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 »

Travel Agents Adding Value with Zicasso.com

In a recent post titled “Travel Agents Finding Relevance Amidst Web 2.0” I mentioned a site called Zicasso.com.  In the post I misspelled the domain and within a day I received a message from the CEO Brian Tan informing me of the error.  I corrected the mistake and thanked him for his attention to detail. Zicasso has garnered some impressive media coverage over the last few months, so  I contacted Brian and asked him about Zicasso and why he feels his site has become so popular.  I wasn’t really interested in the technology but rather the philosophy behind the site, after... Read more »

Combining Planning & Booking a Nice Combo with Travelmob.com

Before I talk about the primary subject of this post, Travel Mob, let me first point out that Adam Smith, the CEO of Travel Mob contacted me about the site two weeks ago.  The important part here is that he did it in a way that caught my attention and, from what I can tell, he actually reads the T4 blog, so when he sent me a message he knew that his site would have relevance to my readers.  That said, I wish all the pitches I received were as well formed as Adam’s.  In case you are a PR company reading this post, please refer to my earlier post entitled “Engaging Bloggers - PR dos... 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 »

Forecast for November - A Perfect Storm

The theme for this PhoCusWright 2008 is “The Perfect Storm: Search, Shop, Buy.”  The potential for discussion around this theme is intriguing because I think there is a lot of opportunity to show how online travel is blurring the entire process and how some opportunities are clearly being lost because of a lack of consolidation between these distinct travel purchase steps. In my opinion there are actually four distinct steps in the travel planning process: Dream - This is a visionary step where the traveler dreams about where they might want to go based on their unique travel style and lifestyle... 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 »