Tour operators risk being squeezed off the Internet by the on-line travel agencies, Thomson Travel Group development director John Wells has warned.
In the traditional travel marketplace, it is the retailers who fear they are being cut out of the loop but the roles could be reversed on-line if tour operators don’t plan their e-commerce strategy carefully. On-line travel portals are currently hungry for tour operator content but Wells predicted that in time, the operators could end up being disintermediarised.
“We must not give thoughtless access to our content,”said Wells. “It starts with the operator’s branding on the Web site. Eventually this branding will become smaller until we are just seen as a commodity supplier.”
He urged suppliers to consider the cost-effectiveness of on-line partnerships. “Some of these guys are asking for 5%of our sales revenue to go on their sites. Lunn Poly is a very cost-effective distribution channel and costs just 2.6% of our sales to run 800 outlets,” he said.
Wells said electronic media would occupy a role alongside high-street shops as a distribution outlet for Thomson.
“It’s all about capturing people when they want to make the transaction, whether that’s when they walk into a high-street shop or at 11pm.”