The proof is here that old school travel agents are out, and accessible, search engine-friendly travel sites are the future - news that was welcomed by many at this year’s ABTA Travel Convention, but will undoubtedly cast fear into the hearts of travel retailers with low-ranking websites.
Click with Technology, the UK’s leading supplier of travel websites, presented its findings throughout the course of the ABTA Travel Convention, causing ripples of discussion throughout the audience.
“Our Facebook Poll shows us that now more than ever, people are looking to the internet when it comes to booking their summer and winter holidays. This has made it even more crucial for travel companies to invest in their websites and ensure that they’re ranking highly in the search engines, as well as engaging the customer when they visit their website.” Dan Caplin, Head of Search CWT.
Other results from the recent Facebook Poll show that how cheap and sunny a resort is, in conjunction with recommendations from family and friends, means much more to consumers when choosing a holiday destination than issues like the country’s environmental and sustainable tourism policies. In contrast, terrorism was top of the list of when asked what would prevent a holiday booking.
When asked about the possible outcomes of the industry-changing mergers of Thomson with First Choice, and Airtours with Thomson, 51% of responses showed that Facebook users don’t think there will be a reduction in prices, increase in financial security, quality or choice of holidays and those attending the ABTA conference breathed a sigh of relief at the reassuring result that 76% of users would not buy their holidays from supermarkets like Tesco, although whether that will stop the supermarket giant from entering the industry is yet to be seen.
Finally, social networking came in second as consumers’ favourite type of online technology, just behind music downloads and closely followed by photo uploads. CWT has already made significant headway in social media marketing, and has introduced a photo upload area on one of its clients’ websites, Cruise.co.uk, which has been met with a great response and contributes to the website’s considerable success.
“CWT understands the importance of social networking as a revolutionary new tool in attracting and retaining traffic. We will continue to explore pioneering new ways of exploiting this trend, enabling us to remain at the forefront of travel technology.” Peter Hilton, MD of CWT.
Follow this link to see our Facebook Poll results in full.
