Becoming your own travel agent: a Web of potentials and pitfalls

In order to investigate the opportunities offered as well as the problems facing any consumer trying to make his own travel reservations over the Internet today, an empirical study was conducted among students attending an intermediary level course on electronic commerce. The study was divided into two parts, consisting of: a quotation competition in which the students were to act as travel agents, submitting an offer for a journey according to some given specifications; and a measurement, in which the students who submitted offers were asked to report on their booking experiences, especially the problems they encountered during the task. Within the travel industry, the travel agencies have been characterized as the most endangered organization, as their job is increasingly being seen as replaceable by technology. The results of this study do not support this vision, although it became evident that the students´ attitudes towards online Internet-bookings remained positive despite the expensive offers and the perceived difficulties.