working together

Welcome to TTI Europe’s leading travel technology initiatives and standards organisation

A word from the chairman

As is traditional with our first newsletter of the year, I would like to wish each and every one of you a very happy and prosperous 2016 and I hope that you all had a wonderful time with family and friends over the recent festive period despite the never-ending rain here in the UK! I would also like to take this opportunity to offer a very warm welcome to all of our new TTI members and trust

that you and your colleagues will make the most of your membership and the networking opportunities that our upcoming events will provide you all with this year! As we go into 2016, it is becoming alarmingly clear that global growth is once again under the spotlight, particularly on the back of a general slowdown in China

as well as some of the other BRIC countries, and the dramatic falls in recent days of the worlds’ stock markets given the ever decreasing price of oil.

(Continued on page 2)

The Ux Revolution - Spring Conference

Anna Chomse, Industry Head - Travel

Google

Russell Hall, Founder

Hailo

Henry Stuart, co-Founder

VISUALISE

Sam Crowther, Head of Creative

Bauer Radio

Kaan Aydogmus, Creative Director

Magnetic London

Fergus Boyd, Group Director, VP of

Digital & IT, Yotel

The quarterly TTI newsletter Issue 61 February 2016

TTI Shareholders:

by Peter Dennis, Chairman

full details & registration at www.tti.org/conference

Tuesday 15 March, Strand Palace Hotel, London

From pure voice to virtual reality, there

has never been such an extensive range

of user experiences (Ux) that can be

used by consumers to access the digital

world.

Voice services such as Apple’s Siri and

Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistants

are becoming increasingly intelligent.

Amazon is bringing a voice-based

personal assistant into the home with its

Amazon Echo. It's hands-free and

always on. It provides information,

answer questions, play music, read the

news, check sports scores or the

weather, and more—instantly. All you

have to do is ask.

At the other end of the sensory scale is

virtual reality with immersive technology

such as the Oculus Rift Gear VR and

other VR headsets providing a

completely immersive 360 degree sound

and vision experience. South Africa

Tourism is one of the first travel and

tourism organisations to have created a

VR experience promoting its destination.

Less ambitious but perhaps of more

practical use are the augmented reality

tourism applications that overlay

information on views being captured by

your mobile phone camera, providing

information on sights as you see them.

Then there are the increasing number of

mobile apps providing real-time travel

information on flights, train journeys &

public transport and the mapping apps

using real-time traffic information to

intelligently route your journey.

With many travel companies having

created mobile responsive websites, high

utility apps and providing context specific

content, the travel industry is certainly at

the leading edge of the Ux Revolution;

but are we doing enough? Attend TTI’s

Spring Conference and find out for

yourself how the travel industry is

embracing the Ux Revolution and where

it will be taking us.

Speakers include:

This however is not all bad news for our industry. For example, the airline industry is one of the primary benefactors when the price of oil drops to such levels. Also, the number of people travelling around the world continues to rise and we will all no doubt benefit from the ever increasing number of new travellers from emerging markets who I understand will literally dwarf the numbers seen so far (if the authorities are to be believed) in the decades to come. So I think we should all embrace the positive trends that are likely to affect our industry going forward and particularly as we go into this New Year.

In terms of what is happening in the world of technological innovation, I have been particularly interested over recent months by what is happening in the area of cognitive computing – i.e. the latest era of artificial intelligence and the unprecedented learning by computers from big data algorithms as they progress - for example IBM Watson.

This I truly believe is going to re-shape how we all search for things over the Internet and indeed interact with

computerised devices and the suppliers that utilise this technology in the very near future. Indeed Jeroen van Velzen - CEO of Roadmap spoke about the emerging era of “Screen-less” applications at our recent WTM Travel Innovation Summit in conjunction with TTI at last years’ World Travel Market, when he referenced the likes of “Amazon Echo”. So it is not a matter of “If” this type of intelligent technology gets used in our industry but “When”.

