Travolution research editor Professor Dimitrios Buhalis recently chaired the Enter09 conference in Amsterdam.
After almost a week of seminars and workshops, research paper presentations and lectures, Buhalis has set out 24 discussion areas for anyone working in the travel industry.
1) Context is king - due to the relevance to consumer needs - this includes location, party, purpose of visit, timing, etc.
2) Content needs to be reorganised and presented to serve context.
3) Gadgets that can be plugged into iGoogle, Facebook, Vista and other platforms which can extend the reach of a web site.
4) We are the last generations to be 'lost' - due to the proliferation of geo-services - maps will be the starting points for search in the future to increase relevance.
5) StreetView from Google and Microsoft Virtual Earth make every corner of the earth accessible from the convenience of your computer - giving incredible realistic images and information.
6) Online videos and YouTube channels in particular can add to the tourism experience.
7) New smart phones are effectively computers with the advantage of knowing their location - there is a huge range of Context (including Location) Based Services that will emerge in the very near future.
8) Intuitive interface is around the corner, with touch screens on all devices (from Surface, Laptops, and iPhones and TouchPhones) revolutionising Human Computer Interface.
9) Two conflicting trends - from "Personalisation/CRM/need everything about the customer" - to "leave me alone/give me what I want/you don't own me".
10) Also let ME personalise the product to MY context and situation and let ME have fun - rather than try to understand and provide a product for all occasions.
11) Web 2.0 equals end of privacy as everybody is a journalist and can report on anything and anybody - in other words, disconnect if you want to keep your privacy.
12) Twitter is becoming the next big thing and many predict that will have a similar success to SMS due to its simplicity, interactivity, speed and relevance.
13) Impossible to concentrate with so many channels of interactivity interrupting everything - relevance is vital, once again.
14) Too many channels to manage for both consumers and suppliers - we need 'virtual butlers'.
15) Is technology the servant to consumer needs or are we becoming servants to technology?
16) There are a number of legal cases involving Destination Management Organisations, including VisitBritain.
17) Most Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) are totally inadequate to meet the challenges of the future.
18) Only agile destinations as presented by bahamas.com minister of tourism and aviation for the Bahamas, Vincent VanderPool-Wallace, will use innovation and e-tourism for destination strategic advantage.
19) We need to reengineer Destination Management Organisations and Tourism Boards at all levels and booking services for destinations - although essential - have never worked!
20) VisitBritain takes 202 bookings per month!!! What is the return on investment on that? VisitScotland nationalised their booking service company whilst Tiscover was fully privatised and purchased by HRS.com.
21) Industry starts to realise role of accessible tourism and the importance of providing the right information to people with special needs.
22) KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid - still is the main principle that should apply to usability.
23) Increasingly virtual worlds and immersive technology (developed in gaming and military applications) will be critical in marketing and cultural heritage representations.
24) We need to think differently and strategically as well as use the digital tools to raise our game to the global challenges.
Feel free to disagree or add to the list in the comments section below.
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University
* Follow Buhalis on Twitter
* Read his personal blog
* Download the presentations from Enter09
Hi Kevin.
You hit a number of great points.
I think the one that jumps out at me is that there are many channels on the Web.
Content needs to be targeted, tweaked and designed to take advantage of whatever medium is being used to distribute the content.
Matching that thought with handheld devices and need for localized always current information, operators and regional travel destinations need to think:
"What information would enhance this travelers experience at this place in space and time?"
Shaping content to answer this question provides the context that is necessary to get value out of your marketing content stream.
Great List Kev,
I'm curious about the legal cases you are referring to under 16
In other words Industry should learn to listen rather than shouting and being used to be listened to....
Kevin,
A copy of my comment in the similar post at TravelRant, who talk about Tourism Board
Bonjour Darren,
It’s a WorldWide problem
I am convice only 30 % of DMO’s or Tourism Board are in the game.
To much politic stuff, no team inside who understand internet lanscape, administrativ process, to heavy to decide quickly, bad website, no interaction with customer online, no understading of Internet business model, only one way communication, territorial maketing who is often out of the consumers needs, etc and etc
We can write a book about that ;-)
Suggest : focus only on the 30 % because witht he others you lose your time and money to deal with……………….
Best
Claude
PS : in France, one on the first tourism country, it's a hard reality
Being a creator of content (ie a writer!) the first couple on this list are particularly interesting for me. There's a technical element here - serving up the right bit of content to the right person when they want to read it... but also an analytical element too - which should come first.
The better travel websites understand their users by doing search term research and user experience research, the more appropriate their content will be for their users in the first place...
The days of just chucking a bunch of brochure copy alongside a booking engine ought to be long gone. (If only).
There's a more in-depth post about my thinking about developing really appropriate connected content on the icrossing company blog:
http://connect.icrossing.co.uk/connectedness-means-content_1440
I tend to agree with the opinions expressed about DMOs and have been saying this for quite some time now - without having given up hope totally, as there are indeed examples like the Bahamas - which I wrote about in my blog three years ago.
The issues these organizations face are complex, especially when old administrative structures at different levels are involved like in the case of the UK, France or other "old" tourism countries in Europe. It is one thing for the Bahamas to lead with a commerce oriented website, powered by a Travelocity booking engine, and an entirely other for let's say the UK or France with a much larger and more diverse accommodation sector very hard to integrate under one roof. No wonder their numbers are dismally low.
Of more concern than the booking issue is the lack of innovation by most DMOs in the area of travel planning to which the web is fast shifting, in the form of The Perfect Storm, as PhoCusWright has aptly termed it. Unlike in web 1.0 which was - and actually in volume still is - about the booking of air seats, web 2.0 is about what happens prior to that. Here the focus is on the destinations.
If they are not able to offer innovative tools on their sites by developing them in-house, or by strategic partnerships with the private sector innovators, then indeed in five to maximum ten years they might be history!
Definitely plenty of food for thought in the above!
As part of the team putting together the specs for the new VisitBritain website, I can tell you that we're planning to address several of the key issues that you've raised, in particular increasing relevance via the contextual presentation of information, and the need to provide travel planning facilities as an integral part of the destination selection process.
Our starting point has been to recognise the model of the "The Perfect Storm" and examine where & how we can add value within it.
I'm on Twitter as @John_SB if you'd like to discuss any of this further or if you've got any feedback or ideas on how the VisitBritain website should evolve in its next incarnation.
You are singin' the words I've been saying to my company for a few years now. And with so many channels to manage, it's about time for the emergence of e-commerce managers to work alongside hotel company revenue managers (especially for small companies who barely have a revenue manager).
I'm fortunate enough to live in an area where DMOs try to stay as current and technologically relevant as possible, if only the hotels could keep up with the city!