500 million international tourists traveled around the world in the first half of this year, above the forecasts of the World Tourism Organization. Growing tourism and also the percentage of recruitments of flights and accommodation via the Internet. However, it is much more cautiously invested that money for years.
The situation is sometimes disappointing tourists buoyant and inform, consult and seek long before deciding, judging by the results of the study of MMGY Global / Harrison Group. A quarter of travelers make their reservations through the pages of comparison as Kayak or Atrápalo and more than half reviews before choosing destination, the recommendations of other users on sites like Tripadvisor.
Specifically, the results of this study in the United States, show that it has doubled the number of people who contract travel through price comparators: 15% registered in 2010 reserves, have spent 28% this year .
During that same period, the OTAs have not suffered the same fate. They have begun a downward trend, from 66% to 58% of reserves. They are a sector that despite its maturity in the digital environment, has still some challenges ahead. For example, consumer care: 30% of queries sent via email never got an answer brand (Eptica). Improve customer that service is a key factor that travel agents could exploit added value versus other online travel services.
Changes in the tourism sector in recent years have been largely brought about by the advancement of mobile technology. Just four years ago, only 8% of leisure travelers used the mobile to search travel information. Last year the figure rose to 38%, according to the report “The 2012 Traveler” developed by Google.
Mobile travel-related applications follow the same path, and since 2010 has not stopped growing the number of downloads, especially apps linked to airlines. 54% of current downloads are the airline industry and 36% owned by hotel companies.
Are all figures showing that the technological factor has an increasing weight in planning travel and vacations, but not decisive. What influences the purchase decision remain the recommendations made by family and friends, 82% of cases. If not vocally through online sources that have at their disposal as blogs (41%) or type TripAdvisor sites (58%) recommendations.
Tourists are no longer satisfied with the first travel option they find. They seek, consult, compare and then decide the best and the most attractive alternative. It is the task of companies find ways to appear in the channels that they visit most frequently and in the most confident to choose destination.