LANGLEY, UK — The pandemic is by far the toughest situation retail travel agents have ever had to deal with. But there’s a bright side: the travelling public has finally realized why it’s so important to book through a travel agent.

New poll results from Travelport, the parent company of the Galileo and Worldspan GDSs, show that 33% of consumers are now more likely to book using a travel agent -and 82% say they are either more likely or the same as before.

When asked why they’re more likely to use a travel agent’s services now, 65% said they feel safer booking through a travel agency because travel agents have the latest travel safety information.

And 23% said they see booking through a travel agency as an advantage because of the agent’s ability to change or cancel their tickets.

Another finding showed that 39% of young travellers (18-38yrs) are now more likely to use a travel agency to book their trip.

While Travelport’s survey didn’t poll consumers in Canada, it did poll some 5,000 consumers in major markets including the U.S., the UK, India, New Zealand and Australia.

The majority of travellers said they are ready to consider booking domestic and international trips, but only if airlines, airports, hotels and car rental companies collectively implement 10 different safety measures throughout their journey.

The 10 measures are outlined in this table. The percentage figures represent the number of travelers that said they will not travel unless the respective measure is in place… “For the majority of travellers to return to the skies, the industry now needs to work together to not only ensure a wide array of safety measures are in place throughout the travel journey, but to collectively communicate these changes to travelers using a range of channels and merchandising technologies,” said Travelport’s CEO, Greg Webb.

The full results of both the quantitative and qualitative components of the research are captured in Travelport’s Guide to Travel Recovery report.