travel tech insights

The travel business is hard. It sells a high-priced, discretionary item at a time when every region of the global economy is growing slowly – if at all. The travel industry is facing its own particular challenges – consolidation, intense competition, eroding margins and high customer expectations.  Of course there are bright spots, particularly in the way technology is making people so much more aware of the delights and truly unique experiences travel has to offer. Travel may be a discretionary expense, but it also provides the customer with – literally – a way to leave their worries behind and step into an entirely different world. 

A Q4 2015 e-commerce survey, condensed into these infographics, provides good insights and guidance for what mobile technology means for the travel industry in 2016. Key take-aways:

Tours and activities is one of the most difficult sectors of the travel industry to define and analyze. For example, just gauging the size of the sector isn’t easy. A report released this month said, “Consumers spend somewhere between $100 billion to $200 billion annually on tours and activities according to some estimates.” When estimates vary by 100% (could be $100billion, or could be $200 billion), it’s hard to view them as little more than educated guesses. However, even these rough figures make it clear the sector is huge.

There is a great deal of attention paid in travel industry articles to the importance of an effective online presence. Given the growing influence of technology on every aspect of travel – whether travel agency, tour operator, or Travel Management Company – that focus isn’t really surprising.  However, it’s important for every online travel business to realize the power of the Internet cuts both ways.

Lost – or abandoned travel bookings refer to online travel customers who visit a website, put travel products into a shopping cart then leave the site without confirming and completing the transaction. There’s an abundance of articles written on the issue of abandonment in the travel industry, perhaps because the high incident rate makes the potential for large revenue gains from even slight improvements very attractive.  Can a travel agency, tour operator or other travel business take measures to address this issue and improve outcomes? Of course they can. But they should consider whether the best, first step is breathing life back into lost travel bookings - before trying to prevent them in the first place.