Online penetration in ANZ will reach 41% of the total travel market for bookings of air, car rental

Now, the always-connected traveller car rental airport cancun is changing the way travel is planned, purchased and serviced. Mobile technology is untethering the planning process, providing a new opportunity car rental airport cancun for travel agents to actively support the planning process.
The business traveller has been an early adopter of mobile technology. Though car rental airport cancun the trip goals are quite different between leisure and business car rental airport cancun travel, the access to immediate information enabled by mobile devices provides an opportunity to travel car rental airport cancun agencies and TMCs (travel management companies) to offer new services to business travellers.
The common denominator across both segments is the need to have both comprehensive content and the ability to leverage the travel agent's expertise to augment the travel planning process and in-destination experience.
Delivering personalised content and services to smart devices is a key strategy for travel agents to prosper in this always-connected age. Travel agents car rental airport cancun now have an excellent opportunity to extend personalised services by providing relevant and proactive information and support to the traveller's smart device.
The travel industry is particularly impacted by mobile-based innovation, as travel, by its very nature, involves mobility. Any device that is portable can automatically be part of the travel experience.
As reviews become more pervasive for both leisure and corporate travellers, travel agents have an opportunity to balance user-generated car rental airport cancun content with trusted travel agent advice to ensure that the traveller's needs are met.
A superior room to one individual may be considered substandard by another client. The key is to understand each individual's requirements so they can be matched with the amenities offered by the property.
Online penetration in ANZ will reach 41% of the total travel market for bookings car rental airport cancun of air, car rental and hotel in aggregate by 2013 – one of the highest penetration rates in the Asia Pacific region and globally.
There is typically car rental airport cancun a great deal of overlap between travellers and mobile device owners. Therefore, penetration of smartphone car rental airport cancun ownership among Australian and New Zealand travellers is likely to be much higher than among the general population.
car rental airport cancun Tablet ownership is also high and adoption is growing rapidly. 20% of Australians between the ages of 15 and 65 currently own a tablet, and 33% of all Australian households include at least one tablet owner. The highest level of ownership is in the 25-44 age group.
Travel agencies must adapt their businesses to support emerging platforms and evolving car rental airport cancun traveller behaviour. Mobile represents a new communication channel for travel agents to connect with their customers.
The opportunity to cross-sell and upsell products based on the traveller's location is significant. Travel agents can also partner with local providers to offer location-based sales for restaurants, tours and entertainment.
As the OTA space becomes more crowded, mobile distribution is also up for grabs. Between January 2010 and December 2011, traffic car rental airport cancun to Wotif's mobile website shot up 366% and its mobile bookings jumped 228%. Webjet estimated mobile traffic would represent 25% of all its traffic in July 2012.
As mobile technology evolves into wearable devices and intelligent assistants, inserting travel agent expertise and advice into the digital process presents an enhanced opportunity to provide relevant and meaningful services to all types of travellers.
No agency – whether a traditional travel agency, a TMC, or an OTA – can survive if customers believe they have better information than the agency, but access to unlimited information does not translate into travel expertise.
Travel agents, who have deep knowledge car rental airport cancun of destinations, need to use this knowledge to provide expert insight into the travel planning process and deliver location-based services that enhance the travel experience.
Travel agents will survive and prosper if they are able to demonstrate their value to the consumer. In the mobile age, that value must translate into flexible, rapid response that marries the always-connected traveller with information that matches the traveller's personal preferences and is tailored to the traveller's location.
Providing a mobile web-optimised tool for smartphones and tablets can help customers organise their searches and save travel elements for review by the travel agent. This is an excellent strategy to embrace and meet this unrestrained car rental airport cancun travel planning phenomenon.
Travel agent's car rental airport cancun role no longer ends with the issuing of documents. Progressive travel agents are in ongoing communication with their customers and offer tips and suggestions across car rental airport cancun the entire trip life cycle through web and mobile channels.
Whether by creating a Facebook fan page or a Twitter following, successful travel agents will embrace both a broadcast model to offer promotions as well as a segmentation strategy that provides promotions to select followers based on their social media preferences.
With mobility allowing social media postings during the trip, progressive travel agents will monitor traveller activity and proactively provide customer service when something goes wrong and is expressed via social media.
Travel agencies must embrace user-generated reviews and encourage customers to rate their travel experiences with hotels, cruises and tours. Agencies must also be open to allowing customers car rental airport cancun to rate agencies' own services.
User-generated reviews from a travel agency's actual customers can be more influential than reviews from unverified sources, and the travel agent can ensure car rental airport cancun that only actual travellers have the ability to create a review. As a result, other agency customers are more likely to trust the reviews.
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