Setting the record straight

US researcher PhoCusWright “debunked” six online travel myths at its first ever ‘analysts forum’ this week.

The company uses its own research to correct the misinformation, although some of the issues raised aren’t as cut and dry as the release suggests. Also remember that the myths are specific to the US market.

See what you think. Here goes:

MYTH THE FIRST: “The number of online travel buyers in the U.S. is declining”
Not true. Growth is slowing, but it’s still growing.

MYTH THE SECOND: “More and more online travel shoppers use supplier sites than online travel agencies”
Not true. OTAs are still a bigger part of the market than brand dotcoms, but it’d be dangerous to downplay the influence of supplier direct.

MYTH THE THIRD: “Travel agencies are experiencing a resurgence as travelers return to traditional purchasing channels”
Not sure . eMarketer, another US research business, may be behind the myth. It’s look at the US market, issued in August, talked about “a renewed appreciation for the expertise and personalized services offered by traditional travel agents”. Maybe this is about methodology as much as mythology.

MYTH THE FOURTH: “The next generation of travelers prefers to do everything online”
Not true. PCW debunks this with a stat from its own research - less than half of what 18-28 year olds spend on travel is spent online. So where do they spend the rest?

MYTH THE FIFTH: "Social networks and travel reviews have the greatest influence on travel decision-making".

Not sure. PhoCusWright says that OTAs and destination web sites are as popular with Generation Y travellers as social networks and reviews. Interesting to watch what happens as the OTAs and destination sites become more social , and vice versa.

MYTH THE SIXTH: "Online travel markets need high credit card and Internet penetration to succeed".
Not sure. India’s online travel market is growing despite 98% of the population not using credit cards or having access to the Internet. Maybe the 2% who do are wealthy enough to sustain and grow the business.

Food for thought...

Martin Cowen, chief writer, Travolution

Technical error or lucky find? PhoCusWright here we come!

[UPDATE (x2) at the bottom of the post]

Travolution is off to California in November for the PhoCusWright conference.

So, browsing Kayak - and other sites, hasten to add - for a flight from London to LAX, and we find this little nugget of good fortune:


The search results shows an Air France return flight from LHR to LAX on the required dates. On the Air France website it is £862; on ebookers £384!!

Schurely schome mishtake?

Follow the link through to ebookers and - da-da - the same fare is still there:


We also carried out a search starting from the ebookers engine and same again:


Now for some this would be an incredible coup. And indeed it is. But it seems to be too good to be true.

We asked someone more familiar than us with booking engines, fare loads and the like to get an idea of why the fare is so incredibly cheap.

• Loading error (either automated or human).
• Revenue management system on the blink.
• Some commercial deal where ebookers/Orbitz wants to put a certain volume through just prior to a renegotiation with an airline - so will take anything.
• Some event happening in the UK at the same time (with lots of people coming from states) - hence extra flights have had to be put on - and now demand has to be created in the opposing direction (but that would have impacted all flights).
• Its what they intended.

Or, on a lighter note, our mole suggests, it could be the seat by the toilet.

If anyone has any further suggestions, please add via the comments section.

UPDATE:

According to the ebookers' flight team, this discovery is in fact good fortune and the price is correct on the site. A message reads:

Ebookers should nearly always have cheaper fares than the airline's direct site (with the exception of BA where ebookers match).

Which they would say, of course.

Anyway, it also appears that Expedia has gone all laissez faire with Air France and is also offering the same ticket for £374. Opodo also has it for £378.

It's a wonder the OTAs stay in business! We jest...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: orbitz ebookers kayak phocuswright los angeles california silicon valley

Travolution Summit - panel videos!

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

The (infamous) CEO interview with Steve Hafner at the Travolution Summit - hello TravelSupermarket

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

UK tipping point in two years

PhoCusWright predicts Canada and UK will be the next two countries to reach that 50% tipping point in terms of online travel purchasing.

The UK will get there in two years with a current penetration of between 35% and 40% followed by Germany and France.

Quotoid #2

PhoCusWright's president and CEO Philip Wolf:

"In the US, over 50% of travel is now purchased seamlessly online. Similar tipping points will occur, market by market, around the world, sooner than you might think."

The Perfect Storm

After a hefty introduction - internet guru, toughest moderator in the business... PhoCusWright's Philip Wolf is holding the room with the latest observations on the market.

The European travel space is tracking similarly to the US market and bracing itself for some 'rusty nails.'

It's still growing but showing first signs of a long maturing cycle - you cannot grow exponentially forever (Philip cautions us).

In Europe, Italy and Spain are the fastest growing markets but it's other territories that are the ones to watch - India online travel market will be worth US$6 billion by 2010.

In the US more than 50% of all travel is seamlessly purchased online and a similar tipping point will occur around the world and 'sooner than you might think!'

Enough of the facts, what we want to know is what's happening now?

Philip tells us it's the Perfect Storm with no George Clooney to be seen.

"The perfect storm occurs when several events occur simultaneously - search, shop, buy - which individually would be less powerful."

