Viagens Abreu

: how can traditional travel agencies develop new strategies to become more competitive?

Abstract

Viagens Abreu has been the leading travel agency in Portugal for decades. However, over the last 15 years, there have been emerging new online travel agencies that aim to bring to the customer convenience, more benefits and prices that are more competitive. In order to adapt to this new source of rivalry, travel agents have changed their way of doing business and are providing themselves online service. The main purpose of this dissertation is to identify and understand additional ways how traditional travel agencies may become more competitive in the future. The case starts by analysing the global travel agency industry that includes the main trends and challenges, followed by an analysis from the point of view of Viagens Abreu that includes an overview of the company, followed by an analysis of the main competitors. Moreover, it will be presented strategies employed by traditional travel agencies that keep up with the latest travel trends. Besides the case study, this dissertation contains a literature review section in which there is a theoretical approach that supports the case analysis. The case concludes with the recommendations that Viagens Abreu should adopt such as bring virtual reality to stores, engage in strategic partnerships with Airbnb and Uber, bet on vloggers and social media to increase brand awareness, provide tailor-made experiences and provide a personalized service through travel consultants.

Date of Award	17 Jul 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	João Paulo Simão Pires (Supervisor)