Mobile Travel Stats - Our friends at Destination Analysts sent the new State of the American Traveler Report (for July) our way with a note to review the recent stats on travel planning and mobile.  The full report is linked below, but we wanted to pull out some highlights:

Technologies Used to Plan Leisure Travel

• Listened to Friends, Family - 39.9%
• DMO Website - 31.2%
• Used a Mobile Device - 28.0%

One, we are always surprised that the DMO website ranks so highly.  Not because of a lack of content or quality, rather due to the perception that many of us in the DMO space have about our own site.

Two, actually three, look a 'Used a Mobile Device.'  According to the report, using a mobile device to plan travel is now more common than UGC, email, TV, magazines, direct mail, etc, etc.

When did you use your mobile device for travel information?

• During a trip (or trips) - 85.3%
• Before leaving home for a trip(s) - 58.6%

Which of the following did you specifically do using your mobile device?

• Find restaurant info - 62.1%
• Check weather - 55.8%
• Look at maps - 49.1%
• GPS-app for directions - 48.1%
• Find hotel info - 46.0%
• Find shopping info - 36.1%

Great report, thanks to the team at Destination Analysts for sharing.

http://www.destinationanalysts.com/ (.PDF)

Flipboard! - Well, the official hype of the week was declared early Wednesday morning.  Behold, the Flipboard!  Truthfully, we like the idea and the execution.  As much as we talk about the death of the printed piece, the functionality of newspapers and magazines is hardwired into our information consumption process.  And the Flipboard takes that format, pulls in the shortened URLs and status updates, and presents a usable and lovely interface for the user.

How this will impact the travel industry...that is to be determined.  Along with the long-term success of the application.  However, the Flipboard is, like Facebook and Twitter, user-centric, so don't expect a new direct marketing channel to your social audience...unless they want you to be in their Flipboard.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2vpvEDS00o

http://www.tnooz.com/

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