Click with web users or lose out

What’s your New Year’s resolution? Having asked some of the region’s top travel bosses to give us their industry predictions for 2011, I’ve come back with one top tip: and that’s if you haven’t got yourself online yet — you had better get on to it — and fast.

Over the past year I’ve lost count of the number of travel agents who have quite confidently told me that there will always be a place in this market for the traditional travel agent, that online adoption is low compared to other markets, that people here don’t like using credit cards to book online and prefer the face-to-face contact that a travel agent affords.

Well, the region might be lagging behind, but it also has a habit of catching up very fast. All our industry experts pegged a massive uptake in online bookings as the biggest trend for 2011.

These days everyone is hooked up to the net via an iPhone, a Blackberry or an iPad. And there’s no escaping the fact that these people will want to deal with their travel agent online — whether this means being able to find you there in the first place, research all your offers and make a booking with you.

Online travel agencies are fast making an entry into the Middle East, stealing market share from traditional agents, and our experts predict the launch of more big names in the region in 2011.

But which agencies here are truly ready to embrace the selling opportunities afforded by the web? A quick Google search reveals some truly outdated websites — customers don’t need a rundown of your company history on the homepage — where are the holiday packages, travel deals and booking portals?

And what about using social media? Social networks have a massive influence on the younger generation, and sites like Twitter and Facebook provide the ultimate platform to connect directly with your potential customers.

Brothers Nabil and Basel who are heading up new travel brand, Utravel (see p.30) told me some of their most successful marketing had come from putting youth-orientated packages (such as to the Creamfields music festival in Abu Dhabi) on their Facebook page, to an overwhelming response.

Web users won’t walk in through the door, you have to reach out to them. And if you haven’t got yourself online yet — well, what century are you still living in?