Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in
4 months ago
- #AI
- #Software Engineering
- #Market Trends
- Travel agents declined from 132,000 to 74,000 in the US, with retail locations dropping from 34,000 to 13,000 by 2021.
- Airlines cut commissions in 1995, removing 60% of travel agents' revenue, weakening their position before the internet's rise.
- Software engineering faces a similar threat with rapid LLM adoption, reaching 84% usage among developers by 2025.
- Corporate and luxury travel sectors survived by offering complex, high-commission services not easily replicated online.
- Generalist travel agents were wiped out as commoditized tasks like flight bookings moved online, eliminating their role.
- Software engineers must adapt by broadening skills and leveraging AI tools to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market.
- Domain knowledge and end-to-end problem-solving are becoming more valuable as AI handles routine coding tasks.
- The transition for developers is happening faster than for travel agents, with significant changes expected within five years.