Online Travel: A Game of Inches

by Blake Suggs on 09/28/2009 at 2:21 pm in Conferences, Observations, Within Range

I had the opportunity to attend the Eye for Travel conference in Chicago, Il from September 15th through 17th, and I thought I would share some of my observations from the show. Overall there was a wide range of attendees – everyone from Supplier side VPs to OTA Executives to the newest technology companies – which made for a good cross-section of the travel vertical.

The biggest impression I came away with was that online travel has become a game of inches. What I mean by that is that there was a ton of content around tactical ways to improve one’s business; everyone seemed to stay away from broad strategy talk. Naturally there were the typical big picture statistics and market shifts involved, but very little strategy. This tells me that everyone seems to be a little lost as to how to move the needle these days. It’s no secret that the travel industry online, at least over the past four years, has seen the most success, both from a growth and penetration standpoint. That’s starting to change as people travel less and become more focused on travel as a commodity.

It’ll be very interesting to see how travel evolves coming out of this economic recession. One thing’s certain, there needs to be an evolution sooner rather than later. At the rate online travel suppliers are losing business and loyal customers, there’s a huge opportunity for older more traditional channels to see a resurgence – namely old-school travel agents. Gone are the days when everyone shops on an OTA and books supplier direct. Things are changing, and it’s time to adjust.