US travelers are not happy with online travel agencies

Of course I'm biased in favor of brick-and-mortar travel agents (that includes home-based agents, as well) so I couldn't resist sharing the results of a new study by Forrester Research that found that US leisure travelers are becoming more and more fed up with online travel agencies.

In fact, 15% fewer travelers enjoy using the Web in 2009 than in 2007. In 2007, the tipping point was reached when more than half (53%) of US leisure travelers enjoyed using the Internet to book their travel. For travel agents, and those of us who champion them, it was a scary figure to deal with. Two years later, the balance has tipped backwards, with nearly 46% of those same travelers enjoying using the Internet to book their travel.

Why the difference? People are fed up with the navigability and ease-of-use of the sites. They're fed up with the presentation of search results. According to the study, only one in three US online travelers (those travelers that book some or all of their travel online) feels that travel Web sites do a good job presenting travel choices. Last year, that number was 39%.

Travelers are also fed up with the information overload factor. It takes too long to plan a trip that's longer than an extended week-end vacation. They want someone to help them get through the clutter and determine what the best choices really are.

While travel Web sites continue to be good resources for booking simple, short trips, according to articles in the New York Times and on CNN.com, some of those dissatisfied travelers are turning back to traditional travel agents when booking their longer, more complicated vacations.

Because after all, travel agents are the only ones out there with the time and expertise to truly research and present all your travel options in a concise, easy to understand way.

What do you think? How do you like the online travel agencies? Would you use them for a cruise? Your 10th anniversary vacation? Do you ever use a travel agent?