Perspectives

Increasingly, we find ourselves circling what might be called ‘the trust spiral’. A recommendation leads to a review. A review prompts further research. A social media post sparks inspiration. An AI-generated itinerary requires verification. Meanwhile, the more information that becomes available, the more effort is often required to determine which sources deserve our confidence.

While travel agents might have been written off as obsolete, the prediction never fully came to pass, with recent industry data suggesting that travellers continue to value human judgement and accountability. Instead, we realised that they did more than just book our flights, hotels and tours. They offer a wealth of expertise, reliable relationships throughout the industry, and the exceptional skills of problem-solving – especially problems we didn’t know we had or were about to have.

Travel agents deal in trust. They understand the behind-the-scenes realities of distance, transit, destinations and, most importantly, reputations. They also often know who to call when plans unexpectedly unravel. In an age of abundant information, options and possibilities, understanding the practicalities of travel – and not just the idea of it – is invaluable.

Trust is a critical human need and instinct. Can we trust that the hotel we book online actually exists … or that it looks anything like the photos of it? Can we trust that the glowing reviews beneath a tour operator’s listing reflect genuine experiences? Can we trust that the booking platform handling our payment is secure? Can we trust that the company promising a once-in-a-lifetime adventure will still be in business when departure day arrives?

Recent events have provided different examples of these underlying challenges. In one case, Booking.com users have reported increasingly sophisticated scams involving accommodation reservations and phishing attempts. The concern is not simply the existence of scams (fraud has existed for as long as travel itself), but the difficulty of distinguishing legitimate communications from convincing imitations. When a fraudulent message resembles genuine correspondence from a booking provider, trust becomes more complicated than simply choosing a well-known platform. The challenge is determining which sources deserve our trust, and in the process we are discovering that ‘information’ and ‘expertise’ are not the same thing.

“The challenge is determining which sources deserve our trust, and in the process we are discovering that ‘information’ and ‘expertise’ are not the same thing.”