2. About me: Andrew Daines
• Travel and tourism industry professional
– 14 years with VisitBritain
– 3 years in the commercial travel sector
– European Travel Commission Marketing & Technology
Network chairman (2010) and vice chairman (2008‐9)
– Tourism Management Institute Council of
Management / National Council member 2006‐11
– Business and Tourism Management graduate
• Keen traveller!
linkedin.com/in/andrewdaines
3. Topics for today
• Overview: the past digital decade
• ‘Traditional’ web – broadcast
• Social media – dialogue
• User ratings and reviews
• Online booking
• Mobile
4. Year Global online
The Digital Decade population (millions)
2000 361
2002 587
2004 817
2006 1,093
2008 1,574
2010 2,050
Source: Internet World Stats
5. The British online
• Over 51 million internet users – 82.5% of the
population
Source: Internet World Stats, June 2010
• 60% of the population use the internet every
day
Source: ONS, August 2010
• 62% of UK adults bought goods and
services online in year to Aug 2010
Source: ONS, August 2010
6. Travellers online
• 37% of UK travellers do ALL their research
online
Source: Hotelmarketing.com, November 2010
• Over a third of travellers visit 6‐10 websites
when planning a trip
Source: WAYN / WTTC / Frommer’s August 2010
• Travellers book flights early, but 20% book
accommodation within 5 days of stay
Source: Travel Daily News, November 2010
7. Maximise free online exposure
• VisitBritain / VisitEngland
– Highly focused audiences
– Lots of free additional distribution
• Google Places
– Part of the UK’s most widely used search engine
– Integration with other Google services, e.g. maps
• Facebook
– World’s largest social media site
– Huge growth in mobile access to Facebook
8. VisitBritain / VisitEngland
National Tourism Product Database
• Display images – up to six. Search results display
products with images first.
• Use the ‘short description’ to identify your
product’s key features in 3 lines / 30 words
• Provide indicative pricing (even if you have online
booking)
• Provide accessibility content
• Make sure telephone / e‐mail / website details
are correct
• Contact for updates: Suzie Rowe, New Vision
Group, datasteward@nvg.net, 0845 166 2217
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14. Long descriptions – differentiation
• What’s your product best suited for? (clientele):
– A romantic getaway?
– Family fun?
– Business visitors?
• What’s your location?
– Perfect for peace and quiet?
– Right in the action?
– Brilliant for public transport?
• What’s the food and drink like?
– Breakfast to keep you going all day?
– Locally sourced / gourmet?
– Easily adaptable for special diets?
15. Global, national and regional distribution
VisitBritain
offline / print
Third party
websites
Global and Other online
national National devices
websites Tourism
Product
Database
Interoperability
Regional Gateway
campaign TIC extranet
Cross‐regional
campaign
16.
17.
18. • Compiled from variety of sources – inc.
VisitBritain
• Find your business and check the content
• Sign in, make changes if necessary, then verify
the content as being correct
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21.
22. • 664,000,000 subscribers worldwide
• Half the population of North America have a
Facebook account (almost a quarter of the
population of Europe)
Source: Internet World Stats, April 2011
• Facebook users who are referred to travel
booking sites are far more likely to book travel
than those who are referred via search engines
like Google
Source: Mediapost, August 2010
38. How important is it to be bookable online?
• 70% of UK adults say they prefer to book
online
– To find the best price (54%), convenience (31%)
Source: Travelmole / YouGov, February 2011
• 26% of UK adults do all their holiday booking
online
– On average, visiting the website 3‐4 times before
completing the transaction
Source: Hotelmarketing, November 2010
39. Room rates: online vs offline
Average Room July % YOY Aug %YOY Sept %YOY Q3 %YOY
Rate 2010 2010 2010 2010
Online £62 1% £65 5% £59 ‐1% £62 2%
Offline £55 ‐7% £58 ‐4% £54 ‐8% £56 ‐6%
Combined £57 ‐5% £55 ‐2% £55 ‐6% £57 ‐4
Source: eviivo
Average room rates compiled from
businesses using eviivo’s products and
services in the East of England region
www.eviivo.com
40. Performance: VisitBritain / VisitEngland
White Label Product Search
2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11
Number of referrals 17,637 18,929 82,422 272,554
Value of referrals 4,588,343 4,161,855 17,015,325 64,274,618
(£)
Number of 1,228 2,297 10,898 13,741
bookings
Value of bookings 187,982 391,545 1,803,750 2,335,907
(£)
41. Mobile headlines
• October – December 2010: 36% of US / 29%
European mobile users accessed online content
Source: ClickZ, February 2011
• Smartphone adoption grew considerably in
2010:
– 63,000,000 smartphone handsets in the US
– 71,651,000 in France / Germany / Italy / Spain / UK
Source: Marketing Charts, February 2011
• Mobile travel bookings accounted for 15% of
all reservations in 2010
Source: Travelmole, February 2011
50. Things to do now
• Check your product entry on visitbritain.com /
enjoyengland.com
– Update or enhance as necessary
– Make sure you’re ‘opted in’ to third party
distribution
– Contact: Suzie Rowe, New Vision Group,
datasteward@nvg.net, 0845 166 2217
• Check your business on Google and Facebook
• Encourage your satisfied customers to tell the
world about their great experience
51. Thank you
Andrew Daines
andrew@andrewdaines.com
www.linkedin.com/in/andrewdaines