Looking ahead to TTI’s programme of events for this coming year, we once again have an exciting programme of events lined up for you. For many of us this will kick-off by attending the Travel Technology Europe show on the 24th and 25th of February at Olympia, where I will be moderating and speaking at a number of sessions in my capacity as TTI Chairman - I do hope to see you there. Our own TTI conference programme will commence with our full one-day spring conference which will be held on Tuesday the 15th of March, once again at the Strand Palace hotel in London entitled “The Ux Revolution”.

As always, our Project Management working group is working hard on this exciting full day programme and a top line of speakers is already confirmed. Details of this event will soon be posted to our website so make sure to mark your calendars now. Following on from that, our TTI Summer forum will be held on Tuesday 7th of June and this year we are looking to put on a focused session on the subject of “Yield & Revenue Management” as many members have stated this would be of interest to them. Details of the event and venue will follow in due course. Finally, our autumn conference and winter forum are currently being planned for Tuesday 20th September and once again on Monday 7th November at this years’ World Travel Market respectively with the WTM Travel Innovation Summit. In the meantime, whatever 2016 holds I do sincerely hope that it will be a very successful year for all of you and I do hope to meet each and every one of you at one of our TTI events later this year. Until then “Onwards and Upwards”

(Continued from page 1)

A word from the chairman (continued)

But as an Industry, are we moving forward ?

TTIcodes - Grows and Grows

Whilst we have seen a healthy increase in

the number of suppliers mapped, it is has

been by no means an easy task.

Part of this increase has been due to the

emergence of accommodation and

holiday comparison sites in the UK,

resulting not only in many UK Tour

Operators participating in TTIcodes but

also Travel Agencies who create their

own deals around the Tour Operator’s

offering e.g. A1 Travel.

This has brought with it its own

challenges as many of the operators,

including the major players, have their

own set of resorts which they sell and

market. In addition, unlike

accommodation providers they do not

have the same level of property names

and addresses in their reservation

system. This provides not just a challenge

in mapping Tour Operators’ products and

offerings to the same hotel but also

knowing which offers are for the same

resort or resort area.

Hence we end up with numerous queries

of the ilk that when we search for holidays

in Crete, for example, the hotel is

showing under Rethymon but in the Tour

Operator’s brochure it is under Elounda or

when we search for holidays in Elounda,

the hotel is not showing.

This issue has become more acute with

the increase in sites such as Interhome

where they are selling individual holiday

homes and apartments. Grouping them

together under a common resort is far

from easy. Only look at the property name

and one can understand the difficulty.

Often it is along the lines of “1 bedroom

deluxe apartment - XYZ123” where

XYZ123 is the booking code . Almost

mission impossible when it comes to the

poor consumer trying to compare

accommodation offers let alone trying to

match the offers

under a common

property within

TTIcodes.

Hence in 2016 there are 2 initiatives

under way at TTI, one how we handle the

explosion of individual property homes or

apartments and the other how we can be

better at addressing the resort / resort

areas issues so that offers can be more

readily aligned with the consumer’s

request.

If you are interested in attending a

workshop on these issues, please contact

me, peter.hazel@tticodes.org for further

information.

To find out how TTIcodes can help you,

visit our stand at the GIATA Café @ ITB

by Peter Hazel

TTIcodes Facts & Figures

Approximately 20 million mappings

January 2015 January 2016 % Increase

No of Properties 370,290 428,530 15.7%

No of Suppliers (OTAs, Bed banks, Wholesalers , Tour Operators )

168

245

45.8%

No of Mappings 11,023,900 19,960,966 81.1%

No with Geo Codes 341,755 386,603 13.1%

No with Addresses 226,767 269,618 18.9%

No with Star Ratings 263,433 NEW

Reminder of TTIcodes offering

Product Feature

Basic TTI-codes

TTIcodes Plus

Affiliate Product (NEW!!)

