The Brave New World of Traveler2.0

Leisure travel planning has changed drastically in the past 15 years

Power has shifted

From the advent of buses, trains and planes, travel

agents have really played a big roll in planning and

steering travelers to destinations. You walked in, said

you wanted a beach vacation and you were off to

some island

And even with consumers in control, there has been a rapid evolution

(especially in the past couple of years)

But first let‘s go way backto the mid-1990s wherethe power shift started

It started with getting info about a destination (online brochure) – freedom to get info when they wanted versus when the travel agent wanted

To booking an airline ticket or hotel room

To using travel aggregators to see all options in one

place and get a good deal

To using evolved travel aggregators that bundled flights,

hotels and rental cars into one package and offered a

really good deal with a little destination insight

To using chat rooms to see what other travelers were

doing or thinking regarding travel planning

To reading consumer-generated blogs about potential destinations

Then the pipe reached critical mass

Opening the door to easily accessible user-generated

content like pictures and videos

Which tells a very different story than just words in a blog and the

pretty pictures that marketers show on their Web sites

THENEarly Adopters

36% of U.S. adults had broadband access

17% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in June 2005

Source: Pew Internet Life Dec. 2005, comScore March 2004

NOWMainstream

63% of U.S. adults have broadband access

78% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in April 2009

AND

Watched 16.8 BILLION videosSource: Pew Internet Life April2009, and comScore April 2009

This broadband penetration and acceptance of UGC led to an

explosion of UGC sites in many categories, especially travel

And a new breed of leisure traveler was born

Traveler2.0

Web savvy

Broadband connected

Social media initiated

In control every step of the way

And most importantly …

Willing to seek out and share travel information with like-minded travelers

So where online does Traveler2.0hang out?

Travel Aggregators

http://www.travelzoo.com

http://www.hotelicopter.com

http://www.seatguru.com

http://www.sidestep.com

http://www.kayak.com

http://www.yapata.com

http://farecast.live.com

http://www.mobissimo.com

http://www.hotwire.com

http://www.luxurylink.com

http://www.momondo.com

Social Networks

http://www.iloho.com

http://www.traveltogether.com

http://realtravel.com

http://www.flyertalk.com

http://www.tripconnect.com

http://www.virtualtourist.com

http://www.travbuddy.com

http://www.gusto.com

http://www.dopplr.com

http://www.tripwolf.com

International Traveler

http://www.citytherapy.com

http://www.wayn.com

http://gridskipper.com

http://www.bootsnall.com

Reviews

http://www.tripadvisor.com

http://www.travelpost.com

http://www.rummble.com

http://www.hotelchatter.com

http://www.igougo.com

http://www.jaunted.com

Trip Planning/Sharing

http://www.mytripbook.com

http://www.tripcart.com

http://www.tripology.com

http://triptie.com

http://www.lonelyplanet.com

http://www.concierge.com

http://www.pastigo.com

http://www.traveltip.org

http://www.tripit.com

http://www.planeteye.com

http://www.nileguide.com

http://www.toandfromtheairport.com

Of the thousands of travel/tourism sites out there, these are the slightly more than 50 we think Traveler2.0 will find the most useful, interesting or engaging

Blogs/Travel Journals

http://www.vcarious.com

http://www.gadling.com

http://www.mytripjournal.com

http://www.travellerspoint.com

http://www.traveljournals.net

Green Travel

http://www.viator.com

http://gogreentravelgreen.com

http://www.greenicious.com

Regional

http://goseeoregon.com

http://71miles.com

http://www.everyblock.com

http://www.going.com

http://flyspy.com

Interesting

http://www.mp3travel.com

http://www.couchsurfing.com

http://www.1sthomeexchange.com

http://www.vrbo.com

http://www.shawguides.com

Group Travel

http://www.triporama.com

http://www.groople.com

http://www.triphub.com

http://www.imin.com

A social networking site that helps users plan their trips by

getting tips from other users, by browsing photos and

videos. You can look for travel mates and even book hotels

or hostels

A blogging site that travelers can use while actually on their trip to keep

friends and family up-to-date on what they are doing

Another social networking and planning site that offers

information on the people, the culture, how to get around, and

how to avoid problems, as well as suggestions for itineraries,

accommodations, dining and things to do

A newer site that combines UGC and reviews with professionally

generated travel tips.

