How Travel Agencies Can Differentiate Themselves to Compete With Online Travel Agencies in the Malaysian Context

<p>The profound impact of the Internet and information and communication technologies (ICT)has brought about several changes particularly in the area of online sales of travel andtourism products/services. This has challenged the traditional role of travel agencies as theyseek urgent ways to re-invent their roles or face the threat of being disintermediated. Thisstudy focuses on what traditional travel agencies need to do to succeed in this informationage by analyzing the functionalities of traditional travel agencies and the adaptive strategiesthey need to adopt to stay competitive in the Malaysian travel and tourism (TT) industry. Aqualitative approach was employed for this purpose. Semi-structured interviews wereconducted with 20 participants comprising of top travel managers drawn from different travelagencies in Malaysia. The findings identified some distinct changes in the perceptions oftravel agencies particularly with regards to their adaptive strategies and the businessenvironment. The study concludes that traditional travel agencies should focus more onmarket specialization, reputation management, new distribution strategies and onlinemarketing</p>