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Today’s traveler thrives on information and channel jumping

March 19, 2008 | Hospitality Industry

Today's traveller is an information consumer who thrives on channel jumping to get what they want in their daily life - and when purchasing travel. The purpose of the trip outweighs the individual traveler profile, says Sabre's Hans Belle.

From a GDS’ perspective, Hans Belle, Vice President, Sabre Travel Network, Asia Pacific, a speaker during EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2008 conference being held in Singapore, says there’s no ‘traditional customer’ anymore.

“Today’s traveller is an information consumer who thrives on channel jumping to get what they want in their daily life - and when purchasing travel. So yes, we agree that the purpose of the trip outweighs the individual traveller profile - which is still an important tool to understand their habits. Today’s traveller might not mind a cheap, less conveniently-scheduled last-minute vacation trip booked via an online travel agent or airline site. But they then might seek help from a specialised leisure agent for a complex family trip. Then for business travel, that same traveller might use GetThere, or the corporate agency, to comply with corporate business travel policies,” Belle told EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta.

He added, “So how should airlines or other suppliers approach distribution to succeed given this now being the ‘normal’ traveller behaviour? Tt’s about choices - airlines or other suppliers—need to be in front of that traveller wherever they want to buy. This means it’s vital for airlines to have a multi-channel distribution strategy. Direct and indirect channels generally compliment - rather than conflict with - each other because of the fundamental difference in shopping behaviour for different types of trips.

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