Open your eyes – everything is about to change for travellers

By Christopher Davies

One of the most popular cameras on the number one photo-sharing site isn’t a camera at all. It’s the Apple iPhone.

I mention this for two reasons. First, because a new iPhone is being released in the US today. And second, because it now includes a feature thatvpromises to change the way we travel: a video camera.

The specs are nothing to rave about — 640 by 480 pixels, which is not exactly HD — but the implications are far-reaching for each and every one of us.

At the touch of a button, travelers can now publish an edited video to YouTube. Not coincidentally, YouTube just last week added a feature that allows you to directly share clips to Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader.

Why does any of this matter to travellers?

Because it marks a fundamental shift that could alter the way we get our information about travel and the way we share our travel experiences.

It’s a move from "tell me" to "show me."

You can already see the beginning of this migration on social networking sites that specialise in travel, where users are gravitating toward photos, as opposed to written reviews. Just last week, in a write-up TripAdvisor, several users claimed they disregarded the written reviews and just looked at the pictures.

When everyone is carrying a video camera, and when posting to the Internet is as easy as pushing a button, imagine how people will make travel purchasing decisions?

Let’s just take a moment to consider this.

Say you’re buying a plane ticket, but it’s a toss-up between United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. At the moment, you can look up reviews of both airlines and find lots of information on blogs.

You can also go to a seat review site like SeatGuru or to an old-school forum like FlyerTalk, and get a reasonably good idea of what to expect. But what if you have actual user-generated video content of the seats and can compare seat pitch, in-flight entertainment, and overall comfort by seeing it instead of reading about it.

How would that change things?

What if you’re trying to decide where to make restaurant reservations? You could check out Zagat or Yelp and read all about it, but what if you could “see” the entrees as they’re served?

Now imagine these video clips are delivered in real-time, or as close as possible to it. Sites like 12seconds and
Seesmic already let you do that. (Think Twitter for video.)

Now imagine everyone has access to it in real time. That’s what Google Wave is all about, and when it’s released later this year, it could potentially revolutionise the way in which we consume information.

Here are a few highlights of Google Wave’s features, courtesy of our friends over at Lifehacker.

We’re on the verge of nothing less than a revolution in media. The travel industry will be at the frontline, but it won’t take long to turneverything upside-down.

Are you ready?

Christopher Elliott has been called one of the world’s leading travel experts.

His focus isn’t on the destination, or even the journey, but on the tools you need for a successful trip.

No other journalist has his depth of knowledge when it comes to offering practical travel advice, strategies and tips.

Elliott is National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate and writes the nationally syndicated Travel
Troubleshooter column, which appears in more than 50 U.S. newspapers and Web sites.

He also pens a popular weekly travel column on MSNBC.com.

Elliott is a prolific blogger, filing daily dispatches about consumer travel on his Web site and about general travel industry issues for Tripso.

He can be contacted at [email protected]