Evolutionary Scenarios for Italian Travel Agencies

The present work aims at analyzing whether and how Italian travel agents perceive the need of adapting their role and activities because of recent technological changes. Because of the increasing diffusion of ICTs, distribution and intermediation of tourism services and products are going through a deep restructuring. Travel agencies are currently suffering due to increased (online and offline) competition and ever more demanding customers. In order to improve our understanding of these influencing factors, and on the way they will shape tourism, we first looked at possible descriptions of future scenarios for the sector, then we moved on to interviewing key experts and professionals to understand their perception on the present and future situation. We finally compared literature models with operators' perception to detect any eventual gap and highlight relevant causes and solutions.