PhoCusWright Identifies Seven Emerging Themes for Travel Industry

Be on the lookout for these themes derived from the most creative and innovative minds in the business. The Travel Innovation Summit at The PhoCusWright Conference will showcase the travel industry’s hottest, most innovative Web and mobile-based applications. In assembling this first-ever event featuring innovators from around the world, seven key themes emerge. Following is a preview of the next big wave of ideas that will shape the travel marketplace over the next 12 to 18 months. The growth of pure Travel 2.0 businesses is slowing-dramatically. The Travel Innovation Summit demonstrators,... Read more »

TravelMuse Concept Not New But Well Executed

I am a big fan of Uptake.com (even when it was Kango.com).  I especially like the idea of consolidating information from many sources and bringing it together into one unified interface.  About two months ago, I saw a little button at the bottom of their detail pages.  I ignored it at first, but after seeing it again a couple days later I clicked it just to see what it was.  It was a button for Travelmuse.com.  I dutifully signed up for an account and completed the bookmarking process.  The experience was not altogether dissimilar from Travelbookmarking.com, which I reveiwed some time ago,... Read more »

New Open Review Website [TripReviews.com] in Private Beta

Occasionally I get the opportunity to participate in some very cool private betas.  In this case, a friend and colleague of mine, Sean Rollinson from Escapes.ca has recently launched a new project called TripReviews.com.  Besides being a lucky domain name score, the site itself has some strong potential in the travel review space. Some of the key differences between TripReviews.com and other review websites is the focus on openness, transparency, and supplier/operator participation.  TripReviews.com doesn’t just support hotels but also destinations, attractions, and cruises.  The rating... Read more »

71% of NextGen Travelers Search On-line

PhoCusWright, in collaboration with Ypartnership, has just released a new survey titled “The NextGen Traveler” which examines the habits and perculiarities of the high tech traveler.  It is an interesting survey because it shows a corelation between the evolution of online travel technology and the effects that this technology has had on the general consumer.  Although it can be argued that this group most likely represents the early adopter component of the population, it is still valid to argue that if the technology has affected this group, it will most likely affect a larger... Read more »

Travel Agents Finding Relevance Amidst Web 2.0

I read an article today on Boston.com which I found really interesting.  Firstly, it confirmed something that I have been arguing for a long time, that travel agents can find relevance in the new age of on-line travel and secondly, despite what critics say, travel agents are not going to go away.  The article titled “With help from the Web, travel agents regain relevance” points out that there are new web 2.0 sites that are being developed that are helping travelers connect with specialized travel agents.  The reason being that many travelers (23% according to Forrester Research)... Read more »

Add-on for the FACVB Presentation - Using Flickr.com for Photo Management

I mentioned in my session at the Florida Association of CVB’s Annual Marketing Summit, that an effective way to manage your photos is to upload them to Flickr.com.  As an example, I have created a new account for myself and uploaded a number of photos that were previously only available in my Facebook profile.  You can access the photostream here.  Note that all the photos have a clearly described title, a good description, and appropriate tags.  Given this is a new account it may take a while for Google to pick up the updates, however, given that I have included the link in this post... Read more »

Presentation for Florida Association of CVBs Annual Marketing Conference

Thank you to the Florida Association of CVBs for inviting me down to Gainesville Florida to speak at the FACVBs Annual Marketing Conference. The Conference was a big success and many of the people who were in my afternoon session provided me with positive feedback on the presentation. I really enjoy doing these presentations because I think it helps to take some of the mystery and fear out of these relatively new and sometimes “scary” tools. For those who would like to print out or review the presentations, I have embedded the two presentations below. If you are unable to see them,... Read more »

PhoCusWright to Showcase Hottest Travel 2.0 & Mobile Innovations

The PhoCusWright Conference, for the first time in its history, will be featuring a special summit dedicated to spotlighting the hottest innovations is mobile and web travel technology. The inaugural Travel Innovation Summit will feature 24 handpicked companies from around the World who want to demo their innovations to some of the most influential leaders in the travel & tourism industry. In their own words: Early-stage, emerging and established companies are invited to apply based purely on their innovative accomplishments, regardless of organizational size, age, sector or location. PhoCusWright’s... Read more »

Responsible Tourism Awards 2008

I recently received a message from Alex Lyons at Responsible Tourism announcing that nominations are now being accepted for the 2008 Responsible Tourism Awards. It is pretty rare that direct messages like these actually make it through to the blog, but in this case, I really like the subject matter and I am passionate about the idea. In their own words: The idea behind the Awards is that all types of tourism – from niche to mainstream – can and should be operated in a way that respects and benefits destinations and local people. The Awards recognise individuals, companies and organisations... Read more »

Travel is doing a lot for sustainability

The main topic at this year’s Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Dubai was sustainability and what the travel industry is doing to promote it.  I was really quite surprised at the amount of discussion around how “we” collectively can make a difference and do things on a corporate level to reduce our impact on the environment and make travel more sustainable.  The cost of fuel was of particular interest especially with the large airlines that attended the summit.  What many seem to forget is that the travel industry actually only accounts for about 2% of the global carbon... Read more »

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