What we have is search engines wielding massive power and there is still a huge amount of unmonetised search out there causing companies to devise new strategies.

The shopping experience has become a sport, the thrill of the chase and getting the best price.

And, the buy stage with intermediaries fighting over who owns the consumer more than ever while deeplink referrals are obscuring the point of sale.

And the final point swelling the storm is social networking enabling different kinds of contact between travellers.

The good news is the Perfect Storm creates the perfect opportunity as long as you do two things:

"Exploit the advances in technology and momentum. Companies give themselves permission for not advancing and hide behind their customers.

"Focus less on business model preservation and more on solving problems for customers."

The Perfect Storm or storm in a teacup?

Linda Fox, lead reporter, Travolution

The Purple Day Opening Thoughts

The big boys are on stage in the form of Cheapflights David Soskin, PhoCusWright's Philip Wolf and Adrian Goldthorp of FutureBrand.

And here is the first meaty thought of the day - why do mega-corporations with the exception of Rich Barton from Microsoft find it so difficult to be innovative online?

Feedback please....

Summit. Awards. Blogging. Twitting. Big Day ahead

Huge day tomorrow in Travolutionland.

We kick off with the Summit, featuring a stellar line-up of participants and a delegate list to match.


Linda Fox and Martin Cowen will be live blogging and Twittering the entire event. Our Twitter page is here.

We will then be announcing the results of the Travolution Awards in the evening.

Both events are sold out. If you want to be placed on the waiting list for the Summit, email Kelly Farley.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Here comes The Purple Pod

Good news for all those who can't get enough of Travolution - our podcasts launch this week.

Our new regular 20 minutes or so of commentary and discussion about the online travel industry kicks off with Matt Cheevers of Teletext Holidays and Bruce Rosard from PhoCusWright as we consider the new media model for travel and the importance of bloggers to the industry.

So you can either listen to it here or at our Podomatic page [we're working on the artwork, okay!]. A catologue of previous shows will be held at the Podomatic page.

Better still, you should be able to subscribe to The Purple Pod from iTunes in the next few days. You'll be updated automatically every time we produce a new episode.


Click here to get your own player.

Enjoy. Feedback is always helpful. Commercial opportunities available, too. Contact me directly.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: purple pod podcast itunes teletext phocuswright

PhoCusWright@ITB 08 - We'll be there

Travolution will be in Berlin over the next few days, blogging live from PhoCusWright@ITB.

In a European first, PhoCusWright be hosting a Bloggers' Summit, where will be taking part in a few sessions and panels, etc.

Check back here for regular updates over the two days.

Last year's coverage here.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: phocuswright ITB Berlin Germany

A message from Finland

Okay, to kickstart the global spirit the PhoCusWright Bloggers' Summit is aiming for at ITB this week, we have a guest post from Finland:

It would be easy to imagine that the Finnish tourism industry would be one of the forerunners in the internet and rest of the online world. Yes, it would indeed!

Let me tell you a secret: we Finns are at least three years behind most of Europe and about a decade behind the continent behind the big water.

But in my post I am introducing you to two of the best Finnish, cutting edge travel websites.

Last December the tech and travel community here in Finland went bananas. We read in your Guardian newspaper that the Finnish Dopprl could even be the next Facebook!

Our Dopprl in your Guardian!

But, wait a second, the article said nothing about Finland...

Didn't they realise that it is of Finnish origin? One of its masterminds, Marko, is the son of our former president Martti Ahtisaari, and our own Taneli Tikka is nowadays the biggest boss in the company!

For those who don't know, this wonderful site is for frequent business travellers. Here in Finland it seems to be on everybody's lips and even Travolution has talked about it a fair bit.

The other site I thought to introduce I am quite sure you have not heard of before. The name of the service is Vailoma.

Remember, it's me you heard about it first. These guys are really going for it. This means they are either heading for big success or terrible loss.

The site is packed with interesting features, which are mainly copied from other websites from other industries like the Amazon-style recommendation, but who cares if their site works and makes people happy?

I personally like especially their destination widget that brings their website to other websites.

The site is currently in beta version, but if you want an invitation to Vailoma please contact me. I would definitely recommend you to check it out!

And that is all from Finland this time. I will continue with Northern Exposures if Kevin allows me to!

Ilkka Kauppinen

Ilkka Kauppinen is one of the leading Finnish internet marketing professionals and scholars in tourism. His blog, which discusses internet marketing in tourism, is one the biggest Finnish online travel blogs. It is, after all, also the only one.

PhoCusWright@ITB - bloggers' summit

We'll be there.

Anyone else?


More information here - should be an interesting series of sessions, ahead of the main PhoCusWright one-day conference on the 6th March.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

The travel conference of the year!

Big day today. We are officially launching our Travolution European Summit 2008, produced in association with PhoCusWright.

We have started assembling what we believe will be the best line-up of participants from the online travel industry you are likely to find anywhere in the UK in 2007.

