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
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, [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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
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Our last project meeting took place on10 December by conference call.
by Tim Wright, Codegen