This presentation explains Travel's Online persona and how has it evolved in various regions. Later on it discusses that what does it takes to be successful at Travel Business using Online Marketing. I presented this at Online Marketing Enthusiasts' (OME), July Conference. Check out this Presentation and please email me at ankurdineshsharma@gmail.com for any further information and/or details on this

1. Travel – Online Persona
Ankur Sharma
30 July 2011

2. How are we going to kill time?
 Why Talk Travel?
 Online + Travel
 Major Online Marketing Drivers - Travel
 What’s the catch?
 What to focus on?

3. Why Talk Travel?
 Largest service industry globally in terms of gross revenue and
FOREX earnings
 One of the largest employment generators in the world
 Generated around 9.4% of world GDP and 8.2% of total
employment in 2009
 Inbound tourists across the world rose from 682 million in 2001 to
920 million in 2008
 According to Forrester, web is the preferred media source for travel
information, favoured 17:1 over TV and 6:1 over Newspapers and
Magazines

4. US Travel Industry Impact

5. A thought to ponder on…

6. Online Travel Market - US
 In 2008, 37%-38% of all hotel bookings were generated from the
Internet (one-third in 2007, 29% in 2006)
 At least another third of all hotel bookings were influenced by the
Internet, but done offline (call centre, walk-ins, group bookings, etc.)
 By the end of 2010, over 45% of all hotel bookings were completed
online
 In 2008 US travel sales booked online reached $105 billion, up 12%
from 2007

7. Online Travel Market - Europe
 Online travel sales increased by 24% from 2006 to 2007 and
reached EUR 49.4 billion in the European market in 2007
 Online travel market in Europe was expected to grow to about EUR
58.4 billion in 2008
 The European online travel market was expected to reach EUR 67
billion in 2009
 UK accounted for 30% of the European online travel market in 2007,
with Germany in second place at 19%. The direct sellers accounted
for 65% of online sales in the European market in 2007, and the
intermediaries 35%

8. Online Travel Market – AP
 Online travel sales in Asia will grow about 90% over the next 10
years with China, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong & Vietnam leading
the way
 By 2011 end, the Chinese online travel market is expected to rake
around US$ 15.4 billion worth in bookings
 Indonesia's online travel sector was expected to grow by between
70% - 83% a year from 2006 to 2010 compared to US (US expected
growth was 17% a year during the same period)
 Online travel sector in Vietnam was likely to fuel the boom in
e-commerce, forecast to grow 202% a year between 2006 & 2010

9. Online Travel Market - India
 Travel portals in India did business of $800 million (of the total $15.5
billion travel market in the country) in 2006
 In 2006, India attracted 4.43 million foreign tourists; the same year,
around 350-400 million domestic tourists are estimated to have
travelled around the country
 Air passengers in the country increased from 22.788 million in 2005
to 32.172 million in 2006

10. Online Marketing Drivers - Travel
1. Organic Search (SEO)
2. Paid Search (SEM)
3. Email Marketing
4. Social Media
5. Meta Search
6. Mobile Marketing

11. What else?
 69% of businesses & 63% of consumers plan travel by searching
the internet, visiting an average of 22 sites before deciding on a
destination
 Mobile travel bookings accounted for 15% of all reservations in
2010, up from 9% in 2009
 Airline websites are the second most frequently visited (40% of both
business and leisure travellers), followed by hotel sites (36% of both
business and leisure travellers)
 Destination sites are popular with both leisure and business
travellers, with 40% of leisure travellers and 32% of business
travellers using these sites to book their last trip

12. What’s the catch?

13. Caught!
 Massive fluctuations across the different verticals within travel and
across the size of the organisations
 43% of cruise companies rank email marketing as the most
influential marketing channel whereas for hotels it is only 13%
 In companies with a marketing budget of over US$ 51 million, 84%
see search as the key, while only 44% of small travel companies
(with marketing budgets below US$25,000) rank search as the most
influential channel

14. Bowled!!
 Most influential marketing channels are segregated in terms of
regional differences: German marketers love organic search, Brits
love paid, Italian marketers hate EDMs but are in love with mobile
marketing
 For social media campaigns, about 80% of marketers said that they
produced Twitter campaigns and social media promotions in-house,
but such functions as search engine optimization and pay-per-click
advertising are largely outsourced
 Google says two-thirds of businesses now plan their travel using
search engines, with smart phone bookings rising 69% just in 2010

15. What to focus on?
 Website Design & Usability
 Content & Personalization
 SEO Strategy
 Sunk Cost Fallacy
 Social Media Strategy
 Conversion Strategy
 Partner Marketing /Affiliate Program Strategy

16. Questions?

17. Thank You!
Ankur Sharma
+91 9886403253
ankurdineshsharma@gmail.com
http://in.linkedin.com/in/ankurdineshsharma
http://www.twitter.com/ankurdinesh