Travel – Online Persona

Ankur Sharma

30 July 2011

How are we going to kill time?

Why Talk Travel?

Online + Travel

Major Online Marketing Drivers - Travel

What’s the catch?

What to focus on?

Why Talk Travel?

Largest service industry globally in terms of gross revenue and

FOREX earnings

One of the largest employment generators in the world

Generated around 9.4% of world GDP and 8.2% of total

employment in 2009

Inbound tourists across the world rose from 682 million in 2001 to

920 million in 2008

According to Forrester, web is the preferred media source for travel

information, favoured 17:1 over TV and 6:1 over Newspapers and

Magazines

US Travel Industry Impact

A thought to ponder on…

Online Travel Market - US

In 2008, 37%-38% of all hotel bookings were generated from the

Internet (one-third in 2007, 29% in 2006)

At least another third of all hotel bookings were influenced by the

Internet, but done offline (call centre, walk-ins, group bookings, etc.)

By the end of 2010, over 45% of all hotel bookings were completed

online

In 2008 US travel sales booked online reached $105 billion, up 12%

from 2007

Online Travel Market - Europe

Online travel sales increased by 24% from 2006 to 2007 and

reached EUR 49.4 billion in the European market in 2007

Online travel market in Europe was expected to grow to about EUR

58.4 billion in 2008

The European online travel market was expected to reach EUR 67

billion in 2009

UK accounted for 30% of the European online travel market in 2007,

with Germany in second place at 19%. The direct sellers accounted

for 65% of online sales in the European market in 2007, and the

intermediaries 35%

Online Travel Market – AP

Online travel sales in Asia will grow about 90% over the next 10

years with China, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong & Vietnam leading

the way

By 2011 end, the Chinese online travel market is expected to rake

around US$ 15.4 billion worth in bookings

Indonesia's online travel sector was expected to grow by between

70% - 83% a year from 2006 to 2010 compared to US (US expected

growth was 17% a year during the same period)

Online travel sector in Vietnam was likely to fuel the boom in

e-commerce, forecast to grow 202% a year between 2006 & 2010

Online Travel Market - India

Travel portals in India did business of $800 million (of the total $15.5

billion travel market in the country) in 2006

In 2006, India attracted 4.43 million foreign tourists; the same year,

around 350-400 million domestic tourists are estimated to have

travelled around the country

Air passengers in the country increased from 22.788 million in 2005

to 32.172 million in 2006

Online Marketing Drivers - Travel

1. Organic Search (SEO)

2. Paid Search (SEM)

3. Email Marketing

4. Social Media

5. Meta Search

6. Mobile Marketing

What else?

69% of businesses & 63% of consumers plan travel by searching

the internet, visiting an average of 22 sites before deciding on a

destination

Mobile travel bookings accounted for 15% of all reservations in

2010, up from 9% in 2009

Airline websites are the second most frequently visited (40% of both

business and leisure travellers), followed by hotel sites (36% of both

business and leisure travellers)

Destination sites are popular with both leisure and business

travellers, with 40% of leisure travellers and 32% of business

travellers using these sites to book their last trip

What’s the catch?

Caught!

Massive fluctuations across the different verticals within travel and

across the size of the organisations

43% of cruise companies rank email marketing as the most

influential marketing channel whereas for hotels it is only 13%

In companies with a marketing budget of over US$ 51 million, 84%

see search as the key, while only 44% of small travel companies

(with marketing budgets below US$25,000) rank search as the most

influential channel

Bowled!!

Most influential marketing channels are segregated in terms of

regional differences: German marketers love organic search, Brits

love paid, Italian marketers hate EDMs but are in love with mobile

marketing

For social media campaigns, about 80% of marketers said that they

produced Twitter campaigns and social media promotions in-house,

but such functions as search engine optimization and pay-per-click

advertising are largely outsourced

Google says two-thirds of businesses now plan their travel using

search engines, with smart phone bookings rising 69% just in 2010

What to focus on?

Website Design & Usability

Content & Personalization

SEO Strategy

Sunk Cost Fallacy

Social Media Strategy

Conversion Strategy

Partner Marketing /Affiliate Program Strategy

Questions?

Thank You!

Ankur Sharma

+91 9886403253

ankurdineshsharma@gmail.com

http://in.linkedin.com/in/ankurdineshsharma

http://www.twitter.com/ankurdinesh