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Social Media and Mobile in Travel Distribution Report: Online strategies, consumer and industry trends, 2013 Strategic insights on how mobile and social media have impacted the optimal marketing mix to drive direct bookings, meeting future consumer needs and increasing conversions Report highlights include: Disruptive industry trends Analysis on growing industry trends that will impact your revenue models and marketing strategies. Consumer trends Consumer research data to inform your future marketing focus and ensure your investments reflect the needs of your target customer. Online strategies Market data and case studies to help you provide the ideal marketing mix. For more information, visit www.eyefortravel.com/social-media-mobile-travel-report

Eyefor travel social media&mobile travel distribution report

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Informe de EyeForTravel http://www.eyefortravel.com/ sobre nuevas tendencias en distribución turística móvil y a través de medios sociales.

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Page 1: Eyefor travel social media&mobile travel distribution report

Social Media and Mobile in TravelDistribution Report: Online strategies, consumer and industry trends, 2013

Strategic insights on how mobile and social media have impacted theoptimal marketing mix to drive direct bookings, meeting future consumer

needs and increasing conversions

Report highlights include:

Disruptive industry trendsAnalysis on growing industry trends that will impact your revenue models and marketing strategies.Consumer trendsConsumer research data to inform your future marketing focus and ensure your investments reflect the needs of your target customer.Online strategiesMarket data and case studies to help you provide the ideal marketing mix.

For more information, visit www.eyefortravel.com/social-media-mobile-travel-report

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Industry overview

There is a compelling business case for all companies within the travel sector to be actively engaging consumers across the mobile and social media channels. Mobile as a search, research, and purchase channel in travel has grown year-on-year. Currently 20% of all transactions occur in the mobile channel. One leading travel company interviewed for this report stated that its mobile revenue for the month of January 2013 was $40 million, compared with $2 million in sales in the whole of 2009 – a 2000% or twenty-fold increase.

Travel executives interviewed for this report agree that global online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia and Bookings.com have been at the vanguard in the integration of mobile and social media into their distribution strategies. This report demonstrates many of the learnings that can be derived from their activities.

This report also looks at the innovations being driven by market disruptors such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) accommodation, mobile-only OTAs, the growth of metasearch and case-by-case innovation from established suppliers.

Crucially, this report focuses heavily on the consumer’s influence in this process. Travel executives interviewed for this report agree that a presence in mobile and social media is vital, not because of the cost efficiencies these channels can deliver, nor the wealth of consumer data – although these are clearly important. Travel brands must be proactive in the mobile and social media channels because, increasingly, this is where the consumer chooses to interact.

The travel industry is undergoing great disruption, brought about by technological innovations and shifting consumer demands. The potential for technology, primarily mobile and social media, to increase distribution is relatively untapped. Similarly, the full impact of mobile and social media on the consumer research and booking funnels is yet to be determined. This EyeforTravel report provides strategic insight into social media and mobile’s impact on Travel Distribution now and in the future.

Leading companies who provided expert insight

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Key reasons to purchase this research

immediate access to in-depth customer insights: this report brings together booking patterns and behaviour of over 20,000 global travel customers who are active on social media, delivering actionable, data driven insights into the factors affecting your cus-tomer’s purchasing decisions.

travel industry specific case studies: a look at social and mobile engagement strategies from Hard Rock Café, HotelTonight, Ameri-can Airlines, Facebook and MGM Resorts on their lessons learnt from social and mobile engagement

planning, measuring and executing social media campaigns: gain industry insight from over 35 travel executives including TUI, IHG, Virgin Atlantic, Malaysia Airlines, LATAM airlines, CheapFlights, Hotels.com, Ostrovok.ru, LastMinute and Best Western.

Who needs this report

eCommerce-focused travel executives must read this report to understand about the impact of new disruptive revenue models and conversion strategies.

Mobile or distribution-focused travel executives must read this report to understand how leading companies are allocating budget and growing direct distribution share.

