An Australian online travel insurance company, Itrek, has a death wish for travel agents, and is waging a campaign entitled “The Travel Agent Is Dead!” to entice consumers to buy travel insurance from its online site.
The “Agent Is Dead” is the theme of the promotion Itrek is running in which it asks consumers to compete in a contest for a 30-second online commercial using the title and theme of “The Travel Agent Is Dead” and upload the commercial at www.itrek.tv.
The company makes the following claims: “Itrek believes that Travel Agents days are well and truly numbered. A large percentage of their margins are made by ‘bolting on’ travel insurance products to customer's [sic] flight bookings. Some Travel Agents are taking margins of around 50% on their Travel Insurance policies. The time has come for the public to see that there is an alternative, by going online and taking the Travel Agent out of the equation completely. This 'alternative' could save you up to 50% on the costs. More and more people are going online to purchase their flights, hotel accommodation and now, their travel insurance too. The travel agent really is dead!”
The Australian Federation of Travel agents is currently investigating advertising claims made by online direct sellers of travel insurance with the country’s financial services regulator, ASIC, AFTA chief executive Jay Westbury told Travel Market Report in an e-mail.
“This matter is afoot.”
Westbury, who is traveling in Europe, has not seen the Itrek promotion so would not comment on it.
However, he did state, “The stupid thing about this is that the largest travel agent in Australia made more net profit in real dollars than Qantas. I don't think a few travel insurance sales going direct will be the end of travel agents. It's clear that when consumers really look at the policies’ terms and conditions, there is not an apples with apples comparison occurring.”