Online Travel

Online Travel Travel Planning, Digital in Travel, Essential Principles for Travel Websites Kamil Mehmet ÖZKAN www.kamilmehmetozkan.com @kamilozkanWednesday, December 28, 11

Travel Planning Top ten factors - What mostly prompted your decision to choose this destination? (Provisional 2011 data - 15,000+ international tourists from 30+ markets and visiting a destination for the ﬁrst time): 1. Friends or relatives recommendation: 38% 2. World renowned must-see destination: 32% 3. Information on the web: 22% 4. Cheap deal / special offer: 15% 5. Geographically close destination: 14% 6. Travel agency recommendation: 8% 7. Article in a magazine / newspaper: 6% 8. Movie realized in the country: 5% 9. Appealing advertising on it: 5% 10. Heard about in the TV news: 2%Wednesday, December 28, 11

Travel Planning 60% of travel industry marketing A massive gurus still rank search as the number 1 way to drive trafﬁc, according to stats from EyeForTravels "Travel Distribution & Marketing Barometer" report. Globally, organic search is the most inﬂuential marketing channel for online travel marketing followed by paid search, then good old email marketing, social media, meta search and lastly mobile marketingWednesday, December 28, 11

Travel Planning Nate Bucholz of Google told that 69% of businesses (compared to 63% of consumers) plan travel by searching the internet, visiting an average of 22 sites before deciding on a destination. Meanwhile, mobile travel bookings accounted for 15% of all reservations in 2010, up 69% from 2009, when around nine percent used the medium, according to Corporate & Incentive Travel. (Travelmole, February 2011)Wednesday, December 28, 11

Destination Marketing Organizations Many recent studies told us destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are facing intriguing challenges to provide quality information online in an era of information overload. Insufﬁcient knowledge of tourists online information preferences and search behaviour has hindered them from effective information management. A local or regional DMO website should help to promote not only the destination as a whole, but also hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, theatre, sports, activities in the destination itself. Following the latest developments on the ﬁeld, its hard to ignore the fact that DMOs need to go where the consumer is, instead of convincing the consumer to come to them. (About Tourism)Wednesday, December 28, 11

5 Basic Principles for Travel Websites 1. Look Good (=Nice & Simple) A visually appealing website is a site that is easy to read, easy to navigate, follow some basic design standards, and think about the usability and accessibility of the design.Wednesday, December 28, 11

5 Basic Principles for Travel Websites 2. Content (was) is (and will be) the King!: The content on your site is your vehicle to present your message and portray your brand. Qualitative & diverse information, trip planning tools, attractive visual material including video & photo sharing applications, multilingual content, B2B & Press sections and efﬁcient SEO saturation/meta-tags are all "must" elements of a successful DMO website.Wednesday, December 28, 11

5 Basic Principles for Travel Websites 3. Engage Your Audience! Identify your visitors’ social activities & build an on-line community to spread the word about your destination’s competitive advantage & USPs. - 57% of DMO website users read travel written reviews - 32% of DMO site users post ratings and reviews - 43% of users visit travel-related forumsWednesday, December 28, 11

5 Basic Principles for Travel Websites 4. Dont Forget SEO: In search engine marketing, travel business is a well known category which is vast with a big competition in online marketing. From bookings of ﬂights to hotel reservations, it is estimated that 70% of all ﬂights are booked online through websites.Wednesday, December 28, 11

5 Basic Principles for Travel Websites 5. Convert!: Conversion strategies are the plans needed to convert a looker into a buyer! Use of Social Media and your SEO strategy should all be part of your overall on-line marketing strategy. Without one, the typical conversion rate for a website is about 2% of visitors. This is not only about selling hotels, tickets to cultural events, tourist attractions, museums, sport activities etc but to sell your own products as well (city pass, walking tours, souvenirs etc).Wednesday, December 28, 11

Travel Planning Type of website used by online business and leisure travellers worldwide to research their last trip, 2010: Travelport report "The Well Connected Traveller - the changing face of todays travel consumers" LEISURE BUSINESS TREVELLERS TRAVELLERS Search engine %59 %66 Airline website %40 %40 Hotel website %36 %36 Websites of the destination %32 %40 visitingwebsites Travel %29 %31 Online travel agency %26 %25 Website of a high street travel agent %16 %15 Car rental website %14 %11 Social networking website %11 %10Wednesday, December 28, 11

Digital in Travel A survey conducted by travel social network WAYN for the World Travel & Tourism Council shows an interesting picture of use of digital in travel. The study, carried out in conjunction with Frommers Budget Travel magazine, asked nearly 3,580 people (780 US, 2800 non-US) a range of questions about how they plan, book and use technology with travel. Which of the following do you use most frequently when travelling? - Mobile maps: 56% (US) and 63% (non-US) - Social networks: 38% (US) and 64% (non-US) - Virtual/3D tourism: 30% (US) and 27% (non-US) - Blogs: 32% (US) and 22% (non-US) - Podcasts: 9% (US) and 7% (non-US) - Virtual worlds: 0% (US) and 10% (non-US) - RSS feeds: 7% (US) and 11% (non-US)Wednesday, December 28, 11

Digital in Travel When planning a trip, how many websites do you usually visit? - 1: 1% (US) and 5% (non-US) - 2-5: 34% (US) and 48% (non-US) - 6-10: 35% (US) and 27% (non-US) - 11-15: 10% (US) and 7% (non-US) - 16-20: 4% (US) and 3% (non-US) - 20+: 16% (US) and 10% (non-US) Which of these services would you try with a trusted provider? - Booking via mobile: 53% (US) and 76% (non-US) - Paying for in-ﬂight web: 37% (US) and 43% (non-US) - Barcode check-in: 66% (US) and 43% (non-US)Wednesday, December 28, 11

Digital in Travel Which of the following do you use when travelling overseas? - Onboard wiﬁ: 11% (US) and 31% (non-US) - Twitter: 3% (US) and 17% (non-US) - Facebook: 21% (US) and 63% (non-US) - Phone booking: 3% (US) and 16% (non-US) - Metasearch engines: 41% (US) and 8% (non-US) - Digital guides: 12% (US) and 24% (non-US) - Location GPS apps: 12% (US) and 25% (non-US) - Read/update blogs: 28% (US) and 22% (non-US) One of the interesting elements of the survey is that the US respondents came from the Budget Travel audience, whereas the non-US were all WAYN members, perhaps signifying the differences in adoption on the social-type questions. (tnooz.com, August 2010)Wednesday, December 28, 11

Sources • www.tnooz.com • aboutourism.wordpress.com • www.travelport.com • www.newmediatrendwatch.com • www.eyefortravel.comWednesday, December 28, 11

Thanks. Kamil Mehmet ÖZKAN www.kamilmehmetozkan.com @kamilozkanWednesday, December 28, 11

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Online Travel

by Kamil ÖZKAN on Dec 28, 2011

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Online Travel — Presentation Transcript