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Putting e-Travel in Context
4 June 2001

A couple of pieces of research that landed on my desk this week reminded me that the world of e-travel is but part of a larger online universe. It was refreshing to see online travel being ranked and explored alongside other retail sectors and information products. (Yes! Never forget that travel is just information at the point of sale. When it is bought, it does not yet exist.)

The first piece of research was commissioned by Energis, which has just launched its Travel Network to compete with Telewest and X-TANT. Called the "e-tail confidence report", it surveyed 250 European e-commerce strategists from online arms of established companies, as well as online only businesses ("pure-plays" in online jargon), across eight retail sectors. The news is good. Despite fears of a US-led slowdown, 75% believe that online sales will continue to build over the next six months. The most confident are the Brits (86%). The sector predicted to do best is travel, highlighted by 45% of those polled, followed by books/CD distribution (34.8%). Remarkable when you consider that travel is such a relatively high ticket item. (Albeit, I am sure I saw some low cost flights advertised recently for less than a Britney Spears CD.)

Another highlight of the survey was the naming of Amazon.com as the e-tailer who has built the most successful online brand. Of course, many entrepreneurs would consider that they could also build a decent brand if their businesses could afford to lose the same amount of money as Amazon.com (about $200 million loss for the quarter to 31 March 2001). 

The second survey, commissioned by Mondex across 1,000 UK households, is quite intriguing. It asks how much people would be willing to pay for online delivery of information. At the bottom of the list, women would only pay an average of 6p for a horoscope (men 16p). In fourth place behind financial information at 112p, pre-pay mobile time at 111p, and Internet games at 100p, is tailored travel advice at 95p.

Both surveys confirm how much more important the online world is to travel than just about any other sector. The Energis survey makes it clear that this is particularly so in the UK, where our credit card culture lends itself so well to online retailing, and our desire to holiday overseas gives us a thirst for travel information that can be so conveniently satisfied online. I am not convinced by the Mondex survey. I cannot imagine people paying 95p for a travel itinerary that they could get for free when booking with a travel agent. But it is a pointer that consumers will commit time, if not money, to researching travel online.

So, as I have said in the past, if yours is one of the dwindling minority of travel companies which has so far ignored the online universe, you'd better think of something fast. These surveys point to the fact that, one day, every travel company will be an online company. The rest will have gone out of business.

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