According to Frost (2004) the fascination with new technology has changed the way tourism providers interact and trade with their customers. The primary focus for this essay is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of direct selling for travel and tour management. In this essay, the perspectives of both tourism operators and tourists will be considered. This essay will be presented in four sections. The first section will outline direct selling and identify the users of direct selling. The second section will discuss the advantages and disadvantages for a tourist using direct selling. The third section will discuss the advantages and disadvantages for a tourism provider using direct selling. Finally, the essay will be concluded summarising the key advantages and disadvantages for direct selling.

In the past, travel agents have been an intermediary for tourists and tourism sellers. Travel agents have been used by tourists to access a wide range of tourism service providers; likewise tourism providers have used travel agents to gain access to numerous customers (Frost, 2004). Due to the extreme competition in the tourism industry, tourism providers are looking to cut costs in order to win over customers with lower prices. This is currently being done by cutting down on the commission costs payed to intermediary such as travel agents and introducing direct selling. In recent years the rapid growth and vast accessibility of the internet has allowed the transition to direct selling to take over. The internet creates availability and accessibility for tourists and tourism providers to do business while providing equivalent information at a lower cost than a travel agent can (Bennett & Lai, 2005). Moreover, Frost (2004) identifies four methods of direct selling other than the internet where tourism businesses are able to get in contact and do business