As the travel agency business gets more complicated and competitive, the winners will be the ones who care about productivity and are focused on the end traveler experience and, dare I add, the vision to embrace technology and recognise what it can do for their business.

Brett Henry, Abacus' vice president of marketing, cited the first two qualities at the underground event in Bangkok yesterday. Focusing on productivity, he said he was surprised that most agencies still operated without benchmarks. "In a single digit margin business, you've got to focus on productivity."

He said the productivity benchmarks should "look at where you are today and your goal and then what tasks do you need to eliminate and automate".

He said travel agencies also needed to focus on the end traveler experience – and that it was no longer just about booking a flight or hotel but also looking after the traveler from end-to-end.

He cited a simple example of travellers who still printed their e-tickets and most printouts didn't even carry the travel agency branding on the tickets.

Mostly, he said winning was about leadership which included having vision, the ability to operationalize, understanding of the details and change management. "There are lots of opportunities out there – but you need to have leadership and courage to make the changes and do your thing."

Henry said that even though relationships were still important in the business, barriers to complications are coming down, lowering barriers of entry to tech-savvy entrepreneurs looking for opportunities to disrupt the game.

Listening to Henry speak, I am reminded anew by what's happening in the travel business today. And it's this - as the business evolves and technology plays a bigger part, a divide has developed – and continues to widen – between new entrants who don't know travel and the traditional travel agents who have expertise and relationships but don't know technology.

I know. This is not an AHA moment but stay with me …

Just as Expedia changed the industry more than a decade ago in the US, companies such as Agoda, Ctrip, Qunar and MakeMyTrip are changing the game in Asia.

Most of these new companies were started by entrepreneurs who don't know travel but were able to use technology to solve problems and, when they needed to, brought in advisors with travel expertise.

Speaking to a few traditional travel agency bosses at the event, I can tell that they continue to struggle with technology and all the changes that are happening in their business.

Full story:

www.webintravel.com/news/what-travel-agents-and-startups-could-learn-from-each-other_3183