Marketing, mobile & social media focused travel executives - focused travel executives must read this report to understand how social, mobile and digital strategies are profitably being utilised to meet the needs of a changing consumer audience.

Peer reviews

“A comprehensive state-of-the-nation assessment of how two of the most talked about innovations in technology of the past three to five years are impacting the behavior of consumers and suppliers of travel products globally. Tantalizing food for thought.”andrew pyner, Chief Revenue Officer, Ostrovok.ru

“Mobile and social media have been the most exciting developments in the travel industry for the past few years, and although almost all companies have now jumped on the bandwagon, following guests and clients, we aren’t necessarily all on the same rails. This report gives a clear overview of how different actors use mobile and social, as well as the latest innovations in both fields, in a solid, figures-driven, and truly informative way. This is one of the most useful papers I’ve read on the topic for a long time.”Remi lefevre, Global social Marketing, upscale & luxury brands, intercontinental Hotel Group (iHG)

“The report asks the right questions, and it gives great strategic guidance in the fast moving areas of social, local and mobile in travel”william beckler, Departing Head of innovation at lastminute,com, Founder of alltheRooms.com

“I am delighted to recommend this important and valuable paper on Social and Mobile developments and future opportunities within the travel industry. It is the wide-ranging depth of research and expert comment that adds real credibility to the document. And, through this insight, we have already been able to utilise the paper to enhance our strategic thinking”.Richard lewis, CeO at interchange & Consort Hotels, best western Hotels

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Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Industry reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Thought leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

About EyeforTravel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Index of figures and tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

1 Industry overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201.1 How social media and mobile is growing travel distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201.2 Travel consumer demography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 1.2.1 Invisible Travelers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 1.2.2 Tiger Travelers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 1.2.3 Grey Nomads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1.2.4 Leisure vs. business travel consumers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 1.2.5 Religious travelers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231.3 Technological developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231.4 Travel supplier innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251.5 Travel intermediary innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2 Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.1 Mobile travel consumers: who are they?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.2 Mobile trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282.3 Mobile’s impact on the search and research process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.3.1 Mobile-specific content optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.3.2 Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2.3.3 The Google effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.3.4 Adapting mobile to web search norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322.4 Mobile’s impact on the booking process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 2.4.1 Last minute – the mobile booking heartland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 2.4.2 Mobile as a payment engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372.5 Mobile’s impact on business models and strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 2.5.1 Mobile for ancillary revenue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2.5.2 Mobile price sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2.5.3 Recouping the cost of mobile investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392.6 Mobile case studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.6.1 Case study: Hard Rock Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.6.2 Case study: Saudi Arabia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3 Social media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.1 Social media trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.2 Social media consumers: who are they? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Contents

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3.3 Targeting social media users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453.4 Social media’s impact on the search and research process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 3.4.1 Social media as a search engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 3.4.2 Social media as a research tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473.5 Social media’s impact on the booking process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483.6 Mobile-enabled social media’s impact on the travel consumer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 3.6.1 Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.6.2 Purchase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.6.3 Customer service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493.7 Social media’s impact on business models and strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.7.1 Understanding social media content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503.8 Social media case studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 3.8.1 Case study: Airbnb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 3.8.2 Case study: Facebook and MGM resorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 3.8.3 Case study: American Airlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

4 Managing the multichannel – integrating social and mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544.1 Intermediaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544.2 Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544.3 Mobile advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554.4 Improving mobile search relevancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564.5 Mobile social media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4.5.1 Preparing to integrate mobile and social media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4.5.2 Integrating social media and mobile across the marketing mix . . . . . . . . . . . 574.7 Case study: HotelTonight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5 Consumer research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595.1 Global overview: most active geographical markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595.2 Consumer spending on travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595.3 Channel choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605.4 Native language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615.5 Developed markets vs. growth markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

