ITB 2011: Part 2 - Key trends and learnings for Cape Town

The Internet has become the predominant channel for consumers to search for and buy travel with up to 95% of the world's constantly connected generation of travellers and tourists search for travel information online, 55% bought travel online in 2010 (up from 45% in 2009) and 65% are influenced by their online community.

Social media and mobile technology will continue to change the face of the tourism industry dramatically in future. Holiday tips from friends worldwide, interactive bookings and mobile travel guides at the destination will become the norm in years to come. Around the world more and more travellers are using social media. In the USA, about 52% of the 152 million adult leisure travellers - or some 79 million people - use social media in researching travel destinations and making travel decisions by means of online bookings.

The growing importance of mobile

Smart phones and mobile applications are becoming progressively important as both general business and customer trends, but they are even more pertinent to the travel industry than to other sectors.

Travel takes consumers out of their homes and offices, away from our desktops and laptops, often to places where we don't have access to Wi-Fi or wired Internet connections. Mobile technology allows travellers to access to information about itineraries or locations and allows travellers to communicate with social and business circles while in a destination. Mobile is an always-on, always-available communication channel that has significant benefits for travellers and offers new opportunities for travel providers and destinations in providing top-of-mind, live and interactive information about destinations.

Mobile is the next real platform in travel and a key area that the tourism industry needs to look to, especially if we plan to target new markets such as Asia. With over 450 million mobile Internet subscribers in the Asia Pacific region, the business opportunities for destinations and travel products like hotels and attractions to leverage this platform are massive. India alone has 127 million mobile Internet subscribers while China has 155 million. A Juniper Research forecast that the mobile payment market will be worth some US$630 billion (about R4300 billion) by 2014 in terms of gross transaction values. Asia Pacific has the largest number of mobile subscriber base in the world with over 2.1 billion phone subscriptions in 2010, with a growth forecast of 50% by 2020.

Smart travellers

The dramatic success of smart phones such as the iPhone over the last few years opens up exciting new opportunities for the travel industry. As many as 40% of international travellers already own a smart phone with internet and e-mail access and other functions, while 57% have a conventional mobile phone (2% still do not have a mobile phone), this year's World Travel Monitor revealed. More than 40% of smart phone owners already use their devices to get destination information, and 34% of business travellers / 26% of leisure travellers use them to make booking changes during their trip.

Unsurprisingly, more and more travellers are also using social networks by mobile access during their trips. As many as 37% of international leisure travellers say they use mobile social networks, according to the World Travel Monitor. This means holiday photos and other contents are being posted online on sites such as Flickr or Facebook while the traveller is still at the destination.

A powerful new tool for the tourism sector could be the combination of GPS with the in-built camera which can be developed into so-called 'augmented reality'. This refers to viewing something through the smart phone camera combined with additional screen displays of information or images. This creates an interactive display of the user's immediate surroundings. LonelyPlanet has already launched interactive city guides for smart phones featuring this technology.

The impact of augmented reality

Destinations are now starting to take advantage of augmented reality. The Dutch Tourist Board, for example, recently launched such a smart phone app under the name "Holland-layer" using the free Layar Augmented Reality technology. Consumers firstly download the app to their smart phone and can then use the phone's camera to call up location-based tourist information and get directions. Information is generated from the tourist board's database covering 17 000 points of interest in the country.

With the onset of information overload, credibility and dependability is critical for users of social media. Experts agree that now, more than ever before, destinations and tourism products must establish trust with the users.

Cape Town Tourism has made extensive use of emarketing in the lead-up and aftermath of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Our more than 180 000 followers on Facebook Group, I Love Cape Town, and regular blogs, twitter feeds, Flickr competitions and web itineraries are all part of a communications solution that speaks to today's traveller. The web and social media platforms have made it possible for challenger destinations like Cape Town to gain credibility as a result of user testimonials. Cape Town was recently rated as one of the Twenty Five Best Destinations in the World by Tripadvisor users; tangible credit to our authenticity.

Innovation is key to competing successfully

Experts at ITB agreed: destinations and products that rely on the same tried and tested marketing techniques would lose out to their more innovative rivals. To maintain the competitive edge, a city brand needs to be authentic, must appeal to locals first, have emotional pull, and have real stories to tell. Storytelling is changing. Facebook has replaced holiday albums and Flickr is the new slide show. Research shows that people spend the most time in the planning and memory phase of their holidays and sharing their experiences now takes place on Facebook and Twitter.

Cape Town Tourism has been tweeting live from the ITB convention using the twitter #ITBCT. We posted more than 300 up-to-date comments to the tourism and hospitality industry in Cape Town over the cause of the 3 day convention. You are welcome to follow our tweets at www.capetown.travel/industry.

Cape Town Tourism will again be a co-sponsor of the annual E Tourism Africa Summit that will be held in Cape Town during September. To kick off our practical engagement of E-Tourism with our industry, the quarterly Joint Association Membership Meeting (JAMM) of Cape Town Tourism, FEDHASA Cape, SAACI and SATSA Western Cape planned for 15 March 2011 will focus on E-Tourism. The session will bring together over 200 delegates to hear about how the tourism industry needs to become Future Fit to benefit from advances in technology and changing global travel trends.

(Read ITB 2011: Part 1 - key trends and learnings for Cape Town)