In the past week, Facebook has made it’s latest attempt to grab a bigger share of the geolocation market with the launch of Place Tips. These nuggets of useful and ... Read more
Back in 2012, I was at WTM and arranging a travel meetup, Travel Massive, for just before it. It was here that Paul Dow and myself came up with the ... Read more
Recently, a blogger friend told me of a trip she will take in March to Africa. Nothing new there. Except that the publication she is writing for (a very prestigious ... Read more
Expedia has just purchased Travelocity from Sabre for $280 million in cash. This comes after Sabre’s recent sale of lastminute.com to Bravofly Rumbo for $120 million. Following the Travelocity deal, ... Read more
The future is here at last and science fiction aficionados will rejoice in the latest news to come out of Mountain View. The news from Google headquarters is that it ... Read more
A ruling by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority last week threatens to remove a key plank from the content marketing strategies of travel companies. The ruling rapped Mondelez, the parent company of ... Read more
The Philippines Department of Tourism said its delegation at World Travel Market 2014 – the leading global event for the travel industry – was “by far the largest yet”, with ... Read more
At WTM last week, I was running my Genesys Sessions seminar programme on the Tuesday. I had three speakers in each session covering the subjects of mobile, search engines, big ... Read more
Key Findings Steady performance for online travel intermediaries: Global online travel intermediaries sales recorded a strong 8% CAGR over the 2008-2013 period, driven by the rapid rise of online ... Read more
Wow. I am just back from moderating an amazing session on ‘Secrets of successful female tra-preneurs’ as part of the new Women in Travel Programme at WTM and I am ... Read more
WTM is always a marathon week. For many, Pro Plus, Red Bull and copious cups of (terrible) coffee are the stalwart of sustainable function – in the name of wellness, ... Read more
The final day of World Travel Market 2014 continued this year’s focus of doing deals, rewarding excellence and generating debate. WTM Speed Networking sessions started the day, with the Thursday ... Read more
Virgin Atlantic boss Craig Kreeger has said the airline may launch new long-haul routes next March when the carrier gains three slots at Heathrow. Speaking at World Travel Market in ... Read more
“Responsible tourism is the backbone of this industry. It helps us to give back to struggling communities and sustaining extraordinary biodiversity,” said WTM’s director Simon Press as he opened World ... Read more
Themes on Day Three of the Travel Technology Show at WTM picked up on ways to get your brand past the noise on social media as well as peer-to-peer trends. ... Read more
Animal Welfare and Accessible Tourism take the Gold at the World Responsible Tourism Awards 2014 A South African animal sanctuary and a Brazilian adventure resort specialising in accessible tourism were announced ... Read more
Day Two of the Travel Technology Show at WTM was all about devices – mobile and wearable, content and using data to personalise services to travellers. Facebook Head of Travel ... Read more
New LGBT2020 Research Data Released by ONBC at World Travel Market Favourite 20 cities for LGBT tourism market revealed by ONBC: Out Now Business Class at World Travel Market New ... Read more
A glimpse of a not too distant travel future was shared by speakers from Sabre and Thomas Cook at the WTM Travel Innovation Summit in association with TTI. The event, ... Read more
Visitors to WTM 2014 will be able to find out more about how ‘wearable’ technology can be used by travel companies to sell holidays in the future. Global travel technology ... Read more
I came across a great article by Mashable entitled, ‘5 Tips for Using Social Media During Conferences’describing how best to interact when attending conferences using social media. With World Travel ... Read more
A high-profile panel of luxury travel specialists at World Travel Market 2014 will share new research on affluent travellers and debate how not only luxury product, but also the theory ... Read more
Investing in the training, development and IT of local middle managers is vital in growing tourism destinations such as Sri Lanka, says Peter Ducker FIH, chief executive of the Institute ... Read more
Key Findings Strong recovery in demand from international markets: After a sharp drop in arrivals in 2011, inbound tourism recovered surprisingly quickly and Tokyo has since enjoyed strong double-digit ... Read more
I don’t know how I feel about Storify. I mean, we’ve been together for two years now and I’ve never been let down. Yes, I’ve dumped others. Farewell, Foursquare. So ... Read more
The Korea Tourism Organisation is launching the country’s new tourism brand in partnership with the WTM Buyers’ Club at World Travel Market – the leading global event for the travel ... Read more
World Travel Market 2014 – the leading global event for the travel industry – is putting shopping in the spotlight in a seminar session exploring the importance of the duty ... Read more
We spoke in our last blog post about why Instagram was the star social performer for 2014. Just this week, we have heard how the Australian state of Queensland has ... Read more
Introduction Celebrating its 15th year in business, Open Destinations is provider of travel technology solutions for tour operators and wholesalers worldwide. The flagship travel booking system, Travel Studio, provides a ... Read more
This week my guest blogger is Nora Russell, WTM Women in Travel panelist and Marketing Manager at Women for Women International an organisation dedicated to supporting women in countries affected ... Read more
A valuable new networking feature for exhibitors and travel trade visitors will be introduced to World Travel Market this year. The WTM Bloggers Speed Networking event, taking place on Thursday ... Read more
