42 ONLINE Mobile Apps
42 ONLINE Mobile Apps are Key to Growth at ebookers Matthias Thürer, Marketing Director of ebookers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, told ITB Berlin News how mobile apps are set to drive the online travel business. Matthias Thürer Marketing Director of ebookers By the end of next year, mobile bookings will be higher than “classic” desktop bookings, and not only for last-minute reservations. That is why ebookers increased its investments for better mobile sites, and has developed a variety of apps for smartphones and tablets that not only enable our customers to search the web for useful travel information like hotel evaluations, but also to book hotels, flights and rental cars on the go. What about customers who find it all too confusing? Our websites are very intuitive. We permanently test for improved site usability, following our tagline ‘Book easier, travel Ebookers increased its investments for better mobile sites happier’ and are able to filter results very well according to the customer’s needs. What are your key USPs? Why should people book through your site? We offer a wide range of mobile sites and apps (iOS and Android, tablet and phone) for instant access, easy filtering and simple, intuitive bookings. Our customers benefit from exclusive hotel deals on mobile devices with up to 65% off desktop prices. Also we have efficient, dynamic packaging capabilities on our website, with visible realtime saving when booking flight+hotel packages, as compared with buying them separately. Another advantage of ebookers is our qualitative worldwide hotel inventory with filters to customise search, and no fees for booking, changing or canceling a hotel. Furthermore, we guarantee low prices on flights, hotels, cars and packages, with regular discounted rates, flash sales and promotional discount codes. TripAdvisor closes in on 100 million user reviews Adam Medros, Vice-President Global Products, TripAdvisor, told ITB Berlin News how the world’s largest travel website maintains its popularity, and is achieving massive user growth in new markets. Mobile is a huge part of what we’re doing to help travelers have the perfect trip Hall 25 Stand 134 TripAdvisor averaged more than 60 million visitors a month, according to ComScore, as we continue to be the largest travel site in world. According to our internal data, total monthly unique visitors to TripAdvisor branded sites grew approximately 45% in the fourth quarter, with Asia Pacific leading the way at over 75% growth. We are truly a global company with more than 60% of our visitors coming from outside of our US and UK markets. And in 2013, we are focused on enhancing the TripAdvisor brand in these markets, amassing more local language content to drive more user growth and engagement. What has made TripAdvisor the world’s most trusted point of reference for travellers? First, we provide the most comprehensive content covering traveller feedback on hotels, restaurants and attractions. We’re rapidly closing in on our 100 million reviews and opinions milestone for more than two million businesses in over 116,000 destinations worldwide. Secondly, we have the freshest content. Providing comprehensive and updated content means that travellers get the most recent and relevant information about the places they are planning to visit. What are you doing to grow the mobile side of the business? Mobile plays an important role and is a huge part of what we’re doing to help travellers plan and have the perfect trip. More than 30 million people have downloaded our TripAdvisor, City Guide, and SeatGuru apps and we are seeing more than 45 million monthly unique visitors on mobile devices. Adam Medros Vice-President Global Products, TripAdvisor ITB BERLIN NEWS • Thursday 7 th March 2013 www.itb-berlin-news.com
TRADE NEWS 43 GTA Sees Global Opportunities Nigel Horne, Senior Vice President for Global Sales & Marketing at GTA explains to ITB Berlin News what the company’s ‘grow where the future is’ strategy means, how the company supports the profitability of travel agent businesses, and the consequences of offering an extended portfolio by geography or segment. GTA’s success comes from the health of our travelselling clients including high street and online agents, tour operators and consolidators. Our dedicated sales teams in all the major and emerging markets already support the travel agent community with tens of thousands of hotels, services, tours and experiences in some 190 countries worldwide. We draw on our network of local people and the strength of long-standing supplier partnerships to stay ahead of the game and spot new trends. Nigel Horne Senior Vice President for Global Sales & Marketing at GTA Nigel Horne has been with GTA for over 18 years in a number of roles, most recently Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing for Asia Pacific & the Americas, Vice President Global Commercial Strategy for the sal es organisation, and acting Chief Commercial Officer for Asia Pacific & the Americas. Before that he was Vice President FIT Commercial Operations for Europe & Latin America, and has held various other sales leadership positions following his early career with Globus/Cosmos and in marketing with British Telecom. He holds a degree in Economics. But as consumer behaviour changes, our clients need to know that when the public walks through their doors or searches on their websites, GTA can provide accommodation and experiences in the destinations they are looking for. We draw on our network of local people and the strength of long-standing supplier partnerships to stay ahead of the game and spot new trends. So you are capturing the opportunities of growth markets. Given that Indonesia is the 2013 partner of ITB Berlin, this would be an obvious place to start. So how are you expanding business opportunities there? Already, the fourth-largest population in the world, Indonesia is a member of Goldman Sachs growing MIST economies – Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey. Its growth has outperformed every major Asian economy after China, helping to raise incomes to the extent that an extra 90 million people are expected to join the middle class by 2030. These are figures that would interest any business and GTA was one of the first global travel companies to establish itself in Indonesia. We recognised its potential a decade ago when we opened an office in Jakarta and began building relationships with travel retailers. Asia as a whole is very interesting. How have you been promoting this area? We’ve just finished a four-month promotion, Destination Asia, which highlighted China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. As many Europeans sought travel agents’ advice to escape the wintry weather, we wanted to raise awareness of the different kinds of accommodation and experiences available. Our worldwide reach and decades of travel expertise means we can act quickly to get competitive rates, ensuring agents benefited from an increase in bookings. What about growth in Africa? Airline passenger numbers are expected to double by 2030 and international hotel brands are already scouting African capitals. Accor will add 30 hotels by 2016 and Marriott is planning a six-fold increase by the end of the decade. We’ve just added 170, 3- to 5-star hotels from 12 countries – Algeria, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zambia – and almost two-thirds are in sub- Saharan destinations. And the Middle East? Intra-regional travel throughout the Middle East has enjoyed enormous growth over the last several years and fully independent travel (FIT) to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman has almost doubled. The domestic destination remains number one for Emiratis with low cost carrier expansion helping them explore their own country and it’s a similar story for Saudis, although Turkey – crossing the divide between the Middle East and Europe – is enjoying double-digit growth. [Interview by GARY SMITH] Hall 9 Stand 202 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Thursday 7 th March 2013
