Musa was sceptical as to whether the majority of travel agencies were ready to adapt to a more specialised set of services.
"The question is whether enough investment has been put into the travel agencies for them to upgrade what they can offer," he said.
"The reality that I see in the majority of cases is that the level of industry and destination knowledge that the travel agents have is woeful - they're essentially just booking tools and if they don't have that additional knowledge then they're not going to survive because they're not offering anything that clients can't get online."
Fasching echoed Musa's views by stating that travel agencies without specialist knowledge would "disappear", while all roundtable participants concurred that the key to travel agents' survival was to ensure they invested in staff training.
The core conclusions seemed to be that online distribution had yet to meet its zenith in this region and that it was not expected to replace traditional booking routes entirely.
However, roundtable participants believed that it would definitely represent a significant percentage of business in the future.
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"We have to look at all ways of distributing our product," said Jumeirah Group's Spence.
"We want to stay ahead of the game; of course that means the internet, but we haven't forgotten about travel agents or the more traditional routes either and I don't think we ever will - particularly not in this region."
Musa concluded: "Other regions are far more advanced in terms of internet usage and online bookings, we've established that, but if I walk down a High Street in London, I'm still going to see travel agencies - the good ones will survive."
Where to stay
The ‘Big ATM debate' at this year's Arabian Travel Market painted a stark picture for travel agencies who don't adapt to challenges posed by online distribution.
Debate participant, British Airways commercial director Middle East Paul Starrs told every facet of the distribution chain - supplier, intermediary and travel agent - that they must "add value or perish". He argued: "There is a role for travel agents but there is not a role for all travel agents," explaining how those who did not add value to the basic services provided online would not survive.
Although BA has now scrapped travel agent commission payments in all Middle East markets, Starrs stressed that the airline was keen to work with the following agents: Travel Management Companies (TMCs), a few online agents (Expedia) and those agents catering to niche markets such as premium/top-end travel, students and cruise.
"We are looking for agents that can specialise and seize opportunities to provide value to their customers," he said. "Those who don't add value will perish, but those that do will flourish."
Another debate participant, Expedia's director of market management, Middle East & Indian Ocean, Walter Lo Faro, also reminded agents of the power of the web.
The site, he said, boasted 1.36 billion users worldwide, accounting for 20% of the global population. In Asia alone Expedia has 512 million users.
Lo Faro pointed to Expedia's virtual brochures and sister websites such as Trip Advisor that added value to the online proposition.
"We are going beyond the pure transaction to engage with social media such as facebook as we realise the media potential of our website," he added.
This may serve as a warning to travel agents that travel websites are becoming increasingly interactive and engaging the psyche and every day lives of consumers.
However, Lo Faro did agreed with BA's Starrs that there was only so far online services could go and that in the case of complicated itineraries, agents were essential.
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