Tourism needs pioneers. And, tourism needs pioneers today. Why? Because the tourism industry and its current dominant path of development is stuck in a rut. The current model includes a ... Read more
The autumn season always feels like the busiest of times and this year is no exception. I’ve recently returned from the Global Wellness Tourism Congress and Summit in Marrakech and ... Read more
The latest data shows that an upturn in European hotel performance is stimulating the transaction market again. For the UK hotel market in particular, the recession is a thing of ... Read more
Let’s put video to one side for a moment. But if you accept that images are very important to your social media strategy, then Instagram has to be near the ... Read more
What is the sharing economy? The term “sharing economy” was first seen in the mid 2000s, and is also referred to as collaborative consumption, or the peer-to-peer economy. It ... Read more
After 10 years plus, I am putting my hobby website, travelfromHere.com, up for sale. Take a look and you will see that it is a very straightforward directory of websites ... Read more
As the (UK) Shine Awards night approaches on 16th September– in which women from across the hospitality, travel and tourism industry will be crowned as outstanding professionals, managers and business ... Read more
TBU Nantes, our sixth (!) blogging and social media conference ended last week after three days of networking, learning and discovery. I was particularly proud of the conference lineup this ... Read more
You cannot fail to have noticed the Ice Bucket Challenge videos that have been filling our Facebook news feeds over the summer. According to Facebook, between 1 June and 1 ... Read more
As a long standing advocate for women in the sector (amongst other things, I co-launched the Shine Awards for Women Achievement in Travel Tourism, Events and Hospitality in 2004 now ... Read more
It’s called click-baiting, whereby fantastically humorous quizzes await those who link through and then (usually) share the results with friends on Facebook. In this case, ‘Canvey Island (oh dear)’ said ... Read more
The correct information and stringent hygiene procedures are needed to avoid panic amongst passengers and airline crew. Hotels and airlines are constantly dealing with ever-changing large volumes of guests. In ... Read more
Image: Dilbert Some news in the last few days has reminded me of one of the subjects I was addressing at my World Travel Market seminar back in 2010. The ... Read more
This month saw the launch of the 2014 WTM Responsible Tourism Website and along with other developments within our community over the past few months, I found myself thinking once more ... Read more
Key Findings Airline loyalty programmes in transformation: To better cater to their highest paying passengers, airlines have made moves to reward these lucrative travellers better, including switching to a ... Read more
Wellness and wellness tourism is an enormous segment. It encompasses more than what may readily spring to mind and certainly, today, depression, resilience, stress, anxiety and general mental health issues, ... Read more
This post’s title is a much repeated question and one that is often answered by digital agencies with “What is the ROI of a chair or a phone?” The chair ... Read more
The presentation of the World Responsible Tourism Awards at World Travel Market on World Responsible Tourism Day at Excel each year is a red letter day; an opportunity to see ... Read more
Any business that is serious about its sustainability credentials should seriously look at how it sells water, says Peter Ducker FIH, chief executive of the Institute of Hospitality Bottled water ... Read more
I work with social media in travel every day. Nose down to the grindstone, I don’t sniff the air often enough to always gauge what others are doing. But this ... Read more
Image: TepWireless I make no apologies for getting back to the subject of mobile. It is simply the most important issue that is affecting travel right now. It is vital ... Read more
Key Findings Internet penetration continues to grow: Internet users are recording steady growth worldwide and reached 2.7 billion globally in 2013. Their rise is expected to continue in the ... Read more
It’s been a sociable and revelatory few weeks. I was very privileged to be invited to the newly opened Woburn Forest Center Parcs in Bedfordshire last week, to see the ... Read more
In preparing monthly reports for travel clients on how well their social media is faring, I’m a fan of Twitonomy in gathering data on Twitter. It gives you a pile ... Read more
Since 2011, Travel Bloggers Unite have been working in partnership with World Travel Market to further the blogging industry. This year’s collaboration sees the greatest range of opportunities for bloggers ... Read more
With a new simplified visa process, the UK is expected to welcome more Chinese visitors. Peter Ducker FIH, chief executive of the Institute of Hospitality, explores how operators can best ... Read more
As you all know, this January we headed out to 2 schools in Kenya that had successfully had water tanks installed for them, funded by WTM and implemented by Just ... Read more
They say that email marketing is dead. That the opening rates are so low, that you do your brand more damage than good by abseiling into an inbox. I can ... Read more
At the beginning of June, I organised the recent Distribution Best Practice Forum for Travel Technology Initiative – www.tti.org. (TTI will be partnering with WTM to bring you the WTM ... Read more
I had the privilege of attending a speech last week by a gold medal winning Paralympian, from the 2012 games. David A. Smith MBE has been on a heart-rending journey ... Read more
Key Findings Keeping the momentum: After reaching its goal of attracting over 50 million tourists in 2012, New York City expects to boost arrivals to 55 million by 2015, ... Read more
Press registration for World Travel Market 2014 has recently opened for bloggers and whilst November may seem a long way away, it is worthwhile registering as early as possible to ... Read more
