Cooperation and Innovation in the Travel Industry

Seems to me the last place on earth to find innovation in travel technology, is within the travel industry itself. It's a real pity.

From personal experience, I think the travel/tourism industry is usually interested in innovation only if:

(1) it is forced to innovate by consumer or other demand (mobile app or implementation of NDC standards), and

(2) if the innovation increases or brings in new revenues, or saves expenses in the direct form of cash, rather than indirect forms of customer experience or agency efficiency.

An example of this is a certain travel data provider, from which Relavanti gets some of its data. When we started working with this data, we realized much of it was inaccurate or very basic, requiring manual and/or automated verification, recategorization, etc. I offered this provider a deal in which we would get a discount on the data, and in exchange provide them with ongoing corrections and enhancements, making their data much more robust, relevant and accurate. It would be a win-win-win-win for us, for them, for their industry clients and the end customers (travelers).

My emails about the subject went unanswered and I really don't blame the data provider. They probably see no reason for such a deal if there is no demand from their industry clients. And as far as their industry clients are concerned, everything works and the travelers aren't complaining, so why invest in better data?

This type of situation is quite common across the industry, not just this particular data provider. A decade ago, I met with someone from a travel consortium and was dumbfounded to learn that the agents of the consortium look in a book to find preferred suppliers for a particular destination or service. Today, the book has moved online but the information available to the agents is limited to general descriptions of the preferred suppliers (service type, country). Anything a bit deeper requires more searching.

I believe the majority of innovation and/or investment in innovation comes from technology companies and travel-related startups that are outside the established industry, and not from within. According to a McKinsey report, the majority of investments in travel-related startups come from sources other than the travel industry.

This needs to change. Cooperation between industry players and innovative startups can catapult the industry into new and exciting products, services and customer experience for the travelers, while simultaneously increasing revenues for the industry, even if not directly.

This cooperation can come in many shapes and sizes. Examples include increased industry investment in travel startups or adding an industry professional as an advisor to a startup team.

Regardless of how it is done, this type of intra-industry cooperation will benefit everyone involved.

Image: Wikimedia in the Public Domain CC01.0