Access to Complete Property Portfo-lio

√ √

Selected Suppliers Properties only (5 or 10 Supplier Licence )

√

Name & Address Information √ √ √

Contact Information √ √ √

Web Site URL √ √ √

Brand Information √ √ √

Geo Codes Additional Fee

√ Additional Fee

Channel / Tour Op Cross-Ref infor-mation

√ √

Mapping of Own Database √

WTM Travel Innovation Summit

Conference Report

‘The only constant is change’ could easily

have been the theme for the WTM Travel

Innovation Summit in Association with TTI

held during World Travel Market in

November.

The panel was made up of representatives

of traditional travel companies trying new

things such as TUI, newer entrants such as

inspirock and Roadmap, technology player

Peakwork and Google just to mix things up

a little.

TUI Destination Service Innovation Lab

manager Chris Carmichael held the

audience’s attention with his views on

where the travel technology landscape is

going. He gave reference to ‘the New

Normal’, a book by Peter Hinssen on how

the pace of change is faster than ever and

accelerating.

Carmichael said: “We’re just getting to the

half-way point with technology. We are

about at the point where it goes crazy. It’s

just the beginning, it’s going to accelerate

and that’s something we need to be

prepared for.”

Carmichael wasn’t giving anything away in

terms of TUI Destination Services and its

own ongoing trials around virtual reality and

further ways to engage customers. He did

however stress how it made sense to have

the innovation team in resort to be able to

constantly and quickly test initiatives on

holidaymakers and learn from them.

It’s that kind of agile development that has

been adopted by many companies in the

industry because of the rate of development

and change in consumer behaviour.

Touching on some of the trends was Jeroen

van Velzen, chief executive of mobile

business travel service Roadmap. He

predicted we will all be talking to our

devices before long as we increasingly

crave a move away from screens.

He touched on Amazon Echo as a good

example and Skyscanner has already

developed a voice flight search product

using the device.

Van Velzen said the move away from

screens, which is very much in line with the

development and popularity of chat apps

such as WeChat and Whatsapp, could

easily take hold in the business travel

segment before filtering through to leisure.

None of this means travel companies

should forget mobile development as it will

continue to be the channel for these chat

apps and concierge-like services from a

travel point of view. He pointed to the likes

of Shazam and Buzzfeed - billion dollar

companies whose services require less than

a minute in screen time.

He advised: “The trend is we’re going to

spend less time on screens. We might be

addicted but we’re probably going to go to

rehab. Try to find ways to provide the best

experience with little screen time, especially

for travellers.”

Google’s head of business development,

travel, Massimo Morin also drew on current

trends in his presentation. He pointed to the

20% increase in mobile share of total online

sessions and an 18% decrease in time

spent.

Morin advised the room to take advantage

of these ‘moments’ when consumers are

seeking something specific and they want it

quickly. He referred to ‘moments’ as

instances that matter in travel such as: ”I

dream to go, I need to know and I want to

book.”

Google, he said, has been collecting all

these together in recent years to form its

Knowledge Graph which draws a correlation

between what

consumers are

searching for

and possible

related items.

Start-up

inspirock is

also trying to

address travel planning needs and found

that there were not many sites helping the

traveller do this.

Prakash Sikchi, the startup’s co-founder,

pointed to researching showing travellers

spend 21 days planning and visit 38

websites and asked whether something

could be done about it. The premise for

inspirock was to build something that works

for its founders, something they would to

use and all the while acknowledging that it’s

a hard problem to solve. He advised start-

ups to ask themselves what differentiates

them from everyone else out there.

“Do you have better search than Google,

better engagement than Facebook and

more reviews than TripAdvisor.”

Peakwork UK managing director Annika

Kessel also talked about the time it takes to

research and book a holiday online and the

frustrations for travellers. She urged

companies to think about whether their

technology was too inflexible to be able to

put ideas into practise.

“User experience is still not what it should

be and the reason is not that people can’t

design interfaces but technology caps the

possibilities of today.”

