Content and personalisation dominated Day Two of the Travel Tech Show at WTM

Speakers during the ‘Consumers Crave Content’ session run by technology consultancy Genesys, touched on everything from the power of sound in content to the importance of a content marketing strategy.

In a highly engaging session, Sam Crowther, Head of Creative at Bauer Media, talked about how humans are conditioned from a very early stage to like rhythmical as well as natural sounds.

He pointed to how travel companies such as British Airways and it’s use of the ‘Flower Duet’ have put sound to good effect right across the brand.

“People were asked what three things they think when they hear the music and they said relaxation, comfort and floating on air which is brilliant if you’re in the airline industry.

Moving to more general content, Momondo Group Head of Content and Social Media Pleasance Coddington said anyone could create content but being ‘liked, heard or seen is not enough.’

She stressed the importance of a content strategy that delivers specific business goals.

A further Genesys session focused on personalisation with CWT’ Director of Innovation and Big Data Analytics Catalin Ciobanu saying companies don’t have to be Google to serve travellers better.

He was joined by Vice President of Business Intelligence, Accor Distribution and Marketing, Alison Broussy, who shared how challenging the environment is with “digital attackers are changing the rules and disrupting the value chain.”

“The paradox of the digital economy is that we need to be more human in our interactions. Customers want us to be nearer to them and with a more personalised approach.”

While many companies are working on providing a more personal experience to travellers through existing products and services, yesterday’s WTM London Innovation Summit proved there is still room for new ideas.

The event, run in association with TTI, heard from TUI Destination Services Innovation Lab Manager Chris Carmichael who drew themes from Peter Hinssen’s book the New Normal and advised travel companies to expect the rate of change to accelerate.

“We are getting to the half-way point with technology, it’s about the point where it goes crazy. It’s just the beginning and we need to be prepared for it.”

Certainly a glimpse into where we are headed was offered by Roadmap Chief Executive Jeroen van Velzen.

“We’re going to spend less time on screens. We might be addicted but we’ll probably go to rehab. Try to find a way to provide the best experience with little screen tie, especially for travellers.”

He pointed to Amazon Echo and how we would soon be talking to technology rather than looking at it and entering information.

Van Velzen predicted it would happen in business travel first and spread to the leisure market.

Further notable sessions on Day Two of the Travel Technology Show at WTM London were TripAdvisor’s Instant Booking session.

Maud Laurent, director of connectivity at TripAdvisor, told attendees
that its recently launched Instant Booking product is an ideal way for independent hoteliers to capture the “lifetime value” of a guest which books direct.

Instant Booking allows hoteliers to get a booking on their own site
without the customer having to leave TripAdvisor. Hoteliers can take
part in Instant Booking if the booking engine partner is one of more
than 100 certified partners.

And finally, Sicily is putting digital at the heart of its “so much…” campaign.

Visit Sicily has launched its “So much….” campaign across a variety of social channels to work in unison with its offline promotions. A dedicated official presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus and YouTube will promote the island’s five chosen pillars – history, magic, nature, wonder and colour.

 

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About World Travel Market

World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry.

Almost 52,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL – London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM.

WTM, now in its 36th year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM 2014 will generate around £2.5 billion of travel industry contracts.

World Travel Market is part of Reed Travel Exhibition’s WTM portfolio, which also includes Arabian Travel Market, World Travel Market Latin America and World Travel Market Africa.  www.wtmworld.com

WTM Portfolio

The World Travel Market Portfolio is comprised of the leading leisure travel events in the world; World Travel Market in London, WTM Latin America in Sao Paulo, WTM Africa in Cape Town and Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

The WTM Portfolio’s events are attended by the global travel and tourism industry’s senior executives to conduct business deals and discover the latest research, insight and opinion.

In 2014, the WTM Portfolio facilitated around $7 billion in industry deals from negotiations between the more than 15,000 buyers, 9,500 exhibitors (1,500 main stand holders and 8,000 stand sharers) in attendance of its four events.

WTM is owned by the worldʼs leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions.

About Reed Exhibitions

Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organizer, with over 500 events in 43 countries. In 2014 Reed brought together over seven million active event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organized by 41 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events and is part of RELX Group, a world leading provider of professional information solutions. www.reedexpo.com