A need for change in Germany
Does the average independent German travel agency need to rethink its strategy and become more of a niche or destination specialist? That could be the answer (or part of it) following the recent news that as many as 773 travel agencies around the country closed down last year.
There are 11,866 full-time travel agencies in Germany compared to 15,000 eight years ago.
Most of the agencies shutting up shop blamed falling sales and lower commissions – while on-line travel sales went through the roof in 2006, with sales of the top 30 sites reaching close to AUD 4 billion equivalent (almost double that of 2005), according to survey carried out by leading German travel industry publication FVW.
The major on-line earners were Deutsche Bahn, ahead of Expedia and Opodo. As many Germans use the Internet to buy their train tickets (and rail is a popular form of travel in Germany) the on-line boom statistics are obviously not giving the whole picture.
According to research by Selling Down Under, none of the agencies who closed down last year were active Aussie Specialists – which is one argument for specialisation. Agencies that develop a reputation for niche marketing, or quality destinational knowledge are more likely to survive the changing trends in travel.
According to the FVW survey German travel agents combined revenues increased by only 0.7 per cent to AUD 33 billion equivalent in 2006 with an average profit margin of less than 1 per cent (yes, 1 per cent!).
German travel agents are targeting sales growth of up to 3 per cent this year, the same target figure as 2006.
Rewe Touristik, with its agency chains Atlas, DER and Derpart, remained the largest German travel distribution conglamerate last year with a turnover of AUD 6.8 billion equivalent.
In second place was the QTA consortium with sales of AUD 5.8 billion equivalent, ahead of rival consortium TMCV (turnover: AUD 3.9 billion equivalent). TUI Leisure Travel came fourth in the charts with a turnover of AUD 3.8 billion equivalent.
TUI Germany recently redesigned its tui.com website to win new customers, but they have stepped back from operating it as a full-service online travel agency. Instead, travel agents can link directly to the website and earn commission on resulting sales.
There are 11,866 full-time travel agencies in Germany compared to 15,000 eight years ago.
Most of the agencies shutting up shop blamed falling sales and lower commissions – while on-line travel sales went through the roof in 2006, with sales of the top 30 sites reaching close to AUD 4 billion equivalent (almost double that of 2005), according to survey carried out by leading German travel industry publication FVW.
The major on-line earners were Deutsche Bahn, ahead of Expedia and Opodo. As many Germans use the Internet to buy their train tickets (and rail is a popular form of travel in Germany) the on-line boom statistics are obviously not giving the whole picture.
According to research by Selling Down Under, none of the agencies who closed down last year were active Aussie Specialists – which is one argument for specialisation. Agencies that develop a reputation for niche marketing, or quality destinational knowledge are more likely to survive the changing trends in travel.
According to the FVW survey German travel agents combined revenues increased by only 0.7 per cent to AUD 33 billion equivalent in 2006 with an average profit margin of less than 1 per cent (yes, 1 per cent!).
German travel agents are targeting sales growth of up to 3 per cent this year, the same target figure as 2006.
Rewe Touristik, with its agency chains Atlas, DER and Derpart, remained the largest German travel distribution conglamerate last year with a turnover of AUD 6.8 billion equivalent.
In second place was the QTA consortium with sales of AUD 5.8 billion equivalent, ahead of rival consortium TMCV (turnover: AUD 3.9 billion equivalent). TUI Leisure Travel came fourth in the charts with a turnover of AUD 3.8 billion equivalent.
TUI Germany recently redesigned its tui.com website to win new customers, but they have stepped back from operating it as a full-service online travel agency. Instead, travel agents can link directly to the website and earn commission on resulting sales.
Labels: aussie specialists, Germany
posted by Editor's desk at
04:39
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