By: Maria Williams
In the past, traveling was a daunting task if you didn’t have a travel agent. Finding the right hotels, planning itineraries, and managing bookings were challenging without professional assistance. This need led to the boom of travel agencies, especially as people began to have more disposable income to spend on travel. Travel agents were the go-to solution for organizing vacations, ensuring every detail was meticulously handled.
However, the rise of technology brought uncertainty to the industry. Online booking platforms and travel websites emerged, offering convenience and direct access to many options. Brick-and-mortar travel agencies struggled as people questioned whether they were still necessary in this new digital era.
Yet, as more people embraced online booking, they encountered a significant gap. Arriving at a destination without any local knowledge proved to be a common problem. Organizing visits to museums, temples, or other attractions became cumbersome without the expertise of a travel agent. This realization has sparked a revival in the need for travel agents, who provide invaluable guidance and insights that online platforms cannot.
Travel agents offer a level of specialization and personal touch that technology cannot replicate. Celebrating a birthday, accommodating special needs like wheelchair access, or ensuring a stress-free experience are areas where travel agents excel. Online platforms might secure a fantastic hotel, but they lack the human touch that can make a trip memorable. On the other hand, travel agents ensure that every detail aligns with the travelers’ desires, making the entire journey enjoyable and stress-free.
The role of a travel agent extends beyond mere bookings; they create experiences. When people go on vacation, they seek to relieve stress, spend quality time with family, and enjoy their freedom. Travel agents understand this and work to craft experiences that evoke happiness and satisfaction. While online websites can facilitate travel logistics, they fall short of delivering the emotional and experiential aspects of travel.
For example, in managing large groups, travel agents can better help navigate the tour. Each visitor receives special treatment, a level of care, and attention that is impossible to achieve through online bookings alone. Travel agents provide on-the-ground support, ensuring that every aspect of the trip goes smoothly and that travelers feel valued and special.
Sanjay Bhasin, founder and owner of Culture Holidays, understands this. His knack for business-to-business operations in travels marked his name in the industry. The company’s unique offers have gained popularity among travel agents around the globe. As a travel operator, Culture Holidays takes pride in offering a wide range of travel solutions that help travel agents make effortless transactions with their clients. “In this day and age, it is very easy to book your travels but there’s nothing that can change the comfort of having someone book your travels for you,” Sanjay states, adding that the future for travel agencies is promising since travelers around the globe are increasing.
The personalized touch of services that Culture Holidays brings to the table is unique. They operate on business-to-business offers to travel agents across many countries, offering affordable and unique country tours in the United States, Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and the Middle East making it effortless for travel agents to sell to their clients.
The company has a variety of transformative offers that can entice any traveler who wants to have a meaningful and unforgettable experience. The first transformative tour they implemented was the tour to India wherein the trip lasted for 6 nights and visited 3 famous places in the country, New Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra. The transformative element of the tour is that there are workshops on having a healthy mind and body; they also do meditations before the workshops.
Seeing a bright future for Culture Holidays, Sanjay plans to develop a new technology that any travelers can use in creating their own personalized package tour. “There are a lot of booking systems in the market nowadays, but no app has been created that actually creates a whole package tour with travel agents to assist them,” Sanjay says.
Sanjay emphasizes that travel agents who are registered under Culture Holidays are trained and they undergo workshops through the materials they will find on the website as they register. He sees a bright future for travel agents in the industry despite the rise of online bookings and online payments. He adds, “Nothing beats a personalized touch than one from travel agents.”
The transformative offers that made Culture Holidays into what it is now are inspired by Sanjay’s journey to self-recovery, after years of surviving the hardest fall he experienced in the business. “The biggest failure of our business is the biggest lesson I’ve ever learned, and is the foundation of today’s business. Those lessons inspired the transformational tours we now offer.” Sanjay went on a personal journey that saw him guide Culture Holidays from being in millions of dollars of debt, to a thriving success with over 100 employees, and over 28,000 travel agents providing their tours around the world. “I went from broke to breakthrough, and I believe everyone can do the same. Our tours are designed to help people achieve that successful mindset, and reach their goals.”
Sanjay emphasizes that people can book hotels, activities, or flights from other international websites but no one can book specialized trips. “Booking special trips or something that can make the client feel special cannot be done unless there is a travel agent that can assist you with your travels. Online websites cannot give you that experience, that feeling, that emotion; but when you have travel agents that can arrange these for you, of course, you can!” Sanjay says.
The purpose of traveling is to relieve stress. The founder further adds, “A family vacation doesn’t have to be stressful. That’s why Culture Holidays is here today, built stronger, offering better services for all travelers around the globe.”
Published By: Aize Perez