She added that if the industry could get

speed, accuracy and relevancy right they

could “win the customer.”

by Linda Fox

The conference was kindly sponsored by:

How destinations can reconnect with travellers through technology

Instead, travellers are turning to technology to

help them determine where to go and what to do

on their next vacation.

In today’s digital age, destinations should look

into incorporating technology to increase visitors

and engagement. Here are four key ways to

create meaningful interactions.

Social Media

An active social media account is the best way

to stay engaged with your digital audience. We

recommend starting with Twitter and Instagram,

but once you are well established in those

profiles, feel free to expand to other networks

like Facebook, Pinterest and Vimeo.

Visit England is taking the use of Twitter to a

new level with their #RealTimeTravel

Guide initiative. According to Visit England,

“This initiative, a Tourist Board first, will deliver

real-time visitor information via Twitter.

Participants including tourist information centres

are encouraged to engage with and support

local businesses to share their announcements,

offers, updates and reasons to visit specific

locations. This initiative focuses on developing

the in-destination experience; specifically the

provision of responsive, real-time visitor

information to ever increasing numbers of

mobile consumers”.

Tourism Boards and DMOs can also take

advantage of Twitter hashtags and reach new

users looking for vacation inspiration. When

incorporating the tags, use terms that are broad

enough to reach a bigger audience, yet still

refined to target the right audience. By tagging

the location or activity as a hashtag, you can

better target the attention of people who are

looking for a specific experience.

GoHawaii’s Twitter account is a great example

of a destination offering a variety of engaging

content: beautiful images, tips and fun facts.

#TravelTuesday is a popular weekly hashtag

where people share travel tips, deals and

destinations on social media. As the hashtag

suggests, people searching for ideas for their

next vacation first turn to networking sites.

Travellers can view and share photos and

videos, gather tips and see trending topics in

their

destination area.

After connecting to your page from their

searches, you will need to engage with your

followers. Vary the types of posts such as quick

tips, travel guides, itinerary examples and, of

course, inspirational images on Instagram. Also

for your page, we suggest giveaway

announcements on a regular basis (day of the

week, bi-weekly, etc.) to create incentive for

people to come to your website or promote your

brand. An easy way for people to spread the

word about your destination can be a contest

where participants need to tag a friend and

comment on the photo to be entered.

An App for That

Your desktop website may have great, in-depth

functionality, but a mobile app provides easy, on

-the-go resources. While travelling, it may be

hard to connect to Wi-Fi on a laptop or tablet,

even a smartphone. An app with offline

capabilities can best serve travellers abroad or

with limited service.

Some additional features that your app could

incorporate would be an uploadable, offline

itinerary from the desktop site, to keep travellers

on track from place to place. However,

inclement weather, delays in travel or other

setbacks can alter the schedule. While

connected to internet service, a map function or

suggested sites around their activities can be

especially helpful. Location-based alerts to let

them know that something interesting or helpful

(gas stations, restaurants, hotels, etc.) is around

them. Push notifications can also notify users of

events, real-time weather, traffic and more.

They are also a good way to draw your users

back into the app.

Partnering with Another Platform

By partnering with travel companies that have

other capabilities, your brand can join forces to

target a larger audience and amplify overall

exposure for the destination. For example,

Alaska’s tourism bureau can offer their social

media followers a chance to win a cruise to their

state. The destination can team up with an

online travel agency (OTA) that is willing to

sponsor and promote the giveaway. Neither of

you have overlapping products and both of your

customers benefit.

Another idea is to integrate other platforms on

the destination website which offer added value,

additional services or help make the travel

planning process to your destination less time

consuming and more enjoyable. New

technologies to help travellers in different ways

are emerging. One example is the trip planner

Inspirock. Users simply answer a few questions

about where they

are going and their

travel preferences

and, in seconds,

inspirock’s trip

planner platform

builds a detailed

personalised travel

itinerary which can

be customised,

downloaded, or shared with friends and family

by email or social media. Users get help in

planning their vacations and DMOs get to

promote their destination in a unique and deeply

engaging way and, eventually, they can collect

data and gain insights into what travellers really

want.

