Reinvention and what a load of...baloney

A couple of blog posts floating around regarding the recent E-Marketing report into online travel: US Online Travel - The Threat of Commoditization.

Teddie Cowell on Search Engine War points to where Jeffrey Grau, a senior analyst and co-author of the report, claims "industry players must be willing to reinvent themselves to keep up with consumer, technology and competitive forces".

"I couldn't agree more," says Cowell.

Meanwhile, Tim Hughes on The Boot, says the bit in some pre-report puff, which focuses on a supposed slowing down of growth in the US online market, is "BALONEY". Haven't heard that word for years, Tim, but a great one all the same...

"Just a press release from a research org to generate buzz around their research. The key to the story is not that the US online travel market is either slowing in its growth or that there is a risk of commoditization of travel - the true story is that this year online travel will be more than 50% of the market. The story is not about the pain in online travel but the pain in offline."

Well said, Sir.

For those unlucky enough to be working over the weekend, we'll be posting. For everyone else, enjoy the long holiday weekend.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: online travel