6 Industry learnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656.1 Future market drivers and trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 6.1.1 Rate parity6.2 Market opportunities and sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666.3 Marketers’ spending response in 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 6.3.1 Intermediaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 6.3.2 Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676.4 What innovation is likely? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 6.4.1 Payment innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 6.4.2 Search innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 6.4.3 Reviews innovation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Executive surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Consumer research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Secondary research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

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Figure 1: Five stages of travel consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Figure 2: Consumer travel spend growth, 2012-14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Figure 3: Number of users and utilization ratio of online shopping in China, 2011-12 . . . . . . . . . 21

Figure 4: Average transaction sizes among selected retail and travel sites in India, 2012. . . . . . . . 21

Figure 5: Social media use in China, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Figure 6: Mobile subscribers and penetration across Asia, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Figure 7: Age distribution of respondents to EyeforTravel Consumer Survey, June 2013 . . . . . . . . 23

Figure 8: Across developed markets, smartphones reach 21% of 55+; tablets reach 11% of 55+ . . . . . 23

Figure 9: Active social media usage on the top five services is growing fastest among older age groups . 24

Figure 10: How consumers access the internet (globally, May 2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Figure 11: The number of suppliers and intermediaries agreeing that mobile generates little ROI down, 2011 and 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Figure 12: Intermediaries and suppliers see a strong shift towards mobile generating direct bookings, 2011-2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Figure 13: Intermediaries and suppliers find mobile is improving engagement with customers, 2011-2013 32

Figure 14: Intermediaries and suppliers slowly beginning to increase investment in mobile, 2011-2013 . . 33

Figure 15: Intermediaries and suppliers planning to increase investment in mobile in the next three months 2011-2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Figure 16: Booking volumes via website have dropped, 2011-2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Figure 17: Comparison of intermediary and supplier booking volumes via call centers, 2011-2013 . . . . 35

Figure 18: Comparison of booking volumes via mobile between intermediaries and suppliers, 2011-2013 . 35

Figure 20: Importance of mobile for sales, suppliers vs. intermediaries, 2011-2013 . . . . . . . . . . 36

Figure 21: Importance of mobile for marketing, suppliers vs. intermediaries, 2011-2013 . . . . . . . . 36

Figure 22: Importance of mobile for customer service, suppliers vs. intermediaries, 2011-2013 . . . . . 37

Figure 23: Importance of mobile for operations, suppliers vs. intermediaries, 2011-2013 . . . . . . . . 37

Figure 24: Importance of mobile for information, suppliers vs. intermediaries, 2011-2013 . . . . . . . 38

Figure 25: Intermediary use of apps and/or optimized mobile sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Figure 26: Supplier use of apps and/or optimized mobile sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Figure 27: Results of Google search for Channings Hotel, Edinburgh on desktop . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Figure 28: Results for Google search for Channings Hotel, Edinburgh on mobile . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Figure 29: Google search for Hotel Missoni, Edinburgh on desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Figure 30: Google search of Hotel Missoni, Edinburgh on mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Figure 31: How a hotel might finance its mobile-optimized site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Figure 32: Five generating markets by country of residence and mode of transport . . . . . . . . . . 51

Figure 33: Growth in supplier social media profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Figure 34: Intermediary social media profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Figure 35: Social media still has to prove its worth financially to suppliers and intermediaries, 2011-2013 . 54

Figure 36: Social media has generated us direct bookings, 2011-2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Figure 37: Suppliers and intermediaries agree social media improves customer engagement, 2011-2013 . 55

Figure 38: We have increased our investment in social media in the last 3 months, 2011-2013 . . . . . . 55

Index of Figures

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Figure 39: We will be increasing our investment in social media over the next 3 months, 2011-2013 . . . 56

Figure 40: Demographic breakdown of top five global social media networks, 2013. . . . . . . . . . 56

