Here & There: Hospitality Industry 2013, Mobile Apps Updates, Survey Results
Today’s Here & There covers updates from the airline industry, hospitality industry outlook for 2013, travel industry survey results, updates on travel mobile apps and thought provoking reads like – What does it take to fly for free? Increasing demand for self-service functionality at airports.
Seven Things To Know About Expedia’s Award-Winning FriendTrips Facebook Campaign
Expedia’s famous “FriendTrips” Facebook app/game was awarded Digital Marketing “Best of Show” at the 56th Annual Adrian Awards competition. The award was presented to Expedia Media Solutions, the advertising sales division of Expedia, Inc. The award event was hosted by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), the Adrian Awards honor those who have created exceptional advertising, digital marketing and public relations campaigns in the hospitality, travel and tourism industries.
50+ Airline Fees Changes Noticed In 2012; Detailed Study On Ancillary Revenue
Airline fees are on a rise and there is no question to that. In recent years, a price increase has always been followed by another price increase and so on. The main cause of this chain reaction is ancillary fee that is added to the base price of the airline. Irrespective of whether a carrier is LCC or full-service, ancillary fee is levied by them. Nowadays, its not a question of “Who doesn’t charge ancillary fee?”, rather its a question of “Who charges lesser ancillary fee?”.
Infographic: HostelBookers Reveals Top Cities, Wifi Countries, Mobile Bookings
HostelBookers.com, a budget accommodation website has released an infographic on various factors such as: Top holiday cities of 2012, Best wi-fi cities of 2012 etc. The infographic is prepared based on the internal data that HostelBookers possess.
Indian Railways Reports Strong Growth In Passenger Travel & Cargo Transport – Year on Year
Indian Railways has announced Rs 89,906.46 crore ($17.9 Billion) as its total earnings for period of 1st April to 31st December 2012. For the same duration in 2011, the total earnings were Rs 75,009 crore ($15 Billion), that’s a net increase of 19.86% in 2012. Indian Railways is one of the biggest rail networks in the world with an operating capacity of 1.4 million employees. Every year the number of trains and booking are on the rise.
25.8 Million Mishandled Bags Cost The Industry $2.58 Billion – Baggage Lost & Found Infographic
Losing baggage during travel (esp in Airports) is one of the most common problem a traveler faces. Baggage handling at airports have been becoming better year by year. And, this is made possible with services like AirportLostAndFound.com and SITA’s WorldTracer. AirportLostAndFound has released an infographic that brings to light some interesting information regarding baggage management. Among all, the one statistic that immediately raises the hope of a traveler is – 99% of the checked in bags were delivered on time. Infographic by AirportLostAndFound is below.
Kentucky Fried Chicken’s 26 Year Old Initiative Goes Viral In 2012
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), the famous eatery brand has been doing a particular thing differently. That is employing people with hearing and speaking disabilities. We shall refer them as differently abled. KFC, an83 year old brand has been doing this since 1986, that’s for the past 26 years. In 1986, KFC started employing differently abled people in Malaysia. The restaurant was a big hit, itwas a clear win-win situation. After this success, KFC opened two more restaurants that employed differently abled people.
Google’s Great Online Shopping Festival – Who, What and How Travel Companies Sold
Googles’ first ever ‘Great Online Shopping Festival’ (GOSF) has come to an end (as we type). Last week, we reported about Google’s foray into deal space in India. The concept is simple – a replication of Cyber Monday in India – brining amazing deals online for 24 hours (Dec 12th). There has been reports about Google calling GOSF a huge success. But, no numbers are relased yet. We did observe some interesting things during GOSF.
Will Etihad Acquire Stake In Jet Airways or Kingfisher Airlines? Detailed Analysis By Travopia
In the year 2011, Asia Pacific airlines contributed 46% of the total airline industry profits. Asia Pacific is reported the most profitable of all region with earnings at $2.1 billion and its the only region where demand increase (6.4%) is expected to outpace capacity growth (5.9%). When we drill down further into Asia Pacific, India especially is a big player with significant scope for growth in air industry. In India, there are around 1,50,000 airline seats
US Car Rental Industry Outlook, Trends That Are Changing The Game
Car rental industry took a plunge in 2009 due to the economic recession wave. The primary reason to this is the hit in airline industry which affected the airport pickup/drop centric car business. Car rental companies were forced to think outside airport pickup/drop business. In 2011, car rental industry slowly emerged out from recession and the years 2012 and 2013 are looking very positive for the industry.
Do Travellers Book Hotel From An Airline Website? Answer is a strong YES
In travel industry, the one question that can never be certainly answered is – Who eats who? By ‘eat’, we mean the marketshare. We will keep things simple and say that – In the year 2000, Online Travel Agencies (OTA) took a major marketshare from offline Travel Agents, and now (post 2010) Airline websites are posing a serious threat in taking over marketshare from OTAs. This is seemingly becoming evident in the last couple of years.
50% of Online Hotel Bookings In India Are For 3 Star Hotels – Infographic by Goibibo
Indian hospitality market is clearly marching forward with a very positive future. In 2011, India witnessed 740 million travellers and 6+ million Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA). India is considered as an attractive market for hotels and has second biggest construction pipeline in Asia. India has 1.7 lakh hotel rooms and an estimated 60,000 rooms to be added in the next 3 to 5 years.
Social Media Strategy Masterclass For Travel Companies
If content is king, then the place where it is shared is the kingdom. Social media is exactly what we are referring to. What Mark Zuckerberg started as a hobby is a bread and butter for many. How important is it to manage and maintain your brand’s online reputation? Will it affect revenue? Will working with travel blogger be of any help for a brand? How travel purchase has evolved over years? What is social graph?
Going Mobile: Industry Statistics, Native App vs Mobile Website, Data Driven Approach In Mobile
Mobile is evidently changing the way we live, talk and communicate. In 2010, Steve Jobs announced that the industry is moving towards ‘post-pc’ era and we couldn’t agree more. What does it take to build a disruptive native app? Which one should we focus first – building a mobile website or a native app? What’s the future of mobile market 3 years down the lane? What’s the fuzz about data driven decision making?
African Aviation Industry – Deep Dive Analysis By FastJet, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways
Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populous continent. Is Africa really taking advantage of these factual numbers? How’s the aviation market performing in Africa? How safe is African aviation now? Why are countries like China and India investing in African aviation? How the gulf carriers are penetrating into African market segment? Is the perception of the west towards Africa changing? What’s the growth plan for African airlines for next 20 years?
