travel tech insights

2016 – Digital Transformation arrives at the Travel Agency

The travel agency has seen its share of changes over recent years. Marketing channels used to be called the front door of the agency or the telephone. Then online booking arrived in the travel industry, bringing with it: pricing transparency; e-commerce; new distribution relationships and altered commission structures.

For most travel businesses the first reactions to these changes were reactive changes to their business models – and it made sense. When price transparency drops margins and commissions are shrinking, finding ways to cut costs and increase efficiencies provides more immediate relief than creating new revenue streams with higher profitability. However, in 2016 proactive changes in travel agency business models will likely accelerate, particularly in the area of digital transformation.

Topics: travel technology travel erp travel company travel agency Big Data travel business travel experience digital transformation 360 Customer View

How to Inspire Millennial Travelers (and grow your Travel Business)

Who are the millennials and why are they important to your travel business? It’s certainly no problem finding articles identifying millennials by the numbers: did you know they check their smartphone 45 times a day, and are 50+% more likely to ditch search engines and email in favor of social networks to find brand content? Or that 44% of them praise or flame product and services experiences with text messages and 38% of them use social media to do the same?

In fact, millennials are a widely diverse group, and any implication it can be accurately characterized by various data points is misleading.Demographically speaking, the group is defined as those born between 1980 and 2000 – or 15 to 35 years old. Does any doubt fifteen year old girls check smart phones 45 times a day? Does anyone believe 35 year old men do the same? The age band is simply too broad to support general  assumptions about specific behaviors, not to mention it also covers the span in which people mature to adulthood: young adolescents go into the group and mature adults come out.

Topics: Travel Industry travel website travel company responsive travel website travel business travel experience millennial travelers Travel customers