Cruising for Customers; Contrary to popular belief, the Internet hasn't killed off travel agents. It's turned them into savvy specialists.

Byline: Sandy Lawrence Edry and Sarah Sennott

When Willie Stewart opened the Stewart Travel Centre in the quiet Scottish town of Prestwick 32 years ago, he created a small, all-service agency. "If it moved, I booked it," says Stewart, 58.

But six years ago he drastically refocused the business. With Internet travel-planning cutting into industry profits, Stewart needed a new strategy to stay afloat. "I could see the big boys were going to be having a bloodbath in the mass-package market," he says. He noticed a large number of cruise ships being built and decided to step up his advertising of cruise packages. By 1999, Stewart had launched Scotland's Cruise Centre, which is now the largest of its kind in the country. Today, nearly half of his 5,000 annual customers book cruises.

For a while it seemed as if the Internet might kill off travel agents like a meteor squashing dinosaurs. But if anything, it has forced them to become savvier. Many, like Stewart, are adapting and moving into profitable niches like cruises, gay and senior-citizen travel, adventure vacations--even pet travel--to ensure their survival. "We are not about the air ticket anymore," says Kathy Sudeikis, vice president of the American Society of Travel Agents and an intergenerational travel specialist. "We are about the total trip."

The modern travel agent has to compete on expertise. More and more are taking destination- and market-specialist courses through the Wellesley, Massachusetts-based Travel Institute or online through the Travel Agent University. They're spending more time on the road, building up ...