Figure 41: Average engagement with social media networking by region, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Figure 42: Social media penetration by region, February 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Figure 43: Which of the following is most likely to encourage you to join or follow a travel provider’s social media network? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Figure 44: Using social media as a marketing tool, June 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Figure 45: How consumers use social media to research their destination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Figure 46: Consumers’ use of social media to organize group travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Figure 47: Consumers’ propensity to share travel experiences via social media . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Figure 48: Impact of social media on sales in the last 3 months, June 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Figure 49: Keep updated on announcements and deals from travel companies . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Figure 50: Social media is not a significant contributor to operations, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Figure 51: Social media’s importance for distributing information, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Figure 52: Likelihood of customers to complain via social media, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Figure 53: Likelihood of consumers using social media to make enquiries of a travel provider before and during stay, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Figure 54: YouTube’s global user profile and affinity rating, 5 April 2013 - 4 May 2013 . . . . . . . . . 68

Figure 55: Social media’s use as a customer service channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Figure 56: Evaluation of reach for American Airlines’ crisis management social campaign, April 2013 . . . 71

Figure 57: Top 10 outbound travel markets, 2003-2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Figure 58: Top 10 inbound travel markets, 2003-2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Figure 59: How would you rate the experience of using a mobile to access travel sites? BRIC, June 2013 . . 84

Figure 60: How much would consumers spend using a mobile? Europe 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Figure 61: How much would BRIC consumers spend using a mobile? June, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Figure 62: Percentage of population using mobile phones, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Figure 63: Feature phone vs. smartphone penetration, India, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Figure 64: Feature phone vs. Smartphone penetration, China, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Figure 65: Supplier: What regions are you responsible for targeting? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Figure 66: Supplier: What best describes your company sector? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Figure 67: Supplier: How many employees does your company have globally?. . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Figure 68: Intermediary: What regions are you responsible for targeting? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Figure 69: Intermediary: Which of the following best describes your company sector? . . . . . . . . . 99

Figure 70: Intermediary: How many employees does your company have globally? . . . . . . . . . 100

Figure 71: Intermediary: What percentage of your total bookings (volume) is distributed via online channels? 100

Figure 72: How old are you? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Figure 73: What is your gender?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Figure 74: What is your household income? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Figure 75: How many people are in your household? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

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Table 1: What do you use to research your travel arrangements? Globally, June 2013 . . . . . . . . 30

Table 2: Considering the marketing channels below, please choose ONE which you’d highlight as the most influential to your bookings over the last 3 months?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Table 3: What website do you use to book your vacation travel? Globally, June 2013 . . . . . . . . 43

Table 4: Devices and websites customers are most likely to use to make a last-minute booking . . . . 46

Table 5: Inbound tourist trips by purpose of visit and quarter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Table 6: How likely would you be to use Facebook? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Table 7: Comparison of marketing spend per channel by intermediaries, 2012-2014. . . . . . . . . 73

Table 8: Comparison of marketing spend per channel by suppliers, 2012-2014 . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Table 9: Vacation travel spend over the past 12 months, June 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Table 10: How much have you spent on travel in the last 12 months, Brazil, June 2013 . . . . . . . . 80

Table 11: How much have you spent on travel in the last 12 months, Russia, June 2013 . . . . . . . . 81

Table 12: How much have you spent on travel in the last 12 months, India, June 2013 . . . . . . . . 81

Table 13: How much have you spent on travel in the last 12 months, China, June 2013 . . . . . . . . 81

Table 14: Expected travel spend in 2014, globally, June 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Table 15: How much have you spent on vacation travel arrangements in the last 12 months? (Air) . . . . 82

Table 16: How much have you spent on vacation travel arrangements in the last 12 months? (Hotels) . . 82

Table 17: Do you use any of the following to access the internet? Middle East, June 2013 . . . . . . . 83

Table 18: Where do you begin researching your travel: Vacation Packages, Middle East, June 2013. . . . 84

