When John Madden started Travelworld in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area of northern Pennsylvania during the mid-1980s, he entered an industry dominated by airline sales. Travel agents eagerly booked tickets online for passengers, took orders for products and watched the money flow in.
But over the next two decades, the rise of the Internet, the loss of most airline commissions, the tragedy of 9-11, and the proliferation of "do it yourself bookers" changed all that.
Fast forward ...
Two decades later, Madden is still in business and thriving because he changed his business model, adapted to a service focus, and now focuses on such products as tours, cruises and one-of-a-kind sports event packages with tickets, transportation and snacks.
Madden's story was recently featured in an online article written by the Scranton Times-Tribune. Other Scranton area travel agents including Carole Kameen, manager of Odyssey Travel Agency, and Tracey Schraner, travel consultant, Abington Travel, were also featured in this article, which showed how the agency distribution model is chugging along nicely.
Agents may read the Times-Tribune.com article at: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/travel-agents-survive-despite-emergence-of-online-travel-agencies-1.1655284