Travel & Tourism Technology Trends

I’m getting set to head south for a week of desert sun and travel technology learning at the annual PhoCusWright Conference.  This year’s theme is “Chaos Calls” and, if similar to previous years, will have great coverage of the big OTAs,  travel distribution, hotels, airlines, car rentals, and the emerging vacation rental space.  I predict, although it’s really not much of stretch, that there will be very little focus on small business or the tour and activity segment.

There is one ray of hope in my ongoing quest to shed light on the other 80% of the travel and tourism industry and that is the travel innovation summit.  In years passed, we’ve seen small companies come up with great ideas built for small businesses, such as vacation rental software, independent hotel property management, adventure travel portals, and tour & activity booking systems to name a few.   There is also the B2C innovations that provide alternative marketing opportunities for small business like TourAbout’s social marketplace.

So, will this year’s 30+ innovators provide services or products that benefit small travel & tourism business?  At first glance, I think I may be disappointed this year but, since I won’t know until I watch the presentations, I don’t know for sure.  As with all things travel tech, I will endeavor to find whatever nuggets I can.

Keep your eyes peeled and be sure to follow my tweets with the official PhoCusWright hashtag #phocuswright.