UGC sites need to facilitate a purchase decision making process

It is being acknowledged that the biggest effect Travel 2.0 will have is going to be in automating the word of mouth process for planning travel, giving travelers better ideas and direction for planning trips, which will yield richer and more satisfying travel experiences.

So how do experts see Travel 2.0 headed in the next year or so?

"My prediction for the next 12 months is the opening of the other major social networks to third party application developers which will enable Travel 2.0 companies to add travel planning applications with built-in relevancy within those social networking sites. I also expect the social networks will allow this relevancy or social graph to be exported and embedded in other sites. Finally, pursuant to the opening of LinkedIn, I expect a frenzied land grab for social applications that target the business traveler," according to Sam Shank, Vice President, General Manager of TravelPost.com, SideStep.

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