Right now, the online travel market is the only travel market showing positive growth. Players unheard of before the internet dominate travel sales. Not just online travel agents like Expedia and lastminute.com, but also suppliers such as Ryanair and easyJet, which quickly understood the potential, invested heavily in pushing sales through the online channel and cleaned up.

Published: 30 Apr 2009

Right now, the online travel market is the only travel market showing positive growth. Players unheard of before the internet dominate travel sales. Not just online travel agents like Expedia and lastminute.com, but also suppliers such as Ryanair and easyJet, which quickly understood the potential, invested heavily in pushing sales through the online channel and cleaned up.

Now the mobile channel is starting to show similar disruptive tendencies. According to a recent EyeforTravel Research survey, 74% of travel companies see “Mobile” becoming an increasingly important element of their online/digital strategies. It will be interesting to see how early adopters fare this year, which companies will make serious money first, and how they’ll do it.

Expedia is already selling direct via smartphones and taking sizeable bookings. Marriott too is reporting great ROI on its mobile investments, and previously unheard of companies such as Rearden Commerce are doing amazing things with mobile that could once again throw the partnerships and methods you use to sell your product into complete turmoil.

Outside of the US, theJet Airways JetWallet application allows consumers to book, pay, check in and alter their itinerary directly from their mobiles. Both Lufthansa and Sixt have well established mobile portals allowing bookings and cancellations. Lufthansa in addition have reported over 50,000 customers a month using their mobile boarding pass service.

So how do you go about initiating a mobile strategy for your travel company? Is it all about sales? And what investment do you need to make now to ensure that you are maximising your presence in this vital new marketplace?

To help all travel companies get to grips with the issues and start formulating a strong and profitable mobile strategy, EyeforTravel Research is organising a free one day Mobile in Travel Forum to take place on 19th May at this year’s Travel Distribution Summit in London.

The event is completely free to attend for travel companies and attendees will have the opportunity to listen to experts in the field of mobile technology in travel.

To find out more and to register for free, go http://events.eyefortravel.com/school-of-mobile/register-logix.asp

All attendees will also get a free advanced copy of EyeforTravel Research’s latest Mobile in Travel Report which contains valuable insight into how your customers view the mobile channel. After the event, the report will be sold for £250, so this will be your only chance to get a free copy.

Space is limited, so to guarantee your place and your free report, register now at http://events.eyefortravel.com/school-of-mobile/register-logix.asp