Delta Airlines Leads in First Ever Digital IQ Index for the Travel Industry
The results of the first ever digital IQ index for the travel industry have just been released and according to L2, the company behind the research, Delta Airlines was the top travel company of the 89 brands across airlines, hotels and cruise lines whose digital competence index has been measured. The travel industry report follows other successful L2 indexes analyzing industries including the automotive, pharmaceutical and specialty retail segments.
The index observed and measured the digital efforts of well known travel brands based on four major criteria – their website, their digital marketing strategy, their social media presence and their mobile marketing strategies, each of the analyzed brands being scored against over 350 qualitative and quantitative data point. The Digital IQ ranking that could be assigned to each brand were Genius, Gifted, Average, Challenged or Feeble. Read more…
Decision in Google – ITA Deal Just Around the Corner
Google’s attempt to buy airline ticketing software company ITA has aggravated all the big names in the travel industry. The deal they are all fearing might finally go through in a matter of days, as the Justice Department is reportedly close to decision that would allow the make the acquisition, but would require the search giant to also make sure the software is still available to its competitors. Reuters cited an unnamed source that mentioned the decision is only days away, not weeks, as some speculated.
Google which currently is the world’s market leader in search made their intention to buy ITA Software for 700 million US dollars in cash last July. Almost instantly, Kayak, TripAdvisor and other major online travel companies showed concern over being deprived of the possibility to use the software. Read more…
European Online Travel Market, Two Digit Growth in 2010
The European online travel market shows signs of a mild recovery after dealing with the effects of the worldwide economic downturn and is expected to report a 10% growth for 2010, according to a PhoCusWright preview of their soon-to-be-released report, “PhoCusWright’s European Online Travel Overview Sixth Edition.” After an 11% decline in 2009, the total European travel market is expected to grow 2% over the current year.
“For travelers who may have been hesitant to book online, the recession provided the extra push they needed,” says Carroll Rheem, director, research at PhoCusWright. “Deal seekers turned to the Internet, and online travel agencies in particular, to find affordable options.” Read more…
Online Travel and the Myths Surrounding it
Nowadays, you can find everything online: hotels, cheap flights, information on what to do in any corner of the world. With agencies and travel shoppers moving online, what’s really happening behind the myths? Are young travellers really shopping online only? Are travelers really moving back offline? Here’s an interesting piece on myths and the statistics contradicting them. Enjoy!