If the industry’s workforce is to expand, productivity levels will need to increase, says Peter Ducker FIH, chief executive of the Institute of Hospitality One of our industry’s most publicised ... Read more
INTRODUCTION Key Findings Sydney for fun Home of world-famous landmarks, attractions, natural parks and experiences to suit all tastes and budgets, Sydney is a major leisure destination. Strong prospects for ... Read more
There is one area of travel that technology has yet to tackle well. We are getting there but I don’t think that it is yet good enough. Pre-Internet when travel ... Read more
There have been a few more blog posts doing the rounds recently announcing the death of the social media consultant. The broad argument goes that, as companies have gotten used ... Read more
Peter Ducker FIH asks whether it is better for hotel operators to own property or not Optimism about hotel development, financing and property values is growing. At the annual International ... Read more
Facebook autoplay videos are the new Marmite – people either love them or hate them. Either way, they are hard to ignore. Starting last September, Facebook started trialling autoplay videos ... Read more
Nucleus, the brand, digital and intellectual property consultancy has been regularly surveying its clients since 2011, tracking the growth in mobile web browsing. The company’s latest survey highlights the continued ... Read more
Key Facts SWOT: Beijing STRENGTHS Wealth of resources… As China’s capital for more than 600 years, Beijing has a wealth of historical and cultural attractions. Ancient palaces and temples vie ... Read more
Twitter has become a commercial beast for some time now. But until last week, I’d not really considered it as a potential business tool, instead using the network for chat. ... Read more
If there are large numbers of young people out of work, then why are major employers struggling to fill positions? Peter Ducker FIH, chief executive, Institute of Hospitality, reports. In ... Read more
You have just received a new Like on your brand’s Facebook page. Job done. In fact, the job is far from done and it is beginning to get even harder. ... Read more
This year World Travel Market will be celebrating its 35th event. I thought it might be interesting to write a retrospective on how the technology exhibited at WTM has changed ... Read more
Key Facts SWOT: Sao Paulo STRENGTHS Global destination: São Paulo is the largest business centre in Latin America and features numerous culture, fashion and entertainment attractions year round. Geographic location: ... Read more
Throughout the previous four years there have been two perennial questions we have been asked: Can a SME travel organisation like ours really benefit from working with travel bloggers? If ... Read more
Screenshot by Jennifer Van Grove/CNET There’s an old saying in journalism that goes like this: One is interesting, two is co-incidence, three is a blog post. That is to say, ... Read more
The GDS (computerised–reservations systems) were originally created by the largest airlines to distribute their flights through travel agencies, but they then moved on to become independent firms. Industry observers see ... Read more
Thomas Cook Group has this week launched what it calls a “travel industry first”. Holidays to go! is a Twitter-driven offer engine that lets holidaymakers tweet at the company where ... Read more
This is a tale about the storyfication of travel. Once upon a time there was an industry called Travel. It sold holidays to People. People were happy. Travel would tell ... Read more
Travel Blogger Alliances Since the first travel blog post was written by Jeff Greenwald in 1994, there has always been collaboration of sorts between loose groups of travel bloggers. In ... Read more
INTRODUCTION Key Findings Arrivals Up Arrivals to Moscow are showing good growth with over five million visitors in 2012, illustrating the complete recovery from the recession in 2009. Government proactive ... Read more
Four members of the WTM team have just returned from a project visit to Kenya, accompanied by Just a Drop’s Nicola Baskerville and Colonel Mike Reynolds. The teams were visiting ... Read more
Image: Macca Sherifi More than 165 travel bloggers gathered in Newcastle/Gateshead at the weekend in the year’s first UK gathering, allowing observers (including me) to test the waters of the ... Read more
Four members of the WTM team have just returned from a project visit to Kenya, accompanied by Just a Drop’s Nicola Baskerville and Colonel Mike Reynolds. The teams were visiting ... Read more
What does the recent spate of economic good news mean for the UK hospitality industry? Peter Ducker FIH, chief executive of the Institute of Hospitality, shares his thoughts. After nearly ... Read more
Four members of the WTM team have just returned from a project visit to Kenya, accompanied by Just a Drop’s Nicola Baskerville and Colonel Mike Reynolds. The teams were visiting ... Read more
Facebook, which has just celebrated its tenth birthday, issued its latest results at the end of January and the results and comments from senior executives contained plenty of messages for ... Read more
Four members of the WTM team have just returned from a project visit to Kenya, accompanied by Just a Drop’s Nicola Baskerville and Colonel Mike Reynolds. The teams were visiting ... Read more
AIR SEGMENT BACKGROUND LCCs still increasing share LCCs continue to take share from the schedule operators globally, and have been particularly favoured by cost conscious travellers in a time of ... Read more
Stick a pin in a map of the UK and chances are that you’ll find an Instagram community at work in the area. From Cumbria to Dorset, groups have sprung ... Read more
2014 is set to be the year of the tablet. These user friendly devices are expected to make the long-expected jump to global acceptance. Recent figures show that 47.6 million ... Read more
This year, the monies raised at WTM will fund a specific project to bring clean water to two schools in Kenya. WTM is also covering the costs for four staff ... Read more