Table 19: Percentage of population using smartphone vs. feature phone vs. multimedia phone. . . . . 88

Table 20: Popular mobile activity, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Table 21: Popular mobile technology applications, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Table 22: Do you use social networks to research travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Table 23: Do you use social networks to share photos and videos of your trip? . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Table 24: Do you use social networks to complain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Table 25: Projections for growth in Travel and Tourism’s contribution to GDP, 2013-2023. . . . . . . . 93

Table 26: Age breakdown of travel respondents to EyeforTravel consumer survey, June 2013 . . . . . 101

List of tables

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2.1 Mobile travel consumers: who are they?

With mobile penetration exceeding 100% in most developed markets and developing nations rapidly following suit (We Are Social, 2012), every travel consumer also has the potential to be a mobile travel consumer.

Consumers are using the mobile channel to access travel across all points in the purchase journey. It is increasing in search, research and booking. The proportion of travelers using mobile to book generally is growing year-on-year, but overall remains around a quarter of the whole.

This figure leaps to nearly half in the last-minute segment, clearly demonstrating that mobile booking is a major factor when con-sidering travel options one week or less before the travel date.

“From the booking time curve… seen in desktop bookings, the mobile channel is not simply shifting those bookings. Mobile traffic is pure incremental growth in the last-minute window,” explains Lastminute’s Beckler.

EyeforTravel’s latest consumer survey revealed that 37.3% of con-sumers worldwide accessed the internet on their smartphone. Desktop, however, remains the dominant means of initially researching travel. An average of 10.4% of those surveyed began their research on a smartphone, while an average of 16.1% used a tablet. This is 30.6% and 24.9% fewer than those using desktop; an average of 41% of travelers prefer to research through this channel.

Interestingly, more consumers prefer to speak to an offline travel agent (although they may also have a web presence) than are comfortable using smartphone. This is not because they cannot access the technology – survey respondents are members of WAYN: a global travel and lifestyle social media network.

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Source: EyeforTravel Intermediary & Supplier barometers 2011- 2013; “Below are a number of statements regarding attitudes towards Mobile, please read each one and indicate to what extent you agree or disagree.”

Figure 11: The number of Suppliers and Intermediaries who agree that mobile generates little ROI has fallen between 2011 and 2013

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Mobile has generated us very little or zero ROI intermediary

Mobile has generated us very little or zero ROI supplier

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According to EyeforTravel’s 2013 consumer survey:

■ 41% of travelers prefer to research travel on desktop ■ 37.3% use a mobile device (smartphone or laptop) ■ Confidence in transacting via mobile is low at a little

over 10%, but slowly gaining popularity

This complimentary extract, below, is directly taken from Section 2.1 of the report. The section gives you an insight into who mobile consumers are and their chang-ing digital habits.

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The research shows that, despite a third of consumers using mobile devices to access the internet and a smaller but signifi-cant proportion being happy to use these platforms to research travel, willingness to book on mobile dips to a mean of 10.8% on a tablet and 7.5% on a smartphone Those willing to book travel on a desktop computer holds steady at an average of 41.1%.

This experience is echoed by Nigel Pocklington, CMO, Hotels.com: “We have 15 million app downloads and a mobile-opti-mized site that encourages customers to download the app. But we’re not seeing a lot of mobile payments. On the web, it will be interesting to see the progress of alternative payments which are on the increase, particularly in Germany, but I believe it’s too soon for mobile payments.”

However, in the last-minute booking window (between one week before and on the day of travel) the trend shifts dramati-cally. According to the EyeforTravel survey, an average of 55.3% of consumers would be most likely to make a last-minute booking one week before travel on a desktop while 23.8% would never do so.

2.2 Mobile trends

Travel consumers are increasingly booking travel on their mobile. 63% more travel suppliers saw an increase in mobile booking vol-umes in 2013 over 2011, while 36.7% fewer executives reported no booking volumes in the channel. Conversely, the number of executives seeing no booking volume via desktop web doubled between 2011 and 2013, and progressively fewer executives have seen volumes of desktop web increase.

