaching out to the tourists in short notice and starting a
completely new two way communication either by emails, voice calls or SMS.
iv) Issue in Ensuring Travel Program Compliance: Another important and
noteworthy issue that is required to be eradicated on time for the travel agencies is the major
issue while ensuring travel program compliance. This kind of compliance has always been
one of the major issues for travel agencies and the policy booking substantially impacts
reporting as well as incrementing the risk of the tourist (Enoch, 2016). It is extremely
important for the employer to learn about every information regarding traveller for the safety
purposes and even regarding the bookings done in airlines and hotels, since it is impossible
for travel agencies in providing information of the traveller.
2. Personal Statement and Recommendations over Identified Issues and Challenges
The issues stated above in travel agency management are needed to be eradicated
efficiently so that these travel agencies could easily achieve their business goals and business
processes are well executed. According to me, these issues are needed to be resolved over
with few of the most important recommendations. Suitable recommendations for resolving
the issues or problems are as follows:

5
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
i) Cost cutting on the Business Travel Expenses: The most effective
recommendation for resolving this particular issue of cost cutting on business travel expenses
would be tracking the expenses and revenue for providing insight into the profit margin of the
business. Several travel agencies might not have ideas about the profitability of that particular
business. For successfully resolving the cost cutting issue, the travel agency management
should consider the weaknesses of business for ensuring that unnecessary costs are not being
incurred under any circumstance. The HRM department can focus on the costs that are being
incurred over employees and staff and hence take necessary steps for reduction of the issue.
ii) Competition from Online Travel Agencies: This is the next significant issue faced
by travel agencies. The travel agencies should identify as well as resolve the main issues
faced by their customers. Furthermore, they should build their own niche for gaining more
scope for the business. Pricing should be made correct for them and the HRM department
will be focusing on satisfaction of employees in their work.
iii) Employee Safety and Well Being: For resolving the issue of employee safety and
their well-being, it is highly recommended to increase salaries or wages of the employees
periodically and also allowing regular breaks to them, so that work does not become
monotonous for them. Time should be pre-determined by them, for ensuring that there exists
no issue regarding work place safety and security. It is also recommended for the employees
to encourage employees in developing friendships with other employees and have a good
relation with employer.
iv) Issue in Ensuring Travel Program Compliance: It is recommended to make the
compliance programs and procedures much more updated than present programs and policies.
It would ensure that the travel agencies have control on the expenses of sending employees
over work trips and also having control over travel safety and experience. The travel policy

6
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
could be covering maximum items for the tourists and reimbursement would work
eventually. Moreover, the policies should be much more flexible and scalable in nature for
every employee.

7
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
References
Chang, K. C. (2015). How travel agency reputation creates recommendation
behavior. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 115(2), 332-352.
Dima, I. C., Ţenescu, A., & Bosun, P. (2014). Informational stocks and e-logistics
management of a tourism company. International Letters of Social and Humanistic
Sciences, 16(1), 75-85.
Enoch, M. (2016). Sustainable transport, mobility management and travel plans. Routledge.
Kim, N. (2014). Employee turnover intention among newcomers in travel
industry. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(1), 56-64.
Lai, I. K. W. (2014). The role of service quality, perceived value, and relationship quality in
enhancing customer loyalty in the travel agency sector. Journal of Travel & Tourism
Marketing, 31(3), 417-442.
Ling, L., Dong, Y., Guo, X., & Liang, L. (2015). Availability management of hotel rooms
under cooperation with online travel agencies. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 50, 145-152.
Ling, L., Guo, X., & Yang, C. (2014). Opening the online marketplace: An examination of
hotel pricing and travel agency on-line distribution of rooms. Tourism
management, 45, 234-243.
Rusu, B. (2016). The impact of innovations on the business model: exploratory analysis of a
small travel agency. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 221, 166-175.
van der Rest, J. P. I., Cordella, P., Loosschilder, G., & Schwartz, Z. (2016). Connecting
search marketing to hotel revenue management: conjoint analysis as a methodology to

8
TRAVEL AGENCY MANAGEMENT
evaluate the optimal online travel agency commission fee. Service Science, 8(2), 169-
183.
Wen, J., & Hou, P. (2015). Comparative Study on Travel Agency Management System in
Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. American Journal of Industrial and
Business Management, 5(01), 37.