influencing travel decisions: stephen outerbridge

St. John’s | October 13, 2011

INTERNATIONAL EXPLORATION CRUISE FORUM

Stephen Outerbridge

Stephen Outerbridge, Carlson Wagonlit Harvey’s Travel - Copyright © 2011 CWT

Copyright © 2007 CWT 2

Technology and Leisure Travel

Primarily means the internet

Virtually every entity has a website, Facebook page, etc.

Every step of the decision making and buying process profoundly impacted


Impact of the Internet

Universal participation

Lots of content

Unfiltered information

Price transparency

Fragmentation

Too much content

Credibility Concerns

Importance of Value Diminished

THE GOOD THE BAD

&


Most Popular Websites

Most popular websites in travel ranked by visits

Google Maps: 14.64% (segmented visits)

MapQuest: 7.35%

Southwest Airlines: 2.65%

Expedia: 2.61%

Bing Maps: 1.83%

Yahoo! Maps: 1.83%

Priceline.com: 1.72%

Yahoo! Travel: 1.65%

TripAdvisor: 1.62%

Orbitz: 1.65%

Source: Experian Hitwise North America Newsletter – November 2010


Role of the Travel Agent

Disintermediation (or our demise) has not occurred

Has prompted a profound sea change in our business

Suppliers have seen the dangers (and costs) of online booking strategy

Customers have seen pitfalls and frustration in dealing direct

Time is money and professional advice has value. Plus you are not alone when things go badly.


Traveller Confidence

Percentage of travellers indicating they were “very/ extremely” confident in various media sources for destination and travel supplier decisions.

Family / Friend Recommendations 81%

Travel guidebooks 57%

Online travel agents 54%

Online advisory sites 53%

Company / destination sites 46%

Travel agents 46%

Media coverage 43%

Brochures 39%

Blogs 33%

Travel advertising 27%

Facebook / Twitter 19%

You Tube 14%

Source: tnooz – talking travel tech, November 2010


Role of Technology

Seen as a rich source of content for research and information gathering

Excellent conduit for family/ friend recommendations

Twitter/Facebook not seen as a credible commercial forum (yet!)

Purchases of complex vacations (ie. many cruises) difficult using technology alone

After sale customer care an important frontier


Questions