Big Data

In the study, Exploring the Traveler’s Path to

Purchase, by Expedia Media Solutions and

Millward Brown Digital it is reported consumers

search an average of 38 travel sites when

planning a vacation, leaving a trail of valuable

data for DMO’s to take advantage of. There are

many different ways destinations can leverage

big data.

Gather information about what potential clients

are seeking to narrow the scope of marketing

efforts moving forward. Using data you already

have, you can analyse consumer behaviour.

Social media analytics show what types of

status are being clicked on the most and

shared. Use this to find when people are most

visiting your pages to time social media pushes.

Your website should also gather similar

analytics to see the connection between other

pages.

Gain insight by looking at consumer

interactions, such as reviews, downloads in

relation to social media blasts and other IT

analytics. Through these analyses, find what

people are looking for when travelling to certain

high-traffic areas. For example, a surge of

people travelling to Burning Man might need to

rent a car or fly in, but don’t need a deal on a

hotel. Use your data to focus your discounts or

services, gather interest through tailored

marketing outreach and seal the deal with your

exclusive capabilities.

People haven’t given up on travel agents or

bureaus, they’re just looking to connect with

them in other ways. By incorporating

technology, you’re meeting the demands of

consumers on their terms. If your outreach is

consistent, across platforms, and meets

travellers’ demands, your brand will succeed.

The days where users rely solely on travel agents to help them plan vacations are becoming more and more obscure.

by Denise Oterro inspirock

Six chances to increase your business by technology

The number of players in the global travel

industry is constantly rising. Distribution

landscapes are becoming more complex

and losing transparency. Consolidation

is also taking place with new players

coming to the fore.

Whilst the development of the global

online travel sector is fast-paced, one

really limiting factor and serious

showstopper may be technology.

Years ago, customers went to the travel

agency, booked online with an OTA or

directly on the hotel’s or the airline’s

website. Currently, however, all the steps

from the product or service offered,

through the distribution channels and up

to consumer habits, are changing. The

art of staying at the forefront of your

business sector is to build a

technologically flexible basis to be able to

react appropriately to all of these future

developments . The biggest challenge is

how to handle the strongly increasing

web traffic.

Think Global

Business models change more and more.

There are continual ongoing disruption

and consolidation occurring and

numerous companies are starting to

bundle a broader range of services

across the entire travel value chain.

Global distribution is the key, as the

limiting business factor of national

frontiers disappears.

Only a flexible core technology can

compete in the upcoming development of

the travel industry: Scalability in terms of

data volume and traffic performance, in

terms of response speed due to

increasing mobile searches, is

fundamental for a worldwide competitive

business. Talking the same technological

language provides a start point for easier

operational data and business exchange.

From OTA to Meta Search

Online business, without a doubt, is a

core business driver. OTAs offer a broad

variety of comparable travel products.

Transparency in the product offer is

increasing. Currently, meta search is

starting to replace the “traditional” OTAs,

especially if they do not have their own

products. Differentiation in quality,

exclusive products , travel inventory and

service is the way to retain loyal

customers. Without differentiation, just

price comparison counts and the one

who spends most in marketing

wins. Flexible technology has to take the

opportunity presented by this megatrend,

by getting connected to these business

accelerators. Even marketing offers new

ways of winning customers, by clever

bidding and intelligent meta search

management. Just check for yourself how

you can get a slice of the action.

Socialise and Connect!

Social networks deal with constantly

immense user rates. Social

communication is not only the basis but is

also evolving in the most interesting and

business relevant way. Trends include

Instagram integrations and different kinds

of social search. Cross thinking about

new communication and ways of

distribution to your customer opens the

door for today’s and tomorrow’s

business. Technology-wise just socialise,

plug and play with your customers.

