STAYING RELEVANT IN A CHANGING WORLD

eTOURISM SUMMIT 2011

THE STATE OF THE WORLD

Our world has fundamentally changed.

Forever…

Growth is driven by emerging markets such as Asia and South America, while mature markets are seeing low growth.

New middle class emerging

– China: 400-million

– India:150-million

Don’t rush in alone without a plan…

Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have...

–Increased costs

–Moral dilemma of long-haul travel

–Individual carbon budgets

Web and Social Media

– Most important innovation in tourism marketing is ability to communicate instant, relevant and personalised info

– Trust, instant, relevant, personalised

WISDOM OF CROWDS HAS BEEN REPLACED BY WISDOM OF FRIENDS...

Internet now predominant channel for consumers to search for and buy travel

– 95% of connected generation search for info online

– 55% bought travel online in 2010 (45%+)

– 65% were influenced by online community

– In the USA, about 52% of 152 million adult leisure travellers (79m people) use social media in researching travel destinations and making travel decisions.

The smart generation

– Smart phone and mobile application integration important for tourism

– It is there throughout the customer journey: instant content sharing

– 40% of international travellers already own a smart phone

– 40% + of smart phone owners use devices to get destination information

– 34% of business travellers and 26% of leisure travellers use them to make bookings

How do we stand out from the crowd?

The web and social media is the most effective platform for challenger brands like Cape Town

to tell our story.

“…We’re seeing the web being rebuilt around

people…what used to be an information web

where people sought to find the ‘what’ has

shifted to a social web where people are

looking to find the ‘who?’…”

- Rohit Dhawan, Facebook

“My interest is in the future, because I am

going to spend the rest of my life there”

- Charles Kettering

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