Internet Essential for International Visitors-Fáilte Ireland tech conference to focus on importance

Internet Essential for International Visitors-Fáilte Ireland tech conference to focus on importance of online booking engines
 

The internet is the most important factor for almost half of those overseas travellers who decide to visit Ireland with seven out of ten of these relying on the web to plan their visit here. With trends suggesting that up to 25% of people may soon be booking their accommodation through their mobile phone, the importance of keeping up to date with online technology will be emphasised at Fáilte Ireland’s annual e-business conference tomorrow.

This year’s conference, entitled “Your Online Focus – Home and Away”, will explore how technology and tourism can be brought closer together so that Irish businesses can sell more effectively to the 21st century tourist both domestic and overseas. The event will take place at the Radisson Blu St. Helen’s Hotel, Stillorgan from 8.00am.

Delegates will hear from a number of online experts such as Scott Field from Google who will outline how businesses can make themselves more easily found on Google and the tools that are available to make that happen as well as Andrew Weld-Moore from Facebook who will examine the benefits of setting up a business page using social networking sites, such as Facebook, and how tourism businesses can optimise their online presence for both domestic and international consumers.

Trip Advisor will also be present at the conference to discuss the prominence of customer reviews and how tourism and hospitality businesses can most effectively address issues associated with this enormously powerful and popular review platform. 


Speaking in advance of attending the conference, Scott Field from Google said -

"For a long time the online travel consumer has known the value of being able to research and purchase good deals on the Internet. We are seeing a change in their search behaviour with a move to searching online using mobile devices such as phones, tablets, laptops etc. 

“Mobile users are searching for an immediate result that is available locally so it is really important for a business to have an ecommerce website that is enabled for mobile devices or they will lose out on valuable business. One out of every five online travel queries are carried out from a mobile device so businesses need to learn how to turn this change in search behaviour into a business opportunity."

Looking forward to the conference, Mr Stephen Dudley, Fáilte Ireland’s E-business Development Manager, emphasised:

“The majority of travellers now research, plan and book their holidays through the internet with many spending hours visiting a number of websites before making a decision.  An integral part of It is imperative for tourism businesses to engage with new technology and ensure that they online and ready for business.

“We are particularly delighted that this year Trip Advisor is taking part in the conference. Tourism businesses today are operating in an environment where one in two travellers base their choice for a trip on other people’s experiences and reviews. Ensuring that you are up to speed with online reviewing and how to deal with it must be an integral part of a hotel’s day to day activity".

Fáilte Ireland will also be presenting research based on survey with 500 hoteliers and discussions with leading online booking engines in the tourism sector. The findings from the research show that online travel agents are popular with Irish tourism businesses with many using household names such as booking.com, Expedia or lastminute.com to promote their offers in addition to their own site.

For more information on the research findings see note below.

Mr Dudley from Fáilte Ireland continued –

“Over 100 delegates from the Irish tourism industry will attend the upcoming conference ranging from hotel managers and marketing managers to owners and proprietors of other accommodation, activity providers and more. 

“To date, Fáilte Ireland has helped over 3,500 small and medium enterprises to plug into their full online potential through our Web Check and e-business training programmes. Just last month we held our first live industry webinar in digital marketing with a second planned on social media in April. 

“In addition a new “Ask the Expert” tool will be rolled out to industry members as well as an online comparator for OTAs along with a best practice guide for dealing with the booking engine companies.” 

Breakout sessions including an open house workshop will also take place during the day which will enable attendees to meet with the presenters and discuss their offerings on a one to one basis.

**Photographs from the event will be available on request***
  Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority, was established in 2003 to guide and promote tourism as a leading indigenous component of the Irish economy.

The tourism and hospitality industry employs an estimated 170,000 people and generates almost €5 billion in revenue a year.

Research Findings

(See PDF for graphs)

Fáilte Ireland contacted almost 500 hoteliers and held discussions with leading online booking engines in the tourism sector including Go Ireland, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Venere, Irelandhotels.com, Roomex, Lastminute.com, Ebookers and Trip Advisor.
Interesting findings included - 

• Booking.com was the most popular site with 83% of hoteliers’ surveyed working with them in 2011.  Expedia was a close second with 69%, followed by Gulliver (66%) and Irelandhotels.com (65%);
• When asked, 80% believe that these platforms give them access to international markets that may not be possible otherwise but 29% do feel that their business is over reliant on online platforms for bookings;
• Interestingly when asked to expand as to what markets they could access with the use of OTAs, the top four came out as the UK, Germany, France and the USA;
• However almost three quarters of those surveyed spend less than three hours a week updating their offers and rates with the majority (59%) doing this manually as opposed to a channel manager which allows hotels to update and manage their rates and availability across all online platforms instantly.

Surveying the opinion of leading online travel agents, Fáilte Ireland’s research highlighted a number of key tips for tourism operators to implement in order to maximise the internet for their business.

Online travel agents across the board believe booking by mobile phones will make up to 25% of bookings next year and this will have a significant effect on the market. Furthermore, the mobile phone booker tends to be a last minute booker and so the challenge for tourism businesses is to ensure that they have their offers available through mobile friendly channels and also that their content remains fresh and is updated regularly.

Furthermore different online travel agents appear to appeal to different overseas markets, some are stronger for US visitors with others stronger for European and UK visitors.  Smarter tourism businesses need to make their presence felt across a number of these platforms to hit their key markets.

Content remains all important.  A business can gain or lose 3% of potential customers depending on the quality of the photos it puts up online as well as the quality of its descriptions.  Indeed OTAs recommend that any business should have a minimum of 20 good quality photos on their sites to maximise potential customer interest.

Businesses are also encouraged to offer more than their usual rates on the site and include seasonal, advance booking discounts and last minute offers. Furthermore, OTAs are always creating new products and services that tourism providers can benefit from.  For example, Lastminute.com has recently launched “Secret Hotels” and currently 60% of hotels booked in London are in this category while booking.com offers a “Preferred Hotel Scheme” where hotels can agree to pay extra commission for additional marketing opportunities. 
 

Jump to top