Top 10 Things - And More - That Will Drive Travel Distribution in 2010

Yes there was a winter on the hotel sector as well in the previous year. Now there is spring at the moment. Now hotel industry are doing good business. If you are looking to have a travel to abroad then you get precise information about how to arrange a successful travel

hmmm i will be observing this one...

More Tripit look-a-likes

Improved hotel - wholesalers connectivity.

Add your comments - the best suggestion for 10th trend will be the topic of an upcoming PhoCusWright Connect post. You'll be famous!

MAPMANIA - 3 of the Top-5 US-Travelsites are map-based. Nokia-Maps & Openstreet-Map in Europe the next big deals in giving orientation where to go to potential guests. An excellent usage of maps on travelsites will be the recipie for success.

On that theme will enhanced reality based mobile apps such as Wikitude become more popular as a means of locating, maybe evening linking to booking, local events/facilities?

New players entering in the travel distribution

The typical trio flight | hotel | car rental will become only a part of an entire dynamic packaging system to include new players in the travel distribution.

Expedia.com started this trend by creating a new section including some of the biggest and most famous UNESCO World Heritage sites. In addition, the user can book local tours directly from the Expedia site.

With agreement to create a UNESCO World heritage Sites layer in Google Earth, and thanks to the increasing role in travel distribution through mobile devices, booking cultural tourism attractions will become part of the online dynamic packaging.

Museums, monuments, sites, etc. will enter in the travel distribution thanks to apps such as The National Mall, Rick Steve’s Guide to the Orsay Museum.

Mobile and personalized distribution, as well as the increasing role of social networks in the travel information and planning stage, will open the door to many auxiliary services and vendors to enter in the travel distribution game, through packaged services or add-ons dynamic packaging systems.

Rossitza, I could not agree more - perhaps instead of using the term "attractions" in my prediction, I should have used "travel demand generators." "Auxiliary services" is also a misnomer for these in-destination sites, events and experiences as it implies secondary importance. These features often provide the catalyst inspiring the travel experience.

While a small subset of people may travel with the sole purpose of staying at a particular hotel or flying a specific aircraft, everyone else is seeking travel experiences that extend well beyond the traditional air / hotel / car paradigm.

Supported by assistive technology & standards to combat extensive market fragmentation, these travel demand generators can begin to get recognized for the critical role they play in creating travel demand.

Increased use of packaging to benefit suppliers, distributors and consumers - particularly by hotels & attractions.

- Suppliers continue to seek efficient methods to either a) provide additional features to enhance consumer value and/or b) distribute distressed inventory while capitalizing on price opacity to protect retail pricing structures.

- Distributors desire methods to increase transactions and grow margins. Packages offer both a) opportunities to grow sales volume by transitioning consumers from multiple independent component transactions to integrated package purchases and/or b) Increase margins that are fundamentally constrained by supplier best fare / rate parity clauses when selling individual travel components or avoid the risk of potential hotel room tax liabilities on margins derived from stand-alone merchant model hotel sales.

- Consumers, after gaining greater experience in online travel planning and pressed for disposable income by the economic downturn, demand more streamlined booking processes and/or improved value to reap higher returns on their time and financial investment in leisure travel.

Various forms of packaging accomplish these objectives and enhance value creation for travel transactions. Expedia'e recent press release "American Travelers Could Have Saved More Than $10 Billion in 2009 - But Didn't" (http://j.mp/aaq2LS) underscores the untapped potential of leisure travel packaging to create consumer value while supporting distributor margins and helping suppliers sell underutilized inventory.

Airport lounges. Increase corporate productivity while traveling.

More and more corporations are realizing the value or airport lounges to keep productivity moving forward. These lounges usually offer Internet access, a safe and relaxed environment to work with a laptop or to carry a phone conversation. Idle time at airports can easily add up to hundreds of hours a year. It is a silent productivity drain that companies realize can impact the bottom line. There are ways to turn it around while keeping executives happy. The challenge is to find a plan that allows flexibility as well as fair price to allow executives to use airport lounges regardless of airline or ticket type. prioritypass.com

And airline lounges are also the place you are just about most likely to have your mobile phone conversation overheard by your competitors? Assuming, of course, they also buy the argument about the value of lounges. My experience of late has been that some of them are SO crowded it is more peaceful outside them - particularly in newer airports.