Mobile’s impact on rate of return (ROI) has grown, according to EyeforTravel’s travel supplier and intermediary barometers. Track-

ing executive preferences over the last three years, there is a clear move towards the belief that mobile generates ROI (see Figure 8). They also attest to a strong shift towards the channel generating direct revenue (Figure 9) and as a result are beginning to increase investment in mobile. This increase has been cautious, however, and executives are likely to continue to remain prudent into 2014 (Figure 11).

The hesitancy to increase investment in mobile could be due to:

1. Economic factors affecting budgets overall2. Inadequate proof of the channel’s effectiveness3. Mobile remaining a relatively small proportion of revenue

overall

The clear impression given by executives’ responses to the Eye-forTravel barometers is that mobile is increasing in importance. It can be expected that, regardless of financial input, executives will expect to see more returns from this channel in future.

Booking volumes have influenced the way travel suppliers feel about the mobile channel. As can be seen from Figure 13, below, over the last 28 months there has been a move away from considering mobile as not important for sales (38% of suppliers in 2011) to important (33.3% in 2013). The number of executives considering it very important to sales has almost doubled in this period (from 4% in 2011 to 7.9% in 2013).

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Table 1: What do you use to research your travel arrangements? Globally, June 2013

Tablet Smartphone Desktop Travel Agent None

Vacation Package 14.2% 10.9% 44.9% 14.2% 16%

Air 13.8% 10.3% 44.9% 14.5% 13.3%

Cruise 17.4% 8.9% 35.7% 10.1% 28%

Hotel 14.2% 10.7% 49.3% 10.6% 15.3%

Non-Hotel 18.2% 10.1% 37.6% 6.6% 27.6%

Car Rental 16.9% 10.7% 37.5% 9.3% 25.6%

Train 17.3% 10.6% 38.9% 8% 25.1%

Bus 17.2% 11.1% 36% 9.3% 26.4%

Source: consumer research in association with WAYN, May 2013. 15,170 respondents

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Source: EyeforTravel Intermediary & Supplier barometers 2011- 2013; “Below are a number of statements regarding attitudes towards Mobile, please read each one and indicate to what extent you agree or disagree.”

Figure 12: Mobile has generated us direct bookings (Intermediaries and Suppliers), 2011-2013

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Moble has generated us direct bookings Intermediary

Mobile has generated us direct bookings Supplier

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Source: EyeforTravel Supplier and intermediary barometers 2011- 2013; “Below are a number of statements regarding attitudes towards Mobile, please read each one and indicate to what extent you agree or disagree.”

Figure 13: Mobile has improved our engagement with consumers (Intermediaries and Suppliers), 2011-2013

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Mobile has improved our engagement with consumers Intermediary

Mobile has improved our engagement with consumers Supplier

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“The speed of mobile’s evolution has been shocking,” admits Regional E-commerce Manager at Novotel North America, Jer-emie Catez. “But it’s not surprising. It’s multi-device behavior and mobile is supporting our distribution strategy. Will we even still be using desktops in five years?”

In developing markets, the growth in mobile use is directly linked to initiatives encouraging mobile ownership. “The governments in Latin America have realized that part of development is to provide the middle class with access to the internet and better phone plans. This is happening at the same time as flying to South America is getting cheaper as a rule. [These are] two eco-nomic factors impacting our business. We had not diverted much investment towards mobile up to now, but next year we will have to improve our platforms,” reveals Felipe Rey Forero, Digital Marketing Manager, North America, LATAM Airlines.

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The Social Media and Mobile report has more in depth analysis and case studies including the likely innovation in pay-ments, search and research to help you with your future business strategies. Call Steve Johnson today for more information and details on Single and Multi User Licences – +44 20 7422 4344

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Methodology

EyeforTravel conducted 35 in-depth interviews with travel execu-tives from across the globe including both developed and devel-oping nations and covering traditional, online and multichannel businesses.

