AS the Middle East travel community makes the inevitable shift from offline to online booking channels, Arabian Travel Market (ATM) launches dedicated technology seminar series for 2012.
Technological development is undoubtedly a game changer for the global tourism industry, and the critical decision facing the region’s travel community – how to embrace and implement next generation technologies - is something that ATM has earmarked as a hot topic for 2012.
Throughout the Middle East, travel agents are already diversifying away from traditional booking channels in the face of increasing competition from technology; and business and leisure travellers are making the move from offline to online bookings, buoyed by improved Internet transaction security.
A major issue for travel agencies is not only the online booking capabilities of major regional airlines, but the growing number of online travel agencies (OTAs), which are pursuing aggressive development agendas and investing millions of dollars into promoting one-stop online booking portals.
The Middle East travel community is still very much people focused; something that distinguishes it from other markets where face-to-face interaction or a key contact on the other end of a phone line is becoming a thing of the past. However, online booking functionality is now the norm within the regional airline community and this is leading the shift in mindset on both the part of the consumer and a growing number of the region’s travel agencies.
The region’s travel sector is now at an important crossroads; where the desire to retain long-standing customer relationships is in a standoff with the pressing need to embrace Internet technology in order to ensure commercial survival.
This now-or-never dilemma prompted the team at Reed Travel Exhibitions to develop a dedicated technology seminar series for ATM 2012. At this year’s event we will give the floor to a host of leading digital experts specialising in the travel sector, who will lead a number of interactive sessions focusing on the latest technological advances and trends in online consumer behaviour. To support this, we have also enlisted a panel of industry analysts who will share invaluable insight into the most talked about digital trends.
While technological advancement is accelerating, many travel IT experts believe that companies in the Middle East are languishing up to five years behind other international markets, despite having one of the fastest growing Internet populations in the world. The ATM 2012 technology seminar series will provide an open forum to debate this topic and discuss the next steps for the regional travel community in overcoming these concerns.
With e-commerce activity in the Middle East currently valued at around $100 billion, this is widely acknowledged to be one of the fastest growing regions in the world, and has seen a tenfold surge in online spending since 2001. A high proportion of this estimated online spend can be attributed to the travel and tourism sector, given the restrictions on general online shopping in the Middle East.
According to Expedia, the number of online travel bookings in the Middle East is forecast to double in the next five years, up from around 20 to 25 per cent currently, with a noticeable increase reported in just the last two years.
However, growth in the Middle East is still playing catch-up with other regions, such as Europe, despite concerns over the debt crisis. Online travel agency Priceline reported a 73 per cent jump in international bookings in the third of this year, with European bookers leading the way. Expedia’s third quarter international sales, which include Europe, also jumped 24 per cent, compared with seven per cent for the US.
OTAs such as uflyonline.com, yalago.com and cleartrip.ae are reporting increasing levels of interest and growing number of visitors to their sites; but the online movement is also being driven from within the industry with a number of traditional agencies looking at adding an online element to their business. The development of complementary online products in order to offset potential declines in revenue streams as travellers go direct is a pivotal decision facing key industry players in the region.
The implementation of new technology is also being affected by operational concerns such as supporting functionality and out-of-date back office systems, and is further compounded by banking sector issues including high credit card charges and the prevalence of debit cards; all of which will be debated by experts from both sides of the table during ATM 2012.
With the trend towards online transactions inevitable, we want our seminars to both inspire the industry and communicate the benefits of embracing technological change while ensuring that the business of travel remains a very personal one.
Mark Walsh is the group exhibitions director for Arabian Travel Market, Reed Travel Exhibitions.