Dear all,

Welcome to the seventh edition of The Amadeus Independent, our online newsletter dedicated to the smaller, independent and specialist travel agencies.

In this month's issue...

...Consumer buying behaviour! With your answers to many of our questions firmly in mind, we thought this the perfect moment to talk about how customers’ travel-buying is changing rapidly, how the younger generation of travellers is becoming increasingly independent, and about the impact this change in buying behaviour has on the independent travel agency – change so far brought about by the internet, but recently added to by the very latest: mobile technology.

The young travellers, often called generation Y, are better informed and more technology savvy than ever before, and they are taking over many stages of the travel process that once upon a time was the sole domaine of the travel agency - especially the planning stage and shopping for the best deal. These people  know what they want and, sometimes even more important, they know what they don’t want.

However, things are not as gloomy as they seem at first sight, and generation Y also likes to be pampered. So you actually have a good chance to take back those stages of the travel process and add tremendous value to the complete travel experience. How? Only technology can ‘beat’ technology, and in this edition we’re giving you tips on simple tools, and how they can help you do just that: enhance your customers’ booking and travel experience, make them feel safe, secure, looked after and empowered by you and appreciative of the added value only you can bring: your expertise and service.

Then, last but not by no means least, we have summarised your answers to our quick poll. Thank you for your input which contributes to us being able to help you, our customers.

We truly welcome your feedback! And we’d love to get to know you better and better, so tell us a little bit about yourselves by answering our quick poll this month!

We hope we can make a difference. Happy reading!

Michele Pluim

P.S. Do you have a question or burning issue you would like to see explored in The Amadeus Independent?

Just send me an e-mail at mpluim@amadeus.com