The future of travel search

Shopping around when it comes to buying travel appears to be the rule of thumb according to a joint Amadeus – PhoCusWright report entitled “Empowering inspiration: the future of travel search”.

Apparently consumers feel like they are making a hasty, potentially regrettable purchase if they don’t shop around. The study looks at how consumers make holiday and travel decisions today and in the future, highlighting that the biggest issue in travel planning remains information overload.

The practice of yield management by travel suppliers has further created “substantial anxiety” about when consumers should book.

Interestingly, many consumers, in fact most in emerging markets, don’t actually have a specific destination in mind when they start their trip planning process. The study says because of this, there’s definitely a need for better roll-ups and condensed snapshots of information such as seasonal temperature/precipitation and price ranges.

Download and read the study here. It’s 45 pages of research but well worth the read…And what’s more it’s free. Thank you Amadeus!