Confirmed so far:

• Caroline Cartellieri, Expedia UK (managing director)
• Graham Donoghue, TUI UK (new media director)
• Steve Hafner, Kayak (chief executive)
• Adam Healy, VibeAgent (chief executive)
• Brent Hoberman, Mydeco.com (executive chairman)
• Chris Lee, Barclays Commercial Bank (head of travel sector)
• Yen Lee, Kango (president)
• James Lohan, Mr and Mrs Smith (managing director)
• Ian McCaig, Lastminute.com (chief executive)
• Chris Nixon, Travelsupermarket.com (acting managing director)
• Andrew Owen Jones, Amadeus (director, travel distribution solutions)
• Jeff Revoy, Yahoo (Europe vice president, search and social media)
• David Soskin, Cheapflights (chief executive)
• Robert Torres, Google (managing director, travel advertising and marketing– North America)
• Gareth Williams, Skyscanner (chief executive)
• Philip Wolf, PhoCusWright (president and chief executive)

More names will be added in the coming weeks.

Delegates places, more information, programme, and the rest, available from the conference website.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Blogging lite

On a course [Travolution's quest for world domination, perhaps?] for a few days - so apologies for the lack of posts.

Back in action at the weekend, ahead of our first visit to the US for the PhoCusWright conference in Florida on Monday.

I will be on a panel for travel industry bloggers on Tuesday morning, 10.45-12pm, in a session arranged by the Tips from the T-List book.

Travolution also has a network exchange table on Tuesday, so please stop by and introduce yourself.

The rest of the time will be spent blogging and attending the main sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

We're rather pleased about this - save the date

Announced officially today:

Travolution and PhoCusWright enter partnership for Travolution Conference in 2008.

Thursday 24 April 2008 - Royal Garden Hotel, London.

See you there...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

A bit of housekeeping

A few bits going on:

We say this a lot, but it really is very easy for UK residents to subscribe to the print edition of Travolution. You simply sign up for FREE on the website.

[Overseas readers must pay, alas]

FREE e-news alerts (twice a week, not twice a day).

The Travolution Autumn Conference takes place on Thursday this week. Just a handful of tickets remain. You will need to be quick...

The Travolution team - myself, Charlotte Davies from the commercial side, and the boss, Simon Ferguson - will be in Florida for the PhoCusWright conference from Monday 12 November to Thursday 15 November.

Alas, we miss World Travel Market this year.

Charlotte and I will be hosting a Network Exchange table on Tuesday 13. This will be the first time Travolution has made it to the US, so we would be delighted to meet as many of our US readers as possible - please stop by and introduce yourselves.

I will be taking part in a discussion panel about travel blogging between 10.45am and midday on the same day.

We have also marked the Google party on the Wednesday evening in our diaries!

For delegates attending the ABTA Convention in Tenerife this year, look out for two masterclasses being hosted by Travolution on Thursday 29 November, focusing on the Long Tail of Travel (by Nishma Robb of TravelZest) and Technology & Marketing in the New World (by Peter Hilton of ClickWithTechnology).

Martin Couzins, editor of Travelweekly.co.uk, and I will be chairing these two 30-minute masterclasses.

The sessions follow Travolution's first appearance on the main stage at an ABTA Convention. We were specially invited by ABTA to speak at the convention this year after the enormous success of our seminars at the 2006 event.

I will be joined by Mel Carson from MSN AdCenter for a 45-minute keynote entitled Riding The Wave.

It goes without saying that it will be the highlight of the conference!

That is all...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: phocuswright abta florida tenerife

Deadline for September edition subscription

To ensure you receive a pristine and personal copy of the September edition of Travolution, you need to sign up (for FREE) right now.

It's the Travolution Generations one. So get clicking.

Be warned: any extra copies will be going to events such as our Question Time, World Travel Market, PhoCusWright in Florida, and our conference on the 1 November.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution Summit presentations

...are now available.

As well as our news coverage and links to pictures, blog and videoblog.

All available on the Travolution website.

Presentations:

• John Bray - Looking for meaning: Future of search and web businesses (PhoCusWright)
• Mel Carson - 3D image of the world (MSN).
  
• Stephen Palmer - Social networking and search debate (Lonely Planet)
• Peter Ward - Social networking and search debate (WAYN.com)
• Glen Drury - Social networking and search debate (Yahoo!)
• Andrew Bradford - presentation to come (AOL)
• Graham Donoghue - We are not in control (TUI)
• Katherine Gershon - Delivering best experience online and in the air (SilverJet)
• Francois Abiven and Emilie Labidoire - Why virtual worlds matter to travel (Reperes)

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution Summit-Today hotels, tomorrow the world

TripAdvisor is set to take over the world…well, sort of.

John Bray, senior strategist from US-based technology research firm PhoCusWright, challenged the Travolution Summit audience to predict if TripAdvisor can do in other sectors of the travel industry (eg destinations) what it has done for hotels…or, if newcomers like Wayn.com will lead the next generation user-review space.

Apparently, TripAdvisor will retain its lead, according to roughly 80% of delegates (and no, they’re not all from Expedia).

Hmmm...

Surely Peter Ward, the founder of Wayn, will have something to say about that when he takes the stage later today.

Stay tuned...

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution