The Weekly Eye: New Zealand into orbit, BA breaks ground, TripAdvisor and the future

Happy New Year! Our story picks this week deliver some top tips and trending snippets to propel you into 2014

Space-fuelled tourism

It would appear that if it’s not fevered Hobbit-themed tourism, it seems that a ‘selfie-taking’ astronaut with over a million Twitter followers is what you need to get your destination in frame. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, on an orbit out of space, has said the vineyards around Marlborough at the top of South Island in New Zealand is the place he’d most want to visit following his stint as commander of the International Space Station (ISS) last year, according to The Telegraph newspaper. Hadfield is reported saying that this is the most inviting area from 200 miles above the planet. Last year in April, he tweeted an image of the country with the caption “Blenheim, New Zealand, in the lovely centre of wine country”. He also described his experience of New Zealand from outer space as a “milestone” during his ISS experence. Unsurprisingly tourism authorities in New Zealand are now working hard to get Hadfield grounded.

Looking up with BA

In an in depth article on how creative new technologies can facilitate interactive outdoor displays for travel, EyeforTravel contributor Andrew Hennigan looks first to BA’s latest ‘Look Up’ campaign which involves a billboard display that has a child pointing to a BA aircraft flying overhead in real-time. Created for BA by the agency Ogilvy 12th Floor, the new ads combine digital displays with flight mapping data to create this unusual interaction. The campaign has led to over a million views of the YouTube video plus more than 40,000 hits on the campaign’s landing page. Not stopping at BA, Hennigan also explores how some brands like McDonalds and Tesco are utilising new technologies. It’s well worth a read. http://www.eyefortravel.com/mobile-and-technology/when-digital-met-great-outdoors

TripAdvisor looks ahead

Also on EyeforTravel.com this week we hear from Nathan Clapton, VP of Mobile Partnerships at TripAdvisor who believes that in 2014 the travel industry is more mobile than ever and it’s heading east. In the travel giant’s view, travellers are increasingly seeking value in their travel booking decisions and are spending more time shopping around and researching before booking. Their inspiration comes from many sources: traditional media and advertising, but also from travel blogs and social media platforms. Mobile is key in all this, he says, citing the fact that 32% use smartphones to access social media on holiday, while 36% use them to look for restaurants and 27% for things to do. Read the full story on EyeforTravel.com. 

Taking the guesswork out of CRM

The role of CRM specialists came under scrutiny in 2013, especially with expectations around capitalising on data from all sorts of customer interaction, writes Ritesh Gupta on EyeforTravel.com. This is one of many articles on the site this week that challenge executives to constantly improve their practices and approaches to marketing and selling travel this year. When it comes to CRM, it is particularly important to improve approaches to big data. We hear views from Kerstin Steinberg, global director e-commerce at Worldhotels, who argues that hotel entities need to put in place tools in order to handle the entire range of data. Getting the right people in to marry big data with CRM is another thing to consider.

LGBT: a growing market

San Francisco-based Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI) has released key findings from its annual LGBT travel survey and has released ten top findings. Among these are that for LGBT travellers, Hilton came out tops as the big brand and Kimpton the best boutique brand. New York City remains the number one most-visited destination by LGBTs, with Chicago and San Francisco tied for second.  It seems WiFi is also a big plus for the LGBT community with over 70% choosing a hotel for this reason. Interestingly over 75% of LGBTs under 45 use their mobile devices for travel information. And among those who use their mobile devices, over 80% are using them to find local restaurants, and nearly 60% use mobile devices to research local attractions. 

International GDS agreement with China

Abacus International has announced that it has become the first foreign Global Distribution System (GDS) to serve mainland China, the world’s largest outbound travel market, with the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) approval of licenses for its travel agent applicants. With progress now being made to include guaranteed automated fares from over 90 foreign airlines operating in China today, the move is expected to provide China’s trade with a wider choice of carriers and content to scale their international business Abacus President and CEO Robert Bailey, says the “breakthrough in China” is down to a collaborative strategy, based on knowledge transfer and technological integration with mainland partners. 

Nigeria moves with ticketing times

Proving that Africa is on the move, South Africa’s national business daily, Business Day, reported this week that Treaven Limited Travel and Tours, a recognised travel agency in Nigeria, has unveiled a new online portal – farecatalogue.com - to help people to make ticket bookings, airport transfers, tours and cruises more seamless. Ezenwa-Ugwoke, the firm’s managing director said they had phased paper ticketing for the simple reason that e-tickets have added flexibility, security, convenience and cost-savings as against the use of paper tickets. The airline industry estimates that it would save $3 billion per year if it used e-tickets only and fast-changing Nigeria wants to benefit from this too. 

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