Expedia Cruise opens new Shreveport Bossier Travel Agency | Business

Cathy and Elton Richey laugh when they talk about the 1990s. That’s when people started getting personal computers and booking their own travel. 

“You know, if you’re just looking for a flight or a hotel, you could probably do OK. Notice, I said, ‘OK’. But when you start looking at more complicated, more complex stuff, part of the problem is you don’t know what the internet’s not showing you. You’re only seeing what Google wants you to see,” Cathy Richey says. 

Many people have opted to do their own travel planning, which, over the years, led to a precipitous decline in the number of brick-and-mortar travel agencies.

In fact, Shreveport-Bossier has just one: Expedia Cruises Air, Land & Sea Vacations, owned by the Richeys. 

Cathy Richey has been in the travel business since 2015. Her husband left his legal practice in 2019, intending to join her. But within weeks COVID hit, and 2020 became the worst year in tourism…