Strategic Options Available to the Service Marketer in a Highly Competitive Uncertain Environment: Illustrations from Travel Agencies

Intensifying competition in the service sector has pre- sented service marketers with environments more turbulent and un- certain than ever. And careful attention must be paid to systematic plans and actions. The travel agency business, one of the fastest- growing service industries of the last decade (Banks 1985), illus- trates. Deregulation of airlines (1978) and of travel agents (1985) have caused dramatic changes in operating rules, in the degree and nature of competition, and in the structure of an entire industry. This paper explores the case of travel agency services to illustrate both such changes and the repertoire of strategic responses necessary to effectively compete.