Where are all of those travel Agencies?

the late 90's I still remember being placed on 'hold' by the Delta Airlines operator. After 15 annoying minues, I sighed loudly, hung up the phone and apprehensively turned on my father's aged Zenith computer. 

Logging on computers those days was no easy task. I had to tell the household to stay off all the telephones (Post-it Sticky notes worked well) and it was not uncommon to be 'timed out' in the early days of E-Commerce. Credit Card security and Identity Theft was merely a misdemeaner before it became a serious crime.

As I completed my transaction with the online airline vendor, I printed out my invoice and swore to myself that the airlines never knew I was coming.

When I arrived at the check-in counter with a smiling receptionist and a confirmed boarding pass, I innocently realized that the world was changing and this so-called World Wide Web was here to stay.

My synopsis is not much different than millions of other Americans that have had similiar initial online fears and experiences. However, the differences between E-commerce and the travel industry paint a completely different picture.

While consumers are now enjoying the ease and freedom of booking their own travel for the very first time since commercial air travel existed, traditional Brick-and-Mortar travel agencies are seeing huge losses and rising bankruptcies.

The Internet is the fastest growth technology in the history of the world. Every three seconds a new person goes online. Consumers spent over $37 BILLION on travel web sites in 2003, up from $30.8 billion in 2002.

Booking travel online is perhaps the most successful niche of all the world’s e-commerce efforts. Consumers use the Internet to become better informed, save time, and save money.

Online travel has only scratched the surface of what will become a transformed marketplace in the next few years.

Since 1997 it is estimated that over 300,000 brick and mortar travel agencies have gone bankrupt and/or out of business.

The Internet and our company now offer you the ultimate leverage to start your own home-based-business by combining the powerful information handling capability of the Internet with the world’s most dynamic product and the personal touch of an independent, home-based-online travel agency owner.

Warmest Regards,

Guru Travel