The report represents these executives’ experiences of incorpo-rating mobile and social media into their businesses, features elements of their own research into the area, and combines these findings with EyeforTravel’s own current and historical industry barometers.

EyeforTravel’s ongoing barometer research, begun in 2011, pro-vides unique trends insight allowing the report to not only cover past events but combine data with executives’ learnings to make definitive statements about trends the industry expects to see in the next 12-24 months.

executive research

Interviews were supported by findings from EyeforTravel primary research in the form of two exclusive executive surveys across both travel suppliers and intermediaries. The supplier survey consisted of 390 respondents, spread geographically, which was conducted in May 2013

The figures and tables below provide a breakdown of the survey respondents. It shows that suppliers interviewed had reason-able worldwide coverage with the lowest concentration in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Between a quarter and a half of all their booking volumes were distributed through online channels and hotel suppliers were by far the most active in the survey.

Figure 65: Supplier: What regions are you responsible for targeting?

Source: EyeforTravel Supplier barometer, June 2013; What regions are you responsible for targeting? 386 respondents

West Europe 41.5%

East Europe 25.1%

North America 28.5%

Latin America 11.4%

Africa 7.3%

Australia/New Zealand 15.5%

Middle East 10.9%

Global 32.4%

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In the second survey, 401 intermediaries responded. Again, the figures and tables below show that unlike suppliers, nearly a third of intermediaries operated almost exclusively through online chan-nels, playing a much larger part overall. Understandably, the major-ity of respondents (45.4%) stated that their company focus was global.The diffuse nature of the intermediary market is noted by the large number of respondents stating their business was ‘other’ (37.2%), beyond the main categories of OTA tour operator etc

Figure 66: Supplier: What best describes your company sector?

Source: EyeforTravel Supplier barometer, June 2013; What best describes your company sector? 390 respondents

Airline 12.1%

Rail 1.3%Other transport 0.8%

Car hire 2.3%

Hotel 48.5%

Non-hotel accommodation 4.4%

Tour operator 9.5%

Cruise 1%

Other 20.3%

Figure 67: Supplier: How many employees does your company have globally?

Source: EyeforTravel Supplier barometer, June 2013; How many employees does your company have globally? 387 respondents

1-5 10.6%

6-10 5.2%

11-20 5.7%

21-30 5.2%

31-40 2.3%

41-50 4.1%

51-100 8.8%

101-200 7.2%201-300 4.4%

301-400 2.8%401-500 3.4%

500+ 40.3%

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Figure 68: Intermediary: What regions are you responsible for targeting?

Source: EyeforTravel Intermediary barometer, June 2013; What regions are you responsible for targeting? 401 respondents

West Europe 36.4%

East Europe 19%

North America 30.9%Latin America 15.2%

Africa 12%

Australia/New Zealand 14.5%

Middle East 13.7%

Global 45.4%

Figure 69: Intermediary: Which of the following best describes your company sector?

Source: EyeforTravel Intermediary barometer, June 2013; Which of the following best describes your company sector? 403 respondents

Online Travel Agent (OTA) 19.1%

Metasearch site 4.7%

Group buying site 1.7%

Other online intermediary 11.9%

Tour operator 10.9%

Destination management company/tourism board 8.4%

Other 37.2%

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Consumer research

Between May 2013 and June 2013, EyeforTravel conducted one of its most wide-ranging consumer surveys yet, covering more than 22,000 respondents. Because these respondents were sourced through the ‘Where Are You Now?’ (WAYN) travel social media network, they were self-selecting for appropriateness ac-cording to technological awareness and usage.

Respondents represented the full variety of travel consumers, incorporating a full demographic spread in terms of age and geography (see Tables 34-37). The majority of respondents came from relatively mature age segments, the greatest volumes seen in categories from 35 onwards. Predominantly make, the majority (49.8%) earned less than £20,000, surprising given the older age ranges.

