Research shows the smaller travel companies are not experimenting enough with mobile and video content. I am not quite sure how (having read the business news) but there seems to a real sense of bravado and hope in the travel industry right now. Maybe it’s just that the team in EyeforTravel is so stretched with all our Autumn shows in Amsterdam, London, Las Vegas Mumbai and Prague. They are booking far better than in 2010 and it suggests the industry is investing in new products, new trends and fighting to grow.
Along with all our Conferences we are surveying the industry right now to update our Travel Distribution and marketing Barometer report. This Spring we identified that it was only the biggest travel companies (those with a marketing budget of over US$10 million) that were really investing in the mobile and video content.
The trend showed that those investing in social media and mobile increases in line with larger marketing budgets. Yet it was not an entirely neat trend. 30% of the largest companies, don’t have a mobile website yet these larger companies also registered the highest growth from mobile web traffic.
It will be fascinating to see if this trend continues. With mobile browsing growing so fast, it will be a very important medium through which to engage customers. The question is - can the smaller travel players afford it?
By Tim Gunstone
By Tim Gunstone