Travel News | "Travel Agents Make a Return Trip"

By: Kate Springer
Category: Travel News
Source: http://newsfeed.time.com

At their height in the mid-1990s, travel agencies boasted more than 34,000  locations in the U.S. Today, thanks to the economic uncertainty of the past decade and the boom in online travel sites, that number has been sliced in half. But don’t shed a tear for your neighborhood vacation expert just yet: brick-and-mortar agencies are making a comeback, reports the New York Times.

The rebound is thanks to an uptick in corporate and leisure travel, but it’s also due to growing frustration with the sheer amount of travel-related information on the web.  As discount travel portals and free-for-all recommendation sites have multiplied, more and more people are turning to experts to help make sense of it all. “I needed recommendations and someone to steer me in the right direction,” Jessica Griffin, who opted to work with an agent despite making her own reservations for years, told the Times. “I wanted somebody from a reputable agency who could say yes, you’ll enjoy this stay.”

Source: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/23/travel-agents-make-a-return-trip/