Facts & Figures

"PhoCusWright, the travel industry research authority, found that 13% of the online users use social media in the process of reserving a hotel room, and even more impressive is that 35% of users will use their smartphones in order to complete a reservation in 2012."

" Travels belong to one of the most easily sold online products, and out of all the online trading from business to consumers it is the very most common kind of e-commerce.”

“ Based on our empirical findings we have seen four factors that constrain consumers from going from a looker phase into a booker phase. They are Internet usage/experience, trust, complexity of the travel and need and appreciation of personal service. As consumers overcome these barriers they will move from being strictly lookers towards booking their travels online to a greater extent .”

“ Together with bank-services and software purchasers, travels belongs to the product group that is most easily sold over the Internet and it is one of the best selling segments in the world of e-commerce .”

“ A simple measure that can be used to gauge the effectiveness of a website is what percentage of the visitors that visit the travel service website that actually book online. This is a conversion ratio referred to as the ”look to book” ratio. Furthermore the look-to book ratio serve as an important indicator of the travel website’s functionality, effectiveness of the customer relationship management tools deployed, the breadth and uniqueness of the travel products offered and the loyalty factors etc. The higher the ratio, the better it is. That means a higher conversion from “lookers” to “bookers ”.

“ Johan Lundgren, CEO Tui Scandinavia, says that one of their main strategies involves ecommerce and the conversion from ”lookers” to ”bookers”. They do not only want consumers to look for travels online, they want them to book online as well. ”

“ It is important to have a high conversion from “lookers” to “bookers” and thus persuade potential consumers to book from them directly online and not just browse through and then continue to a competitor or a costly front office ”.

“The biggest challenges for travel companies right now... Challenges for companies are mixed. Some of the key themes are increasing direct bookings, understanding mobile and social media and of course managing to challenge the competition. As we will see below the main themes for both challenge and opportunity is mobile and social media. It is the hot topic of the moment.”

“The biggest opportunities identified: The biggest opportunities of the moment are considered to be mobile and social media. They both carried relatively similar weight and it is clear that companies need to watch the space in both of these mediums to ensure they keep up with their industry peers. The huge proportion of respondents that stated these new channels suggests that it is an opportunity recognized across the industry and across the world. We expect to see a lot more innovation in this space in 2011 and beyond.”

“What the industry feels the next new thing in travel distribution and marketing is: Echoing the above results, the next new thing is expect to be mobile. It is clearly the most dominant theme amongst all respondents. Social is still there and certainly not considered old hat! But mobile is really expected to be growing in significance for travel companies across the globe. Location based marketing, social media, mobile apps… perhaps the next core theme will towards integration”.