The Long Tail and the Road to Distribution

Summary

The myriad fragmented travel markets sometimes referred to collectively as “the Long Tail” are a healthy and growing bunch overall. But despite early predictions of the Long Tail's speedy rise to stardom in the travel space, many of these businesses have faced obstacles to growth, including lack of standards, limited real-time access to content, market maturity, a financially unsustainable market hierarchy, and limited use of the mobile channel and location-based services. Still, Long Tail markets are continuing to make progress and are becoming an integral part of the travel distribution ecosystem.