Travel 2.0

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Travel 2.0 is an offshoot of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Like many other industries, the online travel industry is currently in transition, adapting to new technologies and trends available on the Internet.^[1] Travelers, for their part, are becoming increasingly more interested in finding the opinions and reviews of their fellow travelers in lieu of professional travel advice.^[2] . This impact is significant given the travel sector's economic influence on the Internet, indeed more money is spent on travel than anything else online. Roughly two-thirds of Americans research and plan travel online and approximately the same amount book online as well.^[3] The online travel industry breaks down into several different categories: online travel agents, online travel guides, online travel planners, and online travel communities and forums.^[4] Together, these four groups make up the bulk of what are considered Travel 2.0 companies.

Online travel agents comprise the majority of commerce taking place on the internet and this is where most of the "Big Three" (Airplane tickets, Car Rentals, Hotel Rooms) get sold.

Many of the online travel guide websites started off as regular printed tour books (Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet) but the newest crop of Travel 2.0 online travel guides include Virtual Tourist, EpicTrip, TripCart and WikiTravel.

One of the newer trends to hit the online travel industry is the ability to plan an entire trip online from start to finish.

[edit] References

1. ^ Business travel 2.0. Times Online. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
2. ^ Travel 2.0: Social networking takes a useful turn. USAToday. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
3. ^ Online Travel's Future is Now. iMedia Connection. Retrieved on April 6, 2007.
4. ^ The pros and cons of peer reviews. MSNBC. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.