Travel 2.0 is not just a hip word, it is something that is actually happening and will bring changes to the online travel industry. Travel planning and booking on the web are among the most popular online activities and online travel sales are growing at an explosive rate (over $115 billion this year) in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region’s (hotelmarketing.com, 2007).

A recent online study conducted under 7000 Tripadvisor users also supports this increasing role in the planning and booking processes. This study found that 82,5 percent uses the Internet as their primary information source for booking a holiday. Furthermore, we see that web 2.0 like functionalities influence the selection process. 57,5 percent of the participants read online reviews to narrow down their choices and 75 percent of these people think that reviews highly influence their choices and give the most objective view (Gretzel, 2007).

But more is coming. The shift to travel 2.0 will offer new means of planning and booking a dream holiday.

Three main characteristics
In this article we will get into three main travel 2.0 characteristics and show some examples. Travel 2.0 centralizes sharing digital content in numerous ways and gives a user more control. Travel 2.0 has three main characteristics:

1. User generated content
2. Comparison services
3. Social Networks

User generated content
Sharing user generated content is not a new concept but combining user generated content to a conventional holiday booking website is. The user experiences more freedom of choice by receiving user-generated information and commercial information. An example of this crossover between travel 1.0 en 2.0 is a website called Holidaycheck.de. It is a conventional holiday booking website, however it also offers reviews, photo’s and video’s on holiday locations made by users. Now you can read how others experienced the accommodation and you can see their amateur pictures of it. Another website is Travelpedia which is a collection of information on countries, locations and hotels. Written and edited by travellers it gives you almost the same information as the lonely planet but then for free, although it is still in its infant state.

Comparison
Travel 2.0 tries to improve search ability by comparison services. Using mash up technology a holiday seeker is enabled to search multiple databases or websites instead of only one. The first examples are found on websites like Farecast and Kayak. They predict the best time to buy your airline ticket (not to confuse with the best flight). Airlines have dominated prices over the years; they in fact adjust prices regularly according to demand, time and season. With these new services we have some extra control on booking a cheaper flight. The wait is for a website that compares holidays across all suppliers, yet I haven’t been able to find one yet.

Social networking
Communities are the word on the web 2.0 buzz. While travelling we connect with fellow travellers, meeting people who like the same activities and we form groups. Travel is in fact an ideal industry for communities to be formed. Imagine connecting people with the same interests and hobbies. This would give you a great reference on where to go, what to see and maybe even find a travel companion. A good example is Gusto this is a social community website for travellers where you can organize, simplify and create and book your dream trip.

Another trend is emerging in the field of group travel, sites like Triphub create small communities; remember those skiing trips with a couple of friends and the hassle of chain like email on who will be present, when and where to go etc. Through mash up technology the formed group can plan, discuss their trip, send invites and let the participants communicate with each other. This website gives your group trip an early start and hopes to make the pre-holiday experience more fun. I expect to see more of these small social networks which will form the bases on pre-holiday experience, the holiday it self and the after experiences. Through mash up technologies the possibilities are endless. For instance one can think of many interesting future services, like proximity broadcasting, real time gps-tracking/recording and much more. A Holliday will become more digitalized than you think.

As you may have noticed travel 2.0 consists mostly of one or more of these three characteristics. To summarize the user gets a more central position, has the ability to create a dream trip and uses information from others and also contributes to this information. Currently we see primarily changes in the booking and selection processes, but that is just the beginning of this voyage.

Source:
Online Travel Reviews Study; Role & Impact of Online Travel Reviews, Dr Ulrike Gretzel, 2007.

Hotel marketing, 2007.