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Tourism and travel distribution

in a changed world

Aileen O’Toole, Managing Director, AMAS

Good Food Ireland conference

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Presentation outline

• Present ITIC research carried out jointly by:

• CHL Consulting• AMAS

• Specifically consider:

• Changing distribution patterns• Role of internet in tourism distribution• Perspectives of Irish and overseas tourism industry

• Provide “takeaways” on:

• Building your distribution channels• Reputation management• Online marketing

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About AMAS

Internet consultancy

Assist clients to:

• Plan • Evaluate• Manage • Market their online channels

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Background

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The digital landscape

Social networks

Content sharing

Syndication

Website(s)

Email newsletters

Social bookmarks

BlogsUser-generated content

Search engine profile

Mobile

Extranet

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ITIC research objectives

• Establish how tourism and travel distribution is evolving

• Identify future trends

• Assess impacts on the Irish tourism industry

• Make recommendations

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Research methodology

• Online surveys…• Irish tourism industry: 617 responses • Irish tour operators :12 responses • International trade survey: – 75

responses

• Complemented by…• In-depth interviews with industry experts • Desk research exploring international

trends• ITIC workshop

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High response rate across all sectors

Total responses: 617

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Findings

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Tourism and travel distribution channels

SUPPLIERSCarriers (Air / Sea / Rail etc)

Lodging (Hotels / B&Bs / Self-catering etc)Car Rental

Other (Visitor Attractions, Events, Restaurants etc)

ONLINE−Email−Internet booking engine−Brand website−Mobile−Social media

OFFLINE−Walk-in−Phone

ONLINE−Extranet−Pegasus ODD

OFFLINE−Voice (call centres)−GDSs (Amadeus/Galileo/ Sabre/Worldspan

ONLINE−Tour operators−OTAs (Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.)

OFFLINE−Tour operators−Retail travel agencies

OFFLINEIncoming Tour

Operators

END USERSConsumer Tourist Markets

CorporateOther Travellers

INDIRECT

DIRECT

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Planning an Irish holiday

• Steady increase in use of internet at research stage in four principal markets

• In 2008, 7 in 10 visitors used the internet at planning stage compared to just 4 in 10 in 2008

Selected VAS Answers for Key Markets (2008)

Failte Ireland’s VAS 2002 - 2008

Most important information sources in planning the holiday in Ireland

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Purchasing an Irish holiday

• Steady increase also in online purchasing across all markets

• In 2008, 8 in 10 holidaymakers visiting Ireland booked at least some of their trip online

• This was most marked among UK visitors.

Use of internet in purchasing any part of trip to Ireland

Failte Ireland’s SoT surveyBase: Varies from yr to yr but 2,700+

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Purchasing Ireland online

Of those buying online…

• Airline / sea tickets represent the highest proportion of these bookings. Online market appears to be at saturation point

• Over 7 in 10 UK and US visitors and 6 in 10 French & German visitors book accommodation online

• Online car hire purchases are more likely to be made by Americans

Failte Ireland’s SoT surveyBase: All those who made an internet purchase

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Online booking capability

• 7 in 10 respondents’ websites have an online reservation capability.

• This rises to 90% for IHF member

• Self-catering sector less likely to have online booking

• Over half of B&Bs and hotels state that at least 40% of their bookings were delivered online in 2009

Websites with online reservation capabilities

Total(524)

IHF(138)

B&B(305)

ISCF(56)

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Access to product: how Ireland compares(perspective of 75 in international distributors)

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Internet: perceptions

• Tourism businesses positively disposed to internet

• 88% said that use of the internet had increased sales

• 71% said it had led to improved yields

421 responses

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Trends

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Travellers’ online journey

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Word of mouth goes viral

Ireland in one month on TripAdvisor

• 2,880,747 unique visits

• 5,241,335 page views

• 130,162 reviews

• 50,517 forum topics

• 3,482 lodgings

• 1,633 attractions

• 2,007 restaurants

I trust content of.... Personal

%

Business

%

Trip reviews from people like me 59 65

Trip reviews from experts 57 63

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Mobile

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The takeaways

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Actions: providers• Own websites important

channel for transactions and promotion

 • Traditional channels, such as

incoming tour operators or GDSs, cannot be ignored

• Need to continuously review range of online channels used

• Continuously investment in skills, technology, marketing required

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Actions: reputation management

• Monitor presence on sites such as TripAdvisor

• Actively encourage satisfied customers to post comments to these sites, and help them to do so

• Respond appropriately to complaints and potentially damaging comments

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Actions: online marketing • Be familiar with the range of

platforms, tools and techniques available

• Ensure online marketing is a core part of marketing strategy

• Ensure all marketing activity is integrated into a coherent plan

• Evaluate performance using measurement tools and analysis (e.g. Google Analytics)

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Read the full report

Available for download on ITIC website

www.itic.ie/research

Use the resources:

Appendix 2: glossary of termsAppendix 3: reputation managementAppendix 4: marketing and site management

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More reading...

www.amas.ie/blog

http://twitter.com/AMASinternet

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Internet affects offline purchasing

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Thank you