Travel agents are market intermediaries who make their living by gathering, organizing, and dispensing information about travel-related services that ...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

Source: Official Guide

Critical Reasoning

Weaken

MEDIUM

...

Notes

Post a Query

Travel agents are market intermediaries who make their living by gathering, organizing, and dispensing information about travel-related services that is not readily available to most consumers. Through new information technologies, such as the internet much of this information can now be made directly available to consumers. Therefore, as more consumers gain access to these new technologies, demand for the services of travel agents will be drastically reduced.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

Travel agents routinely use the internet and other new information technologies as sources for the information they obtain for their customers.

The amount of information available through the internet and other new information technologies is increasing faster than the capabilities of most consumers to process it

Many people use travel-related services, such as airlines and hotels without consulting a travel agent.

The people who currently use the services of travel agents are also those most likely to gain access to new information technologies

The internet and other new information technologies are currently used by a relatively small proportion of the population

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
Travel agents are market intermediaries who make their living by gathering, organizing, and dispensing information about travel-related services that is not readily available to most consumers.	What it says: Travel agents work as middlemen who collect and share travel info that regular people can't easily get What it does: Sets up what travel agents do and why they're valuable What it is: Author's description of travel agents' role Visualization: Consumer needs travel info → Travel Agent gathers info → Consumer gets organized info
Through new information technologies, such as the internet much of this information can now be made directly available to consumers.	What it says: New tech like the internet now lets consumers get this travel info directly What it does: Introduces a challenge to the travel agents' traditional role described earlier What it is: Author's claim about technological change Visualization: Before: Consumer → Travel Agent → Info Now: Consumer → Internet → Same Info
Therefore, as more consumers gain access to these new technologies, demand for the services of travel agents will be drastically reduced.	What it says: When more people use these new technologies, way fewer people will want travel agents What it does: Draws a conclusion from the two previous facts about what will happen to travel agents What it is: Author's main conclusion Visualization: More consumers with internet access (70% → 90%) = Demand for travel agents drops drastically (maybe 80% → 20%)

Argument Flow:

The argument starts by explaining what travel agents do (gather hard-to-find travel info), then shows how technology changes this situation (internet makes the same info available directly), and concludes that this change will hurt travel agents' business.

Main Conclusion:

As more consumers get access to new technologies like the internet, demand for travel agents' services will be drastically reduced.

Logical Structure:

This is a cause-and-effect argument. The author assumes that if consumers can get travel information directly through technology, they won't need travel agents anymore. The logic flows: travel agents provide hard-to-get info → technology now provides same info directly → therefore people won't need travel agents.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Weaken - We need to find information that would reduce our belief in the conclusion that demand for travel agents will be drastically reduced as more consumers gain access to internet technology.

Precision of Claims

The conclusion makes a strong quantitative claim about 'drastically reduced' demand. The argument assumes that access to the same information through technology will eliminate the need for travel agents' services.

Strategy

To weaken this argument, we need to find scenarios that show why consumers might still need travel agents even when they have direct access to travel information through technology. We should look for reasons why having raw information isn't the same as having the organized, processed service that travel agents provide.

Answer Choices Explained

Travel agents routinely use the internet and other new information technologies as sources for the information they obtain for their customers.

This choice discusses how travel agents use technology as their source of information, but this doesn't weaken the argument. In fact, it could strengthen it by showing that technology is becoming central to the travel industry. The argument's concern is whether consumers will bypass travel agents when they can access information directly - what sources travel agents use is irrelevant to this prediction.

The amount of information available through the internet and other new information technologies is increasing faster than the capabilities of most consumers to process it

This is the correct answer because it directly attacks the argument's core assumption. The argument assumes that access to information equals the ability to effectively use that information. However, if information is expanding faster than people can process it, consumers face an information overload problem. Even with direct access to travel data, they would still need travel agents to help organize, filter, and make sense of overwhelming amounts of information. This shows that travel agents' value isn't just in accessing hard-to-find information, but in processing and organizing information - a service that becomes more valuable, not less, as information increases.

Many people use travel-related services, such as airlines and hotels without consulting a travel agent.

This choice tells us that many people already don't use travel agents, but this doesn't weaken the argument about future demand. The argument is specifically about what will happen as more people gain access to new technologies. The fact that some people currently travel without agents doesn't contradict the prediction that technology will reduce demand even further.

The people who currently use the services of travel agents are also those most likely to gain access to new information technologies

This choice suggests that current travel agent users are likely to get new technology access, which would actually strengthen the argument rather than weaken it. If travel agents' existing customer base is the most likely to gain direct access to travel information online, this supports the prediction that demand for travel agents will decrease.

The internet and other new information technologies are currently used by a relatively small proportion of the population

This choice indicates that few people currently use new technologies, but this doesn't weaken the argument's conditional prediction. The argument specifically states 'as more consumers gain access to these new technologies' - so this choice just describes the current state without challenging what will happen when technology access increases in the future.

Rate this Solution

Tell us what you think about this solution

...

Forum Discussions

Start a new discussion

Post

Previous Attempts

Loading attempts...