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Tourism and travel distribution
in a changed world
Aileen O’Toole, Managing Director, AMAS
Good Food Ireland conference
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Presentation outline
• Present ITIC research carried out jointly by:
• CHL Consulting• AMAS
• Specifically consider:
• Changing distribution patterns• Role of internet in tourism distribution• Perspectives of Irish and overseas tourism industry
• Provide “takeaways” on:
• Building your distribution channels• Reputation management• Online marketing
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About AMAS
Internet consultancy
Assist clients to:
• Plan • Evaluate• Manage • Market their online channels
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Background
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The digital landscape
Social networks
Content sharing
Syndication
Website(s)
Email newsletters
Social bookmarks
BlogsUser-generated content
Search engine profile
Mobile
Extranet
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ITIC research objectives
• Establish how tourism and travel distribution is evolving
• Identify future trends
• Assess impacts on the Irish tourism industry
• Make recommendations
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Research methodology
• Online surveys…• Irish tourism industry: 617 responses • Irish tour operators :12 responses • International trade survey: – 75
responses
• Complemented by…• In-depth interviews with industry experts • Desk research exploring international
trends• ITIC workshop
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High response rate across all sectors
Total responses: 617
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Findings
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Tourism and travel distribution channels
SUPPLIERSCarriers (Air / Sea / Rail etc)
Lodging (Hotels / B&Bs / Self-catering etc)Car Rental
Other (Visitor Attractions, Events, Restaurants etc)
ONLINE−Email−Internet booking engine−Brand website−Mobile−Social media
OFFLINE−Walk-in−Phone
ONLINE−Extranet−Pegasus ODD
OFFLINE−Voice (call centres)−GDSs (Amadeus/Galileo/ Sabre/Worldspan
ONLINE−Tour operators−OTAs (Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.)
OFFLINE−Tour operators−Retail travel agencies
OFFLINEIncoming Tour
Operators
END USERSConsumer Tourist Markets
CorporateOther Travellers
INDIRECT
DIRECT
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Planning an Irish holiday
• Steady increase in use of internet at research stage in four principal markets
• In 2008, 7 in 10 visitors used the internet at planning stage compared to just 4 in 10 in 2008
Selected VAS Answers for Key Markets (2008)
Failte Ireland’s VAS 2002 - 2008
Most important information sources in planning the holiday in Ireland
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Purchasing an Irish holiday
• Steady increase also in online purchasing across all markets
• In 2008, 8 in 10 holidaymakers visiting Ireland booked at least some of their trip online
• This was most marked among UK visitors.
Use of internet in purchasing any part of trip to Ireland
Failte Ireland’s SoT surveyBase: Varies from yr to yr but 2,700+
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Purchasing Ireland online
Of those buying online…
• Airline / sea tickets represent the highest proportion of these bookings. Online market appears to be at saturation point
• Over 7 in 10 UK and US visitors and 6 in 10 French & German visitors book accommodation online
• Online car hire purchases are more likely to be made by Americans
Failte Ireland’s SoT surveyBase: All those who made an internet purchase
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Online booking capability
• 7 in 10 respondents’ websites have an online reservation capability.
• This rises to 90% for IHF member
• Self-catering sector less likely to have online booking
• Over half of B&Bs and hotels state that at least 40% of their bookings were delivered online in 2009
Websites with online reservation capabilities
Total(524)
IHF(138)
B&B(305)
ISCF(56)
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Access to product: how Ireland compares(perspective of 75 in international distributors)
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Internet: perceptions
• Tourism businesses positively disposed to internet
• 88% said that use of the internet had increased sales
• 71% said it had led to improved yields
421 responses
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Trends
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Travellers’ online journey
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Word of mouth goes viral
Ireland in one month on TripAdvisor
• 2,880,747 unique visits
• 5,241,335 page views
• 130,162 reviews
• 50,517 forum topics
• 3,482 lodgings
• 1,633 attractions
• 2,007 restaurants
I trust content of.... Personal
%
Business
%
Trip reviews from people like me 59 65
Trip reviews from experts 57 63
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Mobile
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The takeaways
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Actions: providers• Own websites important
channel for transactions and promotion
• Traditional channels, such as
incoming tour operators or GDSs, cannot be ignored
• Need to continuously review range of online channels used
• Continuously investment in skills, technology, marketing required
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Actions: reputation management
• Monitor presence on sites such as TripAdvisor
• Actively encourage satisfied customers to post comments to these sites, and help them to do so
• Respond appropriately to complaints and potentially damaging comments
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Actions: online marketing • Be familiar with the range of
platforms, tools and techniques available
• Ensure online marketing is a core part of marketing strategy
• Ensure all marketing activity is integrated into a coherent plan
• Evaluate performance using measurement tools and analysis (e.g. Google Analytics)
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Read the full report
Available for download on ITIC website
www.itic.ie/research
Use the resources:
Appendix 2: glossary of termsAppendix 3: reputation managementAppendix 4: marketing and site management
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More reading...
www.amas.ie/blog
http://twitter.com/AMASinternet
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Internet affects offline purchasing
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Thank you