As more people go online to book their holidays, traditional travel agents are being hit hard. Veronica Stivala asks if the profession’s days are numbered.

With the relative cheapness and flexibility of booking travel online, travel agents have suffered over the past few years.

Thanks to apps and websites that automatically find low-cost flight options and connections, more and more people are ditching the middleman and opting to not only book their tours and hotels abroad, but also their flights.

Compared with the days when booking a flight through a travel agent took ages and required filling out reams of forms, booking online is much faster and easier.

You can literally book a flight to Phnom Penh in a few minutes, from the comfort of your home, at any time of the day or night.

Yet, while in theory planning a trip on your own can save you time and money, there are a few downsides.

For example, some readers may be all too familiar with finding flights at one price one day, only to return and find that they have doubled the next.

Although it may be possible for the holidaymaker to take the risk, business people cannot afford to miss a meeting

And what happens to your careful plans if you have a connecting flight and your first flight is delayed?

Although it may be possible for the holidaymaker to take the risk, business people cannot afford to miss a meeting, or to wait another day or two to get to their destination.

James Bugeja, director at Globalair Travel, says that travel agents are quick with getting such situations resolved because of their access to flight booking systems.

Travel agents often partner with agents on location for first-hand knowledge, providing peace of mind.

People travelling in large groups often choose to go through a travel agent for a number of reasons, two important ones being that groups are often given discounts and the costs of a whole group of people having missed their connection would be ridiculously high.

The logistics behind group travel are complex and often have several on-location travel representatives sharing their expertise for the common cause.

Other advantages of using a travel agent include holding your quote with a precise final price to a specific time limit.

This means avoiding prices increasing by the time you get around to booking. Travel agents are also the ones with first-hand knowledge of travel trends and new destinations.

Ultimately, the agent does the initial work of exploring a new place, finding out local information and the best travel options, and then publicising it.

Of course, bloggers and travel writers will also write about a destination, but in the case of a mishap, at least you can call a travel agent for help.

Lana Micallef, the avid backpacker

I generally book flights on my own, having found that travel agents are only bene-ficial for big groups they can discount.

I always choose cost over duration, meaning if I have to spend an extra six hours in transit, I’ll do it to save $200 (€144).

I’ve rarely overspent on flights. I always make sure I’m going the cheapest way possible. I like using a number of budget airlines for one flight path.

It might require three flights instead of two, but I’d prefer to pocket the change.

I have always travelled this way and have so far covered 36 countries.

For accommodation I either use the hostel world app, or find somewhere once I arrive.

Doing this is one of my favourite challenges. That little family-run guest house that you couldn’t book before because they’re not on the internet, will not only be half the price of anywhere else, but will provide you with a homely, authentic, secure stay that will shape the rest of your trip.

Kenneth Zammit Tabona, the culture vulture

They say that once bitten, twice shy. I find that many online booking systems are far too complicated for no reason and that sometimes on certain sites the cheapest options are not the best.

Some online flight bookings are so full of unnecessary commercial options it is easy to get embroiled into taking a service one doesn’t want.

It is probably my fault for not being cyber savvy enough, but I would rather look up things myself and then go with a ‘to do’ list to my travel agent.

I would rather leave these things in the hands of an expert and I don’t mind paying the commission to tried and tested friends in the market whom I can trust not to take me for a ride.

Jonathan Dalli, the business traveller

I always make my travel arrangements online. If it’s a direct flight, I use the airline’s own site. If it involves a connection, I usually use portals such as www.expedia.com to get the best travel options.

I’m a member of a number of frequent flyer programmes, so that also affects my airline of choice due to air miles.

Nothing beats www.booking.com for hotel bookings. I’ve used it for all destinations, from Europe to Asia to the Caribbean to the US.

One of the few times I used a travel agency was when booking our honey-moon arrangements… but that was purely vacation, so I thought of getting in vacation mode right from the booking stage.

Jurgen Galea, the frequent weekend breaker

The main websites I use are the equivalent of online agents since they provide various options when travelling (flights and hotels) with the added bonus of having the time to double-check everything.

Whenever I book a trip I would have the main online agent website (such as Trivago and Expedia) open along with Google maps to be able to locate the hotel/s and Tripadvisor to see what other travellers think of the hotel.

Once I pick the flight and hotel I still check with the airline’s and hotel’s official website since sometimes it’s even more convenient to book directly.