A company called Amadeus, one of the companies that provides the technology allowing travel agents to book your holidays in shops, has conducted some research which, it claims, highlights the growth of the traveller who can almost rival travel agents.

They didn’t really go that far but say that certain people have such a grasp of the internet and where to locate information that they could be called experts.

Why should this be a surprise? We have always had amateurs who know as much about subjects as experts do. Unless the expert has visited every place on earth, there will always be someone that has been somewhere the expert hasn’t or spotted something the expert has overlooked.

Those surveyed were those who work in travel. Maybe they feel threatened that some of us know as much as we do.  Maybe they think that since we have this knowledge we will book our own holidays directly. Maybe they think some of us have enough knowledge to book the accommodation and the flights and the excursions and bond the lot together.

For many years the internet has enabled many of us to consider places and trips we might not have known about. I can’t remember the last time that I used a travel agent. But that doesn’t mean that everyone will. This year there was a return to the package holiday. Travel agents can save us time by doing some of the research for us and knowing where the best deals can be had. I know where to find some of the best deals for the places I regularly go to but only those.  And that will be the same with most amateur experts. So I don’t think the travel agents need worry too much. They also failed to mention one other thing,- the length of time it can take to research online. Travel agents know how long it can take if you don’t know quite what you are looking for.  Most of us don’t until we try it. And that knowledge is the ace the travel agents have.