YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

1
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Just one month ago I wrote these words
• Optimism rather than pessimism was the
  prevailing mood at TRAVELtech.
• Delegates adopted a business as usual attitude
  despite societys generally downbeat economic
  mood

2
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Since then
• A slumps to lt 80 cents
• Lehman Brothers collapse
• World Financial system on brink
• US Govt Bailout (socialise the losses)
• Worst Ecomonic Mess Since 1930s

3
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• What Id write now maybe!
• Pessimism prevailed at a grim TRAVELtech
  conference with dire warnings of an apocalyptic
  future
• Delegates adopted a downbeat attitude, saying
  that no-one will be able to afford to travel
  again

4
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Would I be right?
• NO
• Still plenty to be optimistic about
• Particularly for Tourism marketers
• Why? The Internet but 10 years-old

5
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Hitwise Internet market share trends
• Net Communities Up 52
• Search Engines . Up 41
• Travel 2.56 of total online share in Oz
• Similar in all markets except
• UK 5.93 Could it be the weather?

6
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Hitwise Internet market share trends
• Search engines biggest share _at_ 12.58
• Most important source of travel visitors
• 1 in 3 travel visitors come from SE
• Almost 10 times more than portals or net
  communities

7
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Global Reviews Case Study
• Find cheapest flight from Melbourne (Tullamarine)
  to Perth
• Find the cheapest hotel in Brisbane near the
  Botanic Gardens

8
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Global Reviews Case Study - highlights
• 47 went to a search engine first
• 0 went to the second page
• 37 typed web address into search box
• Acted as if search engines are the web

9
YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?

• Global Reviews Case Study - highlights
• 44 went to an aggregator first
• Flights Webjet most popular, then Flight Centre
• Hotels Wotif, Lastminute second
• But many returned to supplier site to book

10
PREDICTIONS

• Australians will travel overseas less
• But some inexpensive/good value near-haul
  destinations will continue to do well
• Return to simple domestic holidays
• Self-catering, close to home, price key
• Far flung regions will continue to suffer

11
OPPORTUNITIES

• Tactical, price-aware packaging
• Target younger consumers
• Shift marketing emphasis to web
• Be brave, market aggressively
• Build better websites
• Use content to leverage search engines