Not just Web sites

Traveler2.0 is becoming highly mobile too

Smart phones are finally giving travelers access to interactive tools

when they need them most

RoadTrippr – Everyone can

find the main attractions, but

most of the time the most

interesting places to visit are

off the beaten path.

UrbanSpoon – Randomly select a nearby restaurant based on a few criteria, such as price or cuisine type.

Yelp – Find directions and reviews for restaurants, hotels or almost any other business nearby.

iPhone travel tools

5,000+Travel Apps Available

Smart phones aside, how many options does Traveler2.0 have?

In the U.S., there are more than 5,000travel-related Web sites

Containing 20,000,000+ opinions

On 750,000 or so destinations to visit, things to do and places to stay

And this doesn‘t count blogs

Source: www.uptake.com

Tourist blog posts 4,407

Trip blog posts 19,003

Vacation blog posts 22,791

Travel blog posts 242,478

Source: Technorati, August 28, 2009

There is a whole lot of competition for destination marketers as Traveler2.0

works to select the right vacation

The million dollar question is how do destination marketers connect with

Traveler2.0?

The mainstreaming of social media has left tourism marketers with three options:

1. Encourage the conversation2. Join the conversation3. Start a conversation

Sometimes it only takes a nudge to get travelers talking about your destination

Encourage the conversation

Nashville‘s Hotel Preston sends all guests an e-mail asking them ―to write a review of your stay on a hotel review site, such as TripAdvisor or Yelp.com.‖

Result? Hotel Preston has more reviews on TripAdvisor than any other Nashville hotel, and an average rating of 4 stars.

Encourage the conversation

When bloggers arrived in droves for PodCamp Pittsburgh 2008, local tourism officials were ready. VisitPittsburgh arranged VIP tours for several of the high-profile writers in attendance.

Encourage the conversation

In January 2009, Disney took a select group of influential mom bloggers on a trip to the Bahamas to highlight its new cruise line. Result was dozens of posts and national buzz.

2. Join the conversation

Facebook is the most popular social network in the world

In the past six months, Facebook has grownfrom 150 million to 250 million usersLargest age group: 35–54

Growth since January 2009:

Ages 35-54: 190% growth20.2 million users

Ages 55+: 590% growth5.9 million users

Source: “Most Facebook users are older, study finds.” SFGate.com, 7/8/09

Facebook users over 18:

Alabama: 687,460Florida: 3,920,240Georgia: 2,282,700Mississippi: 375,460Tennessee: 1,168,720

Source: Facebook, 8/3/09

acebook Groups

acebook Fan Pages

acebook Groups

More members

Less corporate

Admins must use personal accounts

Little control of content

acebook Fan Pages

Easy to control

Admin names aren‘t public

Dynamic content

Analytics

Can appear more ‗corporate‘ to users

Must be maintained

Twitter lets you post brief items,shared with the world

In the past year, Twitter has grownnearly 2,000% to 50 million+ usersLargest age group: 35–44

Responds quickly to any questions posed by visitors on Twitter.

Gives advice, offers tips, solves problems.

Portland‘s ―Twisitor Center‖

3. Start a conversation

The ―Pomegranate‖ phone does everything, including brew coffee. Well, not really. It‘s a viral campaign for Nova Scotia, where you can ―get everything in one place.‖ Result? Hundreds of thousands of views and hundreds of blog posts.

―One adventurous pair with smiling personalities will land the ultimate assignment: Experiencing every attraction in Orlando over 67 days!‖

10 sets of finalists also got to spend 67 hours in Orlando.

Results: National news coverage3,500+ blog mentions478 Facebook fans167 YouTube videos

Orlando‘s 67 Days of Smiles

World Nomads, a travel insurance company, is hosting this relay-style contest to journey across Australia in their customized van, ―Geoff.‖ Applications came in via YouTube, and participants will post throughout the travels. The group voted ―most entertaining‖ wins $10,000.

34,000 people worldwide applied to be the caretaker of a tropical island off Queensland, Australia. The contest generated global buzz for this distant destination.

Closing thoughts

The social media revolution has made it easier than ever for travelers to be smarter, faster and more informed.

But that means it‘s more important than ever for destination marketers to experiment, adapt and connect — or be left in the rear view mirror of Traveler2.0.

David.Griner@luckie.com

David.Stutts@luckie.com