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!): -