ABSTRACT
Travel agents are an important source of information and advice on many aspects of holiday planning. However, their abilities and responsibilities in the provision of travel advice are challenged by an increasingly complex operating environment. The traditional travel agency functions in an increasingly competitive sector, with challenges from the relentless expansion of e-commerce, reduced commissions, along with rationalisation and globalisation of the industry. Furthermore, travel agents are now operating in an increasingly complex legal environment where there are very real legal implications and repercussions of providing inappropriate or incomplete travel advice regarding health and safety issues. This legal environment is changing due to an expanded awareness and growth of individual consumer rights, which has brought about changes to legislation, sometimes in distant parts of the world (for example the European Community Directive on Package Travel (EEC, 1992)), that have implications for travel agents worldwide.
