Wednesday 5 December 2012

Is there too much emphasis on Mobile solely as a booking channel?

Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at BTO (www.buytourismonline.com) in Florence, Italy to present findings from EyeforTravel’s recent Travel Consumer Report.

The event brings together online travel professionals from across Italy to discuss how to drive forward travel sales across Italian travel and hospitality brands.

I presented a closing keynote presentation on Mobile in Travel.  The presentation was actually entitled ‘Mobile reservations’ however, EyeforTravel research has found that there is a lot more to mobile than just bookings.

46% of travel suppliers (B2C providers of travel eg. hotels, airlines, cruise etc) and 38% of travel intermediaries agreed that mobile has increased customer engagement.  

From a consumer point of view, when asked how they would like to engage with travel brands via mobile, information on local activities, deals as well as maps, and consulting user reviews were the most popular responses.

We found that consumers want to engage with travel brands not just before their trip but during their travel experience.  Indeed, 64% of Brits said they would like information on local activities and deals whilst at their destination.

 Using social media whilst travelling is popular and is fuelling the use of smartphones.  14% of Americans always share their travel experience via social media during their trip and 23% of Americans stated they do this frequently.

Mobile should of course still be focused on as a booking channel (41% of travel suppliers agreed with the statement that mobile had increased direct sales).   However, I feel that those brands who truly understand how mobile can enhance the travel experience from start to finish will be the winners in 2013 and beyond!

You can view my slides below (don't worry, the presentation is in English after the first slide!): -