Solutions for programmatic advertising

with up-to-date product attributes support

instant communication with your

customer. It has never been as easy to

get instant feedback, react to the market

and increase your business with your

target group. Your technology must

enable you to be where your customers

are.

The Future is

Mobile

Mobile interfaces

and development

are the

fundamental

aspects for

success.

Communication, searching and shopping

is growing hugely on mobile devices. But

beware: Applications have to be fast,

responsive and powerful. Mobile

applications have to be adapted to the

device and the mobile needs of your

target group. Otherwise you could lose

your mobile customer.

Internet of Things

Monitor new developments,

internationally as well as in other sectors.

Understanding the industry today will be

relevant in travel distribution tomorrow.

New devices offer new approaches;

virtual reality glasses are just one

example. Future innovation has to be

planned now. Ideally, your technology is

open for trends to come. Future

orientated IT that goes beyond limits.

Individual Offer – Personalised

Frontends

Customers’ needs and demands for

travel experiences are getting more

individual. Search experience is an

important key factor for customer

retention. First of all, the travel product

has to create the idea of being unique

and individual. Secondly, the customer

expects it to be addressed individually, by

getting personalised offers. Individualised

frontends and Ux is key in order to keep

the customer with your offer. Therefore,

flexible databases that allow

differentiated search parameters or

product suggestions are fundamental.

A technical view on the megatrends in travel distribution

by Annika Kessel Peakwork AG

Social Media Corner

Virtual Reality

Forecast to generate $6.7bn in 2016 and as much as $70bn by 2020, now is arguably the time to get on board with VR and, by extension, 360-degree video technology. Naturally, the Oculus Rift owning Facebook has been quick on the uptake, announcing direct support for 360-degree video. And this is indicative of a trend that is set to continue into 2020 and beyond.

A number of industries are already exploring the marketing potential of VR platforms. Lexus, for instance, is offering prospective customers the chance to test drive the Lexus NX via Oculus Rift. Red Bull is using the technology at air shows to give fans the chance to experience what it’s actually like to sit in the cockpit.

But what about the travel and tourism industry? Well, uptake of VR in this field has been relatively slow, which highlights a tangible opportunity for travel and tourism marketers everywhere.

Why Virtual Reality is the Most Exciting Innovation in Tourism

Marketing

Marketing in the travel and tourism industry is all about selling an experience; a feeling, a landscape, the history of a particular destination. Traditionally, this has been accomplished through compelling imagery, storytelling and user accounts, among other approaches.

But there’s a problem here. While those mediums can and have been effective, they don’t literally give prospective holidaymakers those experiences; what

it means to actually be in a location remains in the imagination.

That’s why VR is definitively the most exciting innovation in travel and tourism marketing today. It enables people to live and experience, albeit for a short time, directly from their living rooms or your experiential hub. And boy is it exciting.

The Potential of VR in Travel and

Tourism Marketing

From our perspective, the potential of VR in travel and tourism marketing is vast. Just think, with VR you can take anyone on a guided tour of your city, island or country from anywhere in the world.

And that’s just the beginning, by including augmented reality (AR) features, holidaymakers absorbed in your virtual guide can control their experience, diving down for a closer look at specific activities they could indulge in while visiting your destination.

Is it Expensive?

Not as expensive as you might think. The cost of units capable of filming 360-degree footage is falling quickly (we have one in-office that was only around £500). Drones, another vital component of VR marketing, have already hit the big time with professional-level models currently available for around the £1000 mark.

Of course, if you’re shooting footage for

a marketing campaign you’ll want to work with the best technology available, but this does serve to dismantle the myth of VR and 360-degree footage being expensive.

Mass Market Marketing

The key point to remember here is that even without VR, 360-degree footage offers a compelling view of any destination (if professionally shot, of course). And while VR capabilities in the domestic environment remain niche, its popularity is certain to take off over the next year and beyond.

