TRAVEL 2.0 Talk: business +

Online collaboration drawing board - very cool.

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In the case of major airlines, the investment in flexible operating platform and the sale of interline itineraries with their alliance partners definitely indicates that functionality of supplier’s own sites continues to evolve.

Commenting on how the relationship with OTAs is evolving and where is the so called ‘Anti-OTA feeling’ taking this relationship forward, John Slater, Managing Director - Distribution, Continental Airlines told EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta: ‘Better with some than others (relationship with OTAs). A couple of the OTA’s been receptive to our calls for cost efficiency. Continental recognises the value of partnering with a couple ofmajor brands.”

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The OpenTravel Alliance (OTA), the travel industry’s leading distribution specification development organization, remains a must- join travel industry association eight years after its formation, and is changing its membership structure to meet the ongoing demand.

‘It’s obvious the philosophy of open standards is still relevant to travel companies across the world,’ said John Turato, vice president of technology for the Avis Budget Group and chairman of the OpenTravel Alliance. ‘The structure and guidance provided by OTA gives industry-leading companies the opportunity to create messaging solutions for the electronic distribution challenges that travel companies in every vertical face every day. By joining the OTA and becoming active, member companies generate credibility for themselves with their investors, their trading partners and their customers.’

European online leisure/unmanaged business travel as a percentage of the total travel market will approach 25% in 2007.

According to PhoCusWright’s European Online Travel Overview Third Edition , the European online leisure/unmanaged business travel as a percentage of the total travel market will approach 25% in 2007, the level achieved in the U.S. in 2004, proving that the overall travel market is marching relentlessly online. But while the pace may be similar to that of the U.S. market of a few years ago, the gait is decidedly different. The individual markets of Europe, in particular the top five - U.K., Germany, France, Spain and