Laffitte Conseil

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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Qui sont les vidéonautes ?

Favorisée par l'accès haut débit et mise sur le devant de la scène par les plates-formes de partage, la vidéo sur le Net s'est aujoud'hui largement généralisée sur la Toile. 10 millions d'internautes français déclarent avoir consulté des vidéos en ligne au cours du mois de mars, selon Médiamétrie.

Mais quelle est la fréquence de consultation des vidéos par les internautes ? Quels contenus sont les plus recherchés ? Quel rôle joue la viralité dans le visionnage de ces contenus ? Comment sont perçues les e-pub vidéo ?

L'enquête "Panorama 2007 de la vidéo sur Internet" d'Isobar, menée auprès de 600 internautes de 15 à 49 ans met en lumière les usages des vidéonautes, et révèle également les préférences des internautes en matière d'e-pub vidéo.

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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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Security Concerns Hinder Online Buying

Eight in 10 consumers who had a preference said they would spend more online if they had a safe and convenient alternative to credit cards, according to Javelin Strategy and Research's "2007 Annual Javelin Consumer Payment Poll," commissioned by PaymentOne.

Respondents said they would spend $100-$1,000 more annually with alternative payment options.

That "who had a preference" part was important, because many shoppers already buy with their payment method of choice, be it credit, debit, PayPal or something similar. The Javelin study shined a light on those who did not feel these existing options were safe.

Security and credit alternatives were the main factors that would get consumers to make more purchases.   

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China Online Ads and Population Up

China's online advertising market reached an estimated RMB1.366 billion ($176 million) in the first quarter of 2007, according to Analysys International data cited in Digitimes.

The firm also revealed that Baidu and Sina were the top two Web portals in China, with market shares of 20.6% and 18.6%, respectively.

Online ad spending has increased continuously since 1998, according to a Shanghai iResearch report released in June 2005. Growth rates approaching 50% also indicate that the market has not yet reached maturity.

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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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Votre avis : Votre principal usage professionnel des réseaux sociaux...

Trouver un nouvel emploi, recruter un collaborateur ou un nouveau client : tels sont les trois usages clés des réseaux sociaux professionnels pour les lecteurs du Journal du Net. (16/05/2007)

Les réseaux sociaux professionnels ont la cote. LinkedIn compte 9 millions de membres et Viadeo plus d'un million. Largement de quoi identifier et rencontrer des profils intéressants quels que soient ses centres d'intérêts. Interrogés à ce sujet en mars 2007, près de 40 % des lecteurs du JDN indiquaient d'ailleurs utiliser ces nouveaux outils dans le cadre de leur activité (lire le sondage du 28/03/07).

Près de la moitié des 205 lecteurs qui ont répondu à notre sondage utilisent ces réseaux sociaux pour recruter des collaborateurs ou trouver un nouvel emploi. Un résultat en ligne avec les conclusions de l'enquête 2006 sur la mobilité de cadres réalisée par l'Apec, qui indiquait que 40 % des cadres ont trouvé en 2005 un emploi grâce à leur réseau relationnel et que 26 % d'entre eux en ont trouvé un grâce à Internet. Le cocktail Internet + réseau semble donc des plus détonnants.

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Teens and Young Adults Spread the Word

Want to promote something? Enlist a Millennial.

Call them Gen Y or Millennials or just "people ages 13-24." Whatever the name, this group spreads the word quickly on things it likes and enjoys user-generated content, according to the "State of the Media Democracy" report commissioned by Deloitte & Touche and conducted by Harrison Group.

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Internet Captures Half of Spare Time

Broadband users make online time a priority.

Broadband users spend almost half their spare time in a typical weekday online, according to Media-Screen's "Netpop|Play" report.

A copy of the study provided to eMarketer stated that the average broadband user spent an hour and 40 minutes of her typical weekday spare time online. Over half of that time online was devoted to entertainment and communication.

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