Some North Texas travel agents are seeing a big increase in business this spring. They say the economy is on an upswing and many people are fed-up with booking vacations online.
Petey Parker is planning a trip to New York with friends this spring and she's doing it through a travel agent. Parker said she made the switch after trying to book her last trip online.
"The experience was so bad, so misleading, so misleading that I don't need to have that experience more than once," Parker said.
She said she was trying to save money and time, but that she actually did the opposite.
"For the time it took me to actually go on and do it, I could have been working and making more money instead of being online and doing it," Parker said.
Dena McDonald owns Tiki Trips in Dallas. She said she's hearing the same story from other new clients.
"if you book with a travel agent you are protected and you get what you purchased," McDonald said.
She thinks the rising economy is also responsible for her increased traffic.
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"We have seen about a 30-40 percent increase in the past 3 months alone," McDonald said.
Many travel related businesses are seeing an increase in profit. According to the International Air Transport Association, air travel rose by 6.4 percent this year compared to last. And hotel chain Best Western claims business travel is up 9 percent from 2009.
"Last year was really tough because, not just the economy, that was about half the issue, the other problem was the swine flu," McDonald said.
Now that nerves from the economy and illness are down, McDonald said her business should do nothing but go up.