Of course, you still have the pioneers (Oculus) and high quality experiences (HTC) on offer at prices only mouth-watering for those really interested in tech. But there’s also the entry level Google Cardboard ($20), which even 6 months ago had passed the 1 million mark, and everything else in between.

VR is, right now, achievable and inexpensive for anyone with a smartphone. If you can find someone without a smartphone I’ll be deeply impressed.

It is this flexibility that agencies like ours will be looking to take advantage of over the next 12 months and beyond, as we attempt to grasp this opportunity to engage our audiences more closely than ever before (without them actually being there, of course). It is these tangible experiences, whether fully immersed in VR or scaled back to simple 360-degree video which will lead the way.

Virtual reality (VR) has been coming for a while and while we don’t want to be premature, it’s safe to say that 2016 will be the year that VR emerges from the shadows, opening itself up to mass marketing and mass uptake.

by Anthony Rawlins, Digital Visitor

TTI on Twitter

You can keep up with all the latest news from TTI by following us on Twitter.

Follow @TTI_org

TTI is associated with a number of trade organisations Here is a round-up of their news

News from our Associations

AITO celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2016. Established in 1976 as a result of some serious

travel company failures, the association has grown to become a well known and respected entity in the UK travel industry. It primarily represents some 122 tour operators who specialise in a particular

theme (sailing, trekking, archaeology) or destination/region. Most of the members' businesses have developed out of the owners knowledge and passion for a certain interest or area. As an addition, the Association also works with 116 independent travel agents who specialise in selling AITO tour operators holidays.

Some 60 affiliated tourist offices and business partners make up over 300 companies displaying the AITO brand. Special activities and promotions are planned for the year launching with a supplement in The Sunday Times on 3 January and a celebratory dinner in February.

We are looking forward to a busy 2016 at ETOA. We

have once again been selected as the European partner for the Travel Technology Europe Show, and look forward to participating there for a second time in February. Come and see us on our stand, or at our seminar there on Thursday 26th February at 11.30am. This year will our theme is "Online, offline - who cares?", where we will look at new technologies that are making the online and offline worlds virtually indistinguishable. For the third consecutive year, ETOA has been invited to speak on the eTravel stage at ITB in March 2016. This year’s panel theme is “Going Direct – The consumer

revolution in self-service travel". Our Showcase Digital workshop is now firmly established in the ETOA calendar. Last year we brought together over 150 buyers and providers of digital services, and I hope as many members as possible will join us in London on 27th September 2016. Last year saw the first publication of our digital Discussion Paper, based on the dialogues that took place during the event. We hope to make this an annual publication, and look forward to releasing another in 2016. It has long been acknowledged that legislation lags behind the present when it comes to digital trading. It is extremely difficult for businesses to ensure their

website complies with all the European legislation that affects it, and many new technologies and distribution methods do not have clear laws governing them. We are pleased to have been invited to sit on the Steering Group of the Digital Tourism Network. This European Commission body comprises members of the Commission’s Digital Tourism team, and other tourism lobbying groups. It will enable us to converse on digital issues with the right people at the Commission on a regular basis, and have input into proposed legislation changes in this area. We are pleased to work with TTI, and look forward to seeing some of you at our joint forum on 7th June.

IFITT is getting ready for ENTER2016 eTourism conference www.enter2016.org, which will take place on February 2-5, 2015 in Bilbao, Spain. This conference acts as a worldwide forum from academia, industry, government, and other organisations to actively exchange and share knowledge on the application of information and

communication technologies to travel and tourism. This will be the 23rd ENTER forum, and is entitled “eTourism: Empowering Places”. The Conference will feature several international keynotes, 77 research papers and other sessions devoted to Destination and Industry cases. You can access the (almost final) program at the following link: http://goo.gl/tE547F February 2nd, prior to the main conference, a great PhD workshop has been organised,

with ad-hoc keynotes and 18 papers to be presented. February 4th, as a parallel event, a Basque day will take place, featuring local and national best practices and experiences in the field of eTourism. It is still possible to register for the event: www.enter2016.org/register TTI members are eligible for an IFITT partnership discount. We hope to see many of you in Bilbao!

