Travel technology trends

Here’s some interesting travel technology news that appeared in my inbox this week. I subscribe to plenty of on-line travel related sites so my inbox is always buzzing with facts and figures.

It appears that there are falling numbers of travelers who use the internet to both research and buy are declining in what is being called a "wake-up" call by Henry Harteveldt, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research.

Here are some of his comments and observations: "What we're seeing is an early warning signal: fix the problem or else," he said. He added: "To keep online consumers interested in online booking, travel companies need to overhaul their systems to sell the way people want to buy. This marks the first time since 9-11 that the fast-growing online travel market has seen a decline.”

Forrester's most recent study this month found that the number of US leisure travel bookers fell 9% from 2005 to 2007.

This is interesting data as during the same time period the numbers of travelers using a live travel agent keeps increasing. Refer to some of my past posts for information on this trend.

You can read Harteveldt’s report here: http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1123271.php