Clock ticking for operators over technology

Tour operators should seize the chance to invest in new technology now or risk being left behind for good, according to TOWARD Europe’s Mark Bradbury (RWA). Mr Bradbury is chairman of TOWARD Europe’s Tour Operator to Distribution Channel working group which has just produced a white paper on tour operator distribution. The paper, called Navigating a Route to Profitability, says that operators need to have a long term focus when it comes to technology. It points out that “long-term strategic focus has been diverted to short-term tactics to maintain liquidity and cut costs, resulting in an industry in poor financial health” with limited funds to invest in new technology. But Mr Bradbury told TravelMole that the time had never been better to invest in new systems. He said: “My view is that tour operators have been in survival mode, just wanting to make sure they got through to the end of 2003. But what now plays in their favour compared to the situation two years ago is that the cost of the technology is considerably lower and the investment required is considerably less than it was.” Asked if operators could not simply wait for technology costs to fall still further, Mr Bradbury said: “No. Customers require these capabilities, They want to be able to search and book on the internet. They are more sophisticated – they are booking flights online, why not their holiday online?” And the white paper suggests, operators need to be careful about simply bolting on new technology to their existing systems. It points out that many web interfaces still “struggle with ‘show through’ of the underlying reservations system”. It says: “The upshot of this is a restricted, and often poor consumer booking experience, resulting in user frustration and low booking volumes on many sites.” See related stories: Operators “do not know where their sales come from” Operators “unaware” of true distribution costs For more findings from the TOWARD Europe white paper on tour operator distribution see tomorrow’s TravelMole