The next RMAPI Conference will be held on the 25th February in London. We are delighted to have invited Garrett van Ryzin – Head of Pricing Research at Uber – to present and complete a comprehensive and varied agenda for the Conference.

The full agenda for the 25th February is:-

Neil Corr – Ideas – Revenue

Management in the Events sector

Seb Wereszczynski - Monarch

Airlines - How to achieve industry leading ancillary revenue management.

Mark Bloomfield - Global Radio -

Taking RM on Tour – Embedding RM at Global

Garrett Van Ryzin - Head of Pricing

Research - Uber

Stuart Berry – Monetary Policy, Bank

Of England - The Prospects for the UK Economy

If you are not currently a member of RMAPI, but would like to join, or to just attend this event, please email us at admin@rmapi.org We offer discounted membership rates for members of TTI.

Project Management Committee Discussions

TTIcodes We discussed affiliates signing up for the full TTI Membership. Pete will discuss pricing this with Andreas from GIATA . We have some good leads for new members for TTI including Bookabed and Getabed. Mapping, process and resource issues need to be discussed with Andreas by Peter. Locale Codes The team sees this project as an opportunity. Therefore we are setting up a meeting in the ATCORE offices with selected tour operators and accommodation providers. This should determine the level of interest in the project. Peter Hazel is arranging the event and is sending out a one pager to members to ascertain interest. Conference & Forums We discussed a few subject options for the Spring conference but decided to go for the Ux revolution as the conference theme.

Paul suggested Revenue Management as a topic for the Summer Forum. This is now being investigated. Once again, it will be held jointly with ETOA. Autumn Conference Feedback The conference was a success. However we believe we need to enable better in-conference networking opportunities. We are looking at a few initiatives to make this happen. Winter Forum– 2 November 2015 We already have two sponsors. This year we only had 2 hours for the event. There were 2 sessions each with a panel session – 5 speakers in total. The event was followed by drinks on the exhibition floor. WTM The GIATA/TTI sponsored dinner at WTM was excellent. However there were a few last minute cancellations. This will now be a 3 day event. The WTM TTI Tech Café was a big success and should continue this year. A pod at the cafe was seen as a better option than

having a stand. This will be discussed with WTM. Travel Technology Europe TTI is looking to have a stand and be involved in some of the seminars. Website We are examining the feasibility of updating TTI’s website as it is now looking rather old and is not mobile responsive. Cloud We are looking to put TTI documentation into the cloud environment. This is being fully investigated as there are cost implications. UNICORN DFDS, Stena and Entee are looking to produce an alternative to Unicorn.

Our New Phone Number

TTI has changed its phone number. Please make a note our new number: 0330 1595030

TTI Events 2016

Project Management Meetings (All members welcome, contact Liz if you would like to take part) Tuesday 22 March - by conference call Tuesday 7 June - after Summer Forum Tuesday 13 September - by conference call Thursday 8 December—by conference call

Conferences & Forums Tuesday 15 March - Spring Conference Tuesday 7 June - Summer Forum in association with ETOA Tuesday 20 September - Autumn Conference Monday 7 November - Travel Innovation Summit at WTM

Travel Technology Initiative Ltd, Registered office: Victoria House, 51 Victoria Street, Bristol, BS1 6AD Company Registration Number: England 2398368

Published on behalf of TTI by Genesys - The Travel Technology Consultancy - www.genesys.net

Advertise in this Newsletter

If your company wishes to place an advert or an advertorial article in this newsletter, please contact liz.rylance@tti.org

Our last project meeting took place on10 December by conference call.

by Tim Wright, Codegen