FYI Articles

A new Global Edition report from PhoCusWright reveals that the wall once separating corporate travel from leisure travel and employees' personal lives is eroding, creating a "smart," digitized and socially influenced managed travel space. According to PhoCusWright's U.S. Corporate Travel Report: Market Size and Technology Trends, managed travel programs, applications and tools increasingly leverage elements that travelers are already familiar with in their personal lives.
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Improved confidence among U.S. consumers has started to breathe some life back into the travel industry. But while hotel and air suppliers continue to benefit from the uplift in morale, a new Global Edition study from PhoCusWright reveals that many still are not spending. Nearly four in 10 (38%) did not purchase a single leisure vacation within the past year. In fact, the entire traveler pool remained stagnant at 62% of all U.S. adults – well under pre-recession levels, when over 70% traveled for leisure. U.S. economic recovery is certainly happening – just not for everyone.
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Daily deals sellers may be relatively recent entrants into travel distribution, but the flash sales model has captured an enormous amount of industry attention. What impact will travel daily deals have on online travel distribution overall, and will the channel remain attractive to travel suppliers in the long run? According to Travel's Daily Deal: Distribution Disruption or Flash in the Pan? (a Global Edition publication), travel daily deals sales comprise just a sliver of the total U.S. online travel market.
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Thanks to improvement in consumer confidence, the online travel industry has seen rising stocks and improved conditions for air and hotel suppliers in our industry's ecosystem. That's because Americans have defied expectations by continuing to spend money even as their gasoline bills skyrocket. Online air transactions were up 6% in February, and hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) climbed, according to PhoCusWright's recent TravelStats. Of particular interest to travel sellers is the 11% gain in early-2012 spending at U.S. restaurants, which shows that even the most discretionary items in consumers' budgets are holding up for now.
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The story of traditional leisure retail travel agencies is not solely one of decline. While the total number of agencies has fallen dramatically over the past 15 years, many leisure storefront agents have migrated to a home-based model – operating either independently or in affiliation with a travel agency or host agency. According to The Once and Future Agent: PhoCusWright's Travel Agency Distribution Landscape 2009-2013 (a Global Edition publication), the home-based agent population, which focuses overwhelmingly on leisure travel, soared to 40,000 in 2011, from 31,000 in 2006.
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Ancillary revenues are big business for airlines and cruise lines alike. Few airline optional services are bookable via the GDS or offer agent commission, and cruise line compensation on cruise fare add-ons has dwindled. Despite these impediments to travel agent booking, a new analysis by PhoCusWright reveals a surprisingly high percentage of travel agents are not only booking various ancillaries, but they are booking them in equally surprising ways.
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Despite the belief that business travelers tend to disregard price when the company is footing the bill, a recent report from PhoCusWright finds that cost remains an important factor in travel planning, both for travelers who are guided by a corporate travel policy and those who are not. According to PhoCusWright's U.S. Business Traveler: Managed, Unmanaged and Rogue (a Global Edition publication), three in 10 managed business travelers who break with policy do so because they book whatever travel brand offers the best price.
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The past 15 years have brought dramatic changes to how travel is booked in the U.S. Consumer migration to online channels has driven a decline in the number of traditional travel agencies. But traditional agencies still account for one third of travel bookings in the U.S., and today's travel agents are reinventing themselves to stay relevant and competitive. According to The Once and Future Agent: PhoCusWright's Travel Agency Distribution Landscape 2009-2013 (a Global Edition publication), traditional travel agencies accounted for nearly US$95 billion in travel sales in 2011, or one third of the $284 billion U.S. travel market.
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A new report from PhoCusWright reveals that U.S. business travelers mix business and leisure travel more often than some companies and travel managers might expect. According to PhoCusWright's U.S. Business Traveler: Managed, Unmanaged and Rogue (a Global Edition publication), nearly half (47%) of business travelers add leisure extensions to at least one of their trips every year. And while unmanaged travelers are slightly more likely to mix business with pleasure (53%), about four in 10 managed travelers (39%) commonly blur the line between work and play. The popularity of this behavior reveals that understanding the business/leisure crossover is key to effectively addressing the full range of business travelers' wants and needs.
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With smartphone adoption soaring, the tug-of-war to attract the attention of mobile travelers is in full swing. As the ranks of always-on, always-connected travelers continues to grow, travel suppliers and intermediaries are vying for traveler ownership in each phase of the travel life cycle. PhoCusWright's recent Innovation Edition report Mobile Hits the Mainstream: Technology and Industry Trends, features findings from interviews with over 50 travel executives to identify the key areas of mobile focus for each.
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