Laffitte Conseil

New media survey finds travel is leading the way

A survey on the adoption of new media has found the travel industry is well ahead of other sectors.

According to the survey, 73% of travel companies plan to invest in social media over the coming year.

The pre-event survey for Online Marketing 2007, which takes place at London's Business Design Centre on June 26- 27, also found:

- 66% of travel companies name social media as the biggest growth area for marketing in the coming year

- 100% of travel companies plan to invest in email marketing in the next 12 months, ahead of all other sectors

- 80% of travel companies currently invest in search marketing, with 87% planning to invest in the next 12 months

- 60% of travel companies view campaign planning as an area for improvement, while 47% are seeking education in online campaign tracking

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Average holiday spend down, says survey

Brits spend €2579 (£1,744) on their average holiday, more than any other European country.

But the UK figure has dropped slightly compared to 2006 when the average holiday budget was €2795 € (£1,892).

These were some of the findings of a survey of 3,500 European travellers by Europ Assistance.

The survey found the average holiday spend in Germany is €2025, €2029 in Italy, €2006 in France and €1910 in Spain.

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Women more cautious over online hotel bookings, finds survey

Women are more cautious than men when booking hotels online, according to a survey by Utell.

The survey of more than 1,600 business and leisure travellers in the UK found that 31% of women were concerned about inaccurate product descriptions online than men, compared to just 19% of men.

According to Utell, this scepticism might stem from the fact that women are much more likely than men to book accommodation based on hotel facilities, with 61% of women rating it as a key factor compared to only 43% of men.

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L'ex DG de Lasminute réussit le pari de la vente privée de voyages

Après un an d'activité, VoyagePrivé.com compte 800.000 membres à l'affût d'un voyage haut de gamme à prix réduit. Pour faire fructifier sa base d'abonnés, le site va proposer un catalogue d'offres permanentes.

Un an après s'être lancé dans l'aventure de la vente privée de voyages sur Internet, Denis Philippon se retrouve à la tête d'un groupe. En l'espace de quelques mois, l'ex directeur général de Lastminute France a enrichi l'offre de VoyagePrive.com de trois sites de voyagistes en ligne : Thalasseo, Pole-Maroc.com, et CroisièreSelection.com. Trois sites de niches, qui, rassemblés sous une même entité, gagnent en capacité de négociations avec les Tours opérateurs.

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Surging tourism arrivals in Cambodia

Tourist arrivals to Cambodia rose 20% in the first four months compared to the same period last year, but that healthy increase wasn't enough to save the job of the country's tourism minister.

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Les Français et le Tourisme Responsable

L'étude réalisée par TNS SOFRES pour le lancement des Trophées du Tourisme responsable organisés par voyages-sncf.com permet d'établir un état des lieux du tourisme responsable tel qu'il est perçu dans l'opinion. Principaux enseignements : si la notion de tourisme responsable apparaît encore faiblement connue auprès de l'opinion, elle suscite un fort intérêt et de fortes attentes en matière d'information.

Une notion encore faiblement connue

Plus d'un Français sur 4 (27%) déclare avoir déjà entendu parler de la notion de tourisme responsable, contre 73%. Parmi eux, seulement 28% jugent qu'il s'agit d'une notion accessible, facile à trouver, contre 66%.

Une notion clivante en termes d'âge, de catégorie socio-professionnelle, de nombre de voyages effectués.

Le tourisme responsable, auprès de ceux qui déclarent en avoir entendu parler, est le plus souvent associé à des notions de respect environnemental.

Une forme de tourisme qui suscite l'intérêt

Près de 3 personnes interrogées sur 4 (72%) se déclarent intéressées par le tourisme responsable, contre 28%. Catégories particulièrement intéressées : les 25-49 ans ; les CSP+ ; les diplômés ; les moyens et gros voyageurs.

Parmi les aspects du tourisme responsable qui suscitent l'intérêt, les personnes interrogées placent les notions de respect environnemental (52%) devant le fait de voyager autrement (49%) et le côté redistributif et solidaire (47%).

De fortes attentes en matière d'information

Dans ce contexte, plus de 9 Français sur 10 (91%) souhaitent être mieux informés sur le tourisme responsable, contre 9%. Principales sources à partir desquelles les personnes interrogées souhaitent être davantage informées : la presse (53%) ; les sites internet dédiés (39%) ; les agences de voyages (38%).

Résumé de l'étude

Vietnam wants more luxury hotels

The popularity of Vietnam among hotel owners and operators continues to grow.

In the World Heritage site of Halong Bay, Starwood will open the 160-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel in early 2008, while the 300-room Sheraton Halong Bay Resort is planned to open in 2010.

Halong Bay is located in northeastern part of Vietnam and consists of a cluster of 1969 limestone monolithic islands which rise from the ocean along a 120km coastline, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has asked major cities and tourism centres nationwide to allocate land for luxury hotel and resort projects.

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Les 3 Vallées boostent leur audience sur Internet

Le domaine skiable des 3 Vallées a choisi d’opérer une refonte totale de son site pour en faire un portail multimédia et e-commerce enrichi de services communautaires. Son audience a depuis été multipliée par trois.

Avec 600 Km de pistes, 200 remontées mécaniques et une surface totale de 1.400 km² répartie entre 8 stations, le domaine skiable des 3 Vallées se devait d'utiliser d'Internet pour présenter la variété de son offre touristique. L'association des 3 Vallées qui regroupe les communes, les exploitants de remontées mécaniques ou encore les écoles de ski a donc souhaité réaliser en octobre 2006 une refonte totale de son site pour renforcer son image de marque. Interface riche, 3D, vidéo, services communautaires ont ainsi aidé le domaine à booster sa fréquentation.

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WEB 2.0 in the tourism industry: A new tourism generation and new e-business models

During the last years, we are experiencing the mushrooming and increased use of web tools enabling Internet users to both create and distribute content (multimedia information). These tools referred to as Web 2.0 technologies-applications can be considered as the tools of mass collaboration, since they empower Internet users to actively participate and simultaneously collaborate with other Internet users for producing, consuming and diffusing the information and knowledge being distributed through the Internet. In other words, Web 2.0 tools do nothing more than realising and exploiting the full potential of the genuine concept and role of the Internet (i.e. the network of the networks that is created and exists for its users).

The content and information generated by users of Web 2.0 technologies are having a tremendous impact not only on the profile, expectations and decision making behaviour of Internet users, but also on e-business model that businesses need to develop and/or adapt. The tourism industry is not an exception from such developments. On the contrary, as information is the lifeblood of the tourism industry the use and diffusion of Web 2.0 technologies have a substantial impact of both tourism demand and supply. Indeed, many new types of tourism cyber-intermediaries have been created that are nowadays challenging the e-business model of existing cyberintermediaries that only few years ago have been threatening the existence of intermediaries!. In this vein, the purpose of this article is to analyse the major applications of Web 2.0 technologies in the tourism and hospitality industry by presenting their impact on both demand and supply.

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Online Travel and Demographics

The 55-and-older crowd isn't about to spend retirement tending the garden.

A February 2007 Hitwise study found that slightly more women than men visit online travel sites, and that nearly a quarter of visitors are ages 55 and older.

The age distribution is worth noting because lifestyle trends are altering the types of trips people take and the way they plan and book travel. Those 55 and older will increase substantially as a percentage of the population during the next 10 years. Yet Web-based resources tailored specifically for that group have been lacking.

Don Birch of Abacus International said in the June 2006 EyeforTravel newsletter that "we're seeing the emergence of a new generation of older travelers who are healthy, active, street-wise and have unprecedented spending power. This is a lucrative segment but one which has specific needs."

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