TravelMole eWire Comment by Dinah Hatch

I set off for World Travel Market this year with a heavy heart.

Not just because I had heard terrible tales of DLR chaos in the rain (which was no less than a national embarrassment) but because I was worried that the miserable old credit crunch would have subdued all those wonderful techie people who turn up to the Global Village every year with shiny new products and innovations that make reporting on the world of travel technology such fun.

Surely this New World Order of cost-cutting, belt tightening and general all-round misery would mean that no-one would be wasting cash on new software?

It seems the very reverse is true. As concern with the bottom line grows, those at the travel technology coalface are reporting more keenness than ever from companies to make sure they are getting the most efficient service they can from their tech spend. The days when emarketing, websites and product budgets were slashed at the first sign of the dreaded R word are over – now they are seen as potential lifelines in a stormy economy.

A half hour’s wander around the Global Village yielded all manner of eager faces delighted to tell me how their newest and best-ever innovation on their product was the bees knees and all reported good interest from potential buyers.

One of those launching something new and rather interesting in these recessionary times was The Big Agency. Launched by The Great Hotels Organisation, this digital marketing agency aims to help independent luxury hotel groups become more competitive on and off line by creating tailored web strategies to improve their visibility and esales.

And it couldn’t have launched at a better time. I recently spoke to some big players in the independent hotels groups market and all of them spoke about the desire to drive more sales online and create more innovative marketing through viral campaigns and harnessing database information. They are all aware that, as a travel supplier, this isn’t a time to put your head in the sand and hope for the best. Creative marketing can save the day and companies like The Big Agency could reap rewards in times like this.

I also attended a WTM seminar on the bright future of the mobile phone as distribution tool.

Everyone agrees that it’s an exciting area with huge potential but there are plenty of hiccups to overcome. One speaker demonstrated one of these live, attempting to get BA’s mobile website up on his phone through a search engine. It wasn’t easy (in fact, BMI’s came up first!) and perfectly illustrated that whilst the technology is there, not everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet (that’s you, Google).

But these glitches will get ironed out over time I was assured at the networking lunch that punctuated the seminar. Over pasta and salad a group of mobile technology gurus spoke about the huge savings in time and money to be made from sending people onto your mobile site.

And if you don’t believe them, next time you spot a bobby on the beat, take a look at the kit they are carrying.

These days along with the helmet and the truncheon they are packing a PDA because the Home Office has realised there’s an awful lot of time (and overtime) to be saved from getting the force to do their paperwork on a mobile site before heading back to the station at the end of their shift.

In a neat flipping of traditional perceptions about technology, it has put more bobbies on the beat for longer and freed them from the desk. Super – more police manpower to supervise the WTM travel chaos every year.