Core Competencies of Modern Travel Agencies: A Maharashtra’s Survey

Author(s)	Mr. Nishant Sureshkumar Sutare, Dr. Harshada Rajeev Satghare
Country	India
Abstract	The traditional tourism literature is categorical in terms of the travel agents that sell and package the products and the tour operators that design and package the products (Bhatia, 2012; Cooper et al., 2008). The paper examines the functional convergence of these roles among travel agencies in Maharashtra, India and how new hybrid models of intermediaries emerge. Primary data were gathered through a structured questionnaire on 70 agency professionals through descriptive survey design. The thematic analysis and descriptive statistics indicated that there was a lot of overlap, with 80 percent of agencies overlapping in agent-type functions (agent ticketing, reservations) and operator-type functions (itinerary design, tour packaging, ground coordination). Mixed operational setups and expectations that customers have of multifaceted solutions were emphasized as qualitative responses (Kracht and Wang, 2010; Middleton et al., 2021). The interpretation is based on the perspective of service-dominant logic and the evolutionary perspective of distribution.
Keywords	Travel agents, Hybrid intermediary, Maharashtra, Travel agents, Functional convergence, Tourism distribution.
Field	Sociology > Tourism / Transport
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 6, November-December 2025
Published On	2025-12-22
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i06.63639

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