NEWS — CONFERENCE REPORT
Derek Moore, Aito,
with Maryam Fallah, Raif Cantekin and Hulya Curtis, all Turkish Airlines
Coming soon: holiday smells
...via mobile
Technology is set to change at such a rapid rate that within five years clients will be able to “smell” food in destinations through their mobile phones. Futurologist Rohit Talwar claimed that in the longer term, consumers will also be able to experience a range of aspects of holidays remotely via technology. Warning travel companies to
‘Google will take out large OTAs’
Google will enter the travel sector as a distribution channel within 18 months in a move that could “take out” large online travel intermediaries, predicted financial journalist David Stevenson. He warned that the travel industry needed to be ready for Google’s market entry by as soon as the end of 2015, but encouraged niche travel companies to engage with the search engine. “What we are waiting for is the emergence of Google as a distribution channel,” said Stevenson. “We reckon in no more than a year and a half, Google will properly enter the travel industry. “Google can only operate
where there are tens of millions of customers. It cannot operate in niche markets, which is why I
David Stevenson
think it is your ally. You provide specialist content and Google likes that. It can operate in the online travel agency (OTA) market. “I think you [Aito companies] should engage radically with Google, put Google on everything. Those who fight Google fail.” Stevenson, who advises
international banks on how to deal with changes in the web and has Google as one of his
clients, suggested large OTAs may struggle to survive or will be acquired by the search engine. “The change will take out OTAs; it (Google) will do that by buying the right businesses,” he said. Stevenson cited TripAdvisor as a company that would survive, hinting that Google could be interested in buying the site “within two years”.
He added that Google had
struggled to put in place a “payment gateway”, but was well on the way to fixing this problem. “That will be solved soon. The mobile gateway is slowly starting to happen. Google is ready in terms of having rich content. They are trying to build a crossover between TripAdvisor and social networking sites,” he said.
future-proof their businesses, he predicted technology would be developed to “embed” into the human body, while banks would embrace digital currencies such as Bitcoin as consumers choose this as a way to pay for holidays. “We are seeing the rapid
evolution of technology. We are going to see technology embedded into our bodies. In a few years you will be able to smell food in destinations via your phone. In 10 to 20 years we will be able to create the experience of being there by stimulating the brain,” he said. Talwar urged firms to plan ahead and create lists of things they needed to “stop doing” in order to focus on the future.
Rohit Talwar
Aito to revive joint conference for agents and operators in 2015 The conference will be held
Derek Moore
The Association of Independent Tour Operators will return to hosting a joint overseas conference for its operator and agent members next year. A poll showed the majority of the association’s agents, operators and affiliate members favoured a joint conference.
from June 11-14, 2015. The destination has yet to be decided but several short-haul and long- haul venues are being considered. There will be combined opening and closing sessions, but separate sessions for agents and operators. “We are talking about ways
for Aito Agents and Aito to work more closely together,” said Aito chairman Derek Moore. Aito held its first joint conference in 2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania, and a second in Madeira in 2012, before returning to separate conferences in 2013. It held its Aito Agents event this year in Prague.
4 December 2014 —
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