Will Old Travel Strike Back?

Old Media Strikes Back is the title of an article on Newsweek.com by Daniel Lyons writing about why Hulu, the venture founded by NBC and Fox is winning the online video race. This has made me realize certain similarities with the travel industry based on his lead in:

As the worlds of technology and media collide, the same contest keeps getting played out over and over again: lumbering old-media companies take on nimble new-media upstarts, and usually the new-media guys win, since it’s easier for them to figure out the content business than it is for the content companies to figure out the techie stuff involved in launching an Internet business.

We can replace “media” with “travel” and come to pretty much the same conclusion. Twelve or so years ago when the web first started to impact business, it was the new outsider tech start-ups like Expedia and Priceline that pioneered online travel. It was way before any of the traditional travel industry players entered the fray. The same was true in Europe and Asia.

It was again the case a few years ago, when travel 2.0 – the phase we’re presently in with online travel research and planning moving online – was ushered in not by the OTAs, the traditional tour operators or destination marketing organizations (DMO) but start-up companies like Uptake, Tripbase, Travelmuse, Triporati and others.

This seems to confirm how hard it is for established companies to break out of the status quo, innovate and, if necessary, change business models. While this might be understandable, what I do not understand why there are not more ventures where these new players are being sought out by the traditionalists to cooperate. This is especially true for DMOs who do not have to fear being a competitor to these companies but a potential partner. The only thing they need to fear is becoming irrelevant in a few years time by not being innovative enough and have their role being assumed more and more by the new disruptors and innovators.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm and is filed under DMO, Marketing, Travel, Travel2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Jake cooper
    great post..
  • Tripsay
    Travel Tips

    It is vital to catch hold of all the big small travel tips before packing your baggage. Always keep a small handy bag with you carrying all the necessary documents such as passport and the valuables including ATM, credit card, cash and other such items. Keep a copy of your travel papers and passport in your luggage to evade any crisis. Pack your luggage according to the weather of the place you are going; as less baggage as you can pack. Make sure to keep a first aid box and Check that your medicines are not measured as prohibited in that country. Avoid drinking local water of that place; instead try having only bottled water. This way you can omit various follies making your trip a pleasure.
  • Your article is very informative to all of us. They must formulate innovative ways for some tech companies. Nice job. Thanks!
  • Hi,

    It's a good point you made about the OTA's taking a while to get on the net. There's now trying to hover up the start companies and are finding that some of the start ups are bigger than them, but with a better business model and more cash in the bank.
  • i think it will continue that tech companies will show the old guard travel industry the way forward.

    It's probably too difficult for tour operators to become tech companies and remain focused on being a good tour operator which is why as a travel specialised tech comapny we build systems that allow travel comapnies to be better travel companies.

    i'll have more for you specifically on your partnership comments once our next iteration comes out of private alpha
  • Old travel has to innovate, but it is difficult to give up the tired business practices of traditional marketing & pr and fearing the competition instead of embracing the spirit of coopetition.
  • Thanks for your comment, Pat. They sure do need to act sooner rather than later if they want to stay in the game and prosper. The old dog won't hunt that much longer......
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