PhoCusWright News

Whether by leaps and bounds, stops and starts, or tiny incremental changes that over time add up to something big – technology and innovation are what keeps the travel industry moving forward. Each year, PhoCusWright weighs in on what we think are the year's most important technology trends. Read on for a sneak peak at three of the trends that made this year's top 10 list. For the complete list, purchase the report or attend today's live webinar.
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Travel industry research authority PhoCusWright today unveiled the theme for its signature event, PhoCusWright Conference, to be held November 19-21, 2013 in Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA. The conference annually attracts over 1,400 senior executives, media and investors from 35+ countries worldwide to advance travel, tourism and hospitality.
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Consumer spending may be on the rise, but when it comes to leisure travel, many Americans are still feeling frugal. According to a new PhoCusWright report, overall leisure travel incidence remained flat in the past year, and many of the U.S. adults who did manage to vacation took fewer and shorter trips. But while the average traveler may still not be feeling confident enough to splurge, there are signs that some vacationers are tentatively loosening the purse strings.
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The Middle East travel industry is regaining momentum following the wave of protests and revolutions that swept the region in late 2011. After growing just 3% in 2011, the Middle East travel market jumped 12% in 2012 and will sustain double-digit growth through 2014, according to a new PhoCusWright report. Online bookings will nearly double between 2011 and 2014, when the region's online leisure/unmanaged business travel market will approach US$16 billion.
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Japan's dominance as Asia Pacific's largest travel market has come to an end, marking a major milestone for the region as an emerging China assumes the top spot. Following over a decade of economic stagnation, Japan's recovery from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been sluggish, and the country's overall travel market growth will slow to 2% by 2015, according to a new PhoCusWright report. Yet Japan's online leisure/unmanaged business travel market, by far APAC's largest, will sustain double-digit growth through 2014.
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Mobile travel bookings may have started out as a footnote on the balance sheet, but smartphones and tablets are on track to capture nearly one in five online travel dollars by 2014. According to a new report, PhoCusWright's U.S. Mobile Travel Report: Market Sizing and Consumer Trends, U.S. mobile leisure/unmanaged business travel bookings will more than triple from 2012 to 2014, when mobile bookings will reach US$25.8 billion.
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If China's economy is slowing, no one told the country's online travel market. Visitors to travel websites in China are increasing nearly six times faster than total Internet traffic, with growth among the country's online travel agencies and metasearch sites leading the charge. According to PhoCusWright's China Online Travel Traffic Report Second Edition, created in partnership with comScore, fewer than one in five Internet users in China visited a travel website in 2Q12 – making travel among the country's smallest online categories.
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The debate over airline ancillaries may steal the headlines, but hoteliers are increasingly getting in on the action. From breakfast and bike rentals to in-room entertainment and event tickets, ancillary sales offer a compelling way for hotels to boost their bottom line. According to a forthcoming PhoCusWright Analysis, Hotel Ancillary Revenue in Europe, European hospitality companies lag their U.S. counterparts in add-on revenue – but opportunity abounds.
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From slideshows and postcards to online travel reviews and social networking posts, travelers have always found a way to share their travel experiences. But U.S. travelers are increasingly using social networks to post about their trips as they travel, according to a new PhoCusWright report. In fact, travelers are more likely to post about trip experiences in the moment than when they get back home.
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Metasearch has received ample press attention of late, with Priceline's recent move to snap up Kayak making headlines. But while the popularity of metasearch is growing among U.S. travelers, its role in supplier traffic referrals via desktop computer hasn't been, according to a new report by PhoCusWright. In fact, online travel agencies (OTAs) contribute a significantly larger share of upstream traffic to hotel and airline supplier websites.
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