Figure 70: Intermediary: How many employees does your company have globally?

1-524.9%

6-1010.4%

11-207.2%

21-304%31-40

4.7%41-503.5%

101-20010%

51-1007.2%

301-400 0.5%201-300 2.5%

500+22.6%

401-500 2.5%

Source: EyeforTravel Intermediary barometer, June 2013; How many employees does your company have globally? 402 respondents

Figure 71: Intermediary: What percentage of your total bookings (volume) is distributed via online channels?

Source: EyeforTravel Intermediary barometer, June 2013; What percentage of your total bookings (volume) is distributed via online channels? 271 respondents

1-5 11.8%

6-10 4.4%

11-20 6.6%

21-30 8.1%

31-40 7%

41-50 6.3%

51-60 5.2%61-70 5.5%71-80 4.1%

81-90 8.1%

91-100 32.8%

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It was noted that, when examining Middle Eastern consumers’ slightly higher propensity to travel and spend more while doing so, this was due to greater social mobility. It can be seen from a breakdown of this segment’s individual household income that it is indeed slightly higher than the average of the worldwide sample.

secondary research

This report has been supported by secondary research, where appropriate. This included canvassing attendees at EyeforTravel’s annual European Travel Distribution Conference which took place in London on 23 and 24 May 2013.

We have included additional statistics from regulatory associa-tions and travel bodies on industry growth projections, as well as critical ‘state of the nation’ mobile, social media and internet statistics from monitoring companies to give an accurate account of the growth of this sector.

Figure 72: How old are you?

18-24 3.2%

25-34 21%

35-44 28%

45-54 26.9%

55-64 16.1%

65+ 4.8%

Source: EyeforTravel consumer research in association with WAYN, May 2013; “How old are you?” 15,187 respondents

Figure 73: What is your gender?

Male 82.6%

Female 17.4%

Source: EyeforTravel consumer research in association with WAYN, May 2013; “What is your gender?” 15,187 respondents

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Figure 75: How many people are in your household?

117.2%

218.5%

319.0%

420.1%

513.0%

More than 512.2%

Source: EyeforTravel consumer research in association with WAYN, May 2013; “How many people are in your household” 15,186 respondents

Figure 74: What is your household income?

Less than $29,999 49.8%

More than $150,000 3.6%$100,000-$149,999 3.9%

$80,000-$99,999 4.6%

$60,000-$79,999 7.8%

$40,000-$59,000 12.4%

$30,000-$39,999 18.0%

Source: EyeforTravel consumer research in association with WAYN, May 2013: ”What is your household income?” 15,187 respondents

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About EyeforTravel

EyeforTravel Ltd is a leading global media company specializing in business intelligence for the travel and tourism industry. Since 1997, it has produced world-leading conferences and business intelligence for senior executives in the online travel industry. EyeforTravel is a key information portal for the travel industry that caters to the needs and interests of all online travel industry executives.

previous reports

■ travel Consumer Report, 2012-13

As your consumers moves to the mobile web, get the essential consumer and travel market insights you need to respond to key trends in consumer purchasing be-havior and understand how to engage with consumers and sell travel products through multiple devices.

Over 8,400 travel customers surveyed from the USA, the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands on busi-ness critical information such as frequency of travel, spend, purchasing behavior customer attitudes and usage of social media and mobile.

Over 15 leading travel and hospitality brands critique their e-commerce strategies and models, highlighting lessons learnt and future priorities.

■ social Media and Mobile strategies for the travel industry 2011 (Reviewed February 2012):

Where should you invest your valuable time and resources for maximum return?

For travel executives trying to understand ROI potential for social media and mobile campaigns. The report provides a focused and unparalleled insight through interviews, case studies and research into the success-ful trends in the world of Social Media and Mobile.

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