The travel & tourism industry is all about connections. Connecting people, places, and cultures. Using new technologies, social media, and social networks can help to foster the connections that we share. I would like to share with you some of my experiences as an innovator in this new world of connectivity and build connections for all tourism related businesses both large and small.
The OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel), the travel industry’s leading distribution specification/standards development organization, announces new projects ranging from functional enhancements to tours and activities to adding electronic miscellaneous document (EMD) information to support merchandising of additional services by airlines. “As the travel industry comes out of the downturn, companies... Read More...
With the recent release of the Goby iPhone application and the Tnooz showcase of the Siri.com offering, there is a definite increase in interest in on location mobile services that can benefit travelers in destination. Anecdotal data indicates that about 80% of bookings made by travelers for in-destination services occur when in destination (rather than pre-trip). Presuming that this data is correct,... Read More...
This post is written by our guest author, Iam Cummings. Inspired by a love of travel and web technology, Ian Cumming (founder) and his team developed the concept of building a question and answer (Q&A) engine for travelers around the world to to share their travel knowledge. After packing his bags and and working on the website from internet cafes in South-East Asia, Ian launched Travellr.com... Read More...
UpTake, the world’s largest travel and hotel review metasearch site, is now featuring relevant excerpts from blogs from across the web alongside its 20 million travelers’ reviews and 775,000 places to stay. The new program, “Travel Gems from Bloggers”, is the first of its kind, leveraging pingback technology to find, match and deliver bloggers’ relevant travel stories directly to the... Read More...
Mytripguru was created in 2009 to help travelers find things to do based on their personal travel preferences and to recognize individual travelers for their unique knowledge and travel experiences. Mytripguru was started by Nicolas Johansson, a traveler who has seen some of the world but wants to see a lot more. SJ: So what inspired you to build MyTripGuru.com? NJ: I was inspired to build Mytripguru.com... Read More...
Prerequisites: You are starting to review tour operator software products in preparation for accepting on-line bookings but you’re not sure what to look for or what features are best suited for you. Estimated Time for Completion: 15 min reading time Details: Did you know that the term tour operator has several very different meanings? If you refer to yourself as a tour operator and, as a result,... Read More...
Prerequisites: You have your website set-up, you’ve organized your tours, and now you want to make it easy for your customers to book your tours and activities on-line. Estimated Time for Completion: 20 min reading time Details: Your customers are already doing their research and booking on-line. In fact, over 70% of travelers do their researching on-line and more than 50% do their bookings... Read More...
Prerequisites: You’ve decided to hire a web designer to help you build your tour or activity website, but you’re not sure how to separate the wheat from the chuff. Estimated Time for Completion: 10 min reading time Details: There are a lot of web designers, some good, many bad, and a bunch in between. So how do you, as a tour operator, know what to look for in a good web designer? Well,... Read More...
Prerequisites: You’re ready to start (re)designing your tour or activity website but you’re not sure whether to do it yourself or hire a web designer. This daily action should help you decide whether or not you can design the site yourself or start looking for a web designer to help you. Estimated Time for Completion: 15 min reading time Details: I realize I am dating myself when I say... Read More...
Prerequisites: So you’re now ready to start designing your website or you’re considering a re-design. Taking into account all things you’ve learned like security, trust, content management systems, video, and photos, what else is there to know? This primer will give you a good background in what to consider before you design or redesign your tour and activity website. Estimated... Read More...
Recent Comments