travel tech insights

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:

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.

Is anyone in the industry paying attention to the topic of travel agency cost control? It doesn’t seem like it. There are articles on travel trends, mobile apps, emerging destinations and changing markets – but not much on the subject of how to improve travel agency profitability. So perhaps this is the right time to share thoughts and hopefully start some conversations on effective ways to control costs.

If asked to name industries most affected by the Internet since the 1990’s, most people would think of online retailers like Amazon – draining sales away from small and large store-based retailers; or perhaps the music industry – careening from vinyl to CD’s, CD’s to mp3s and ultimately to Spotify.  Both are good answers. Another answer might be storefront travel agencies; certainly the widespread acceptance of online travel agencies (OTA) transformed the agency business model.  However, the ultimate fate of the traditional agency remains an open question. Ironically, technology – which crippled the travel agency twenty years ago – may be the very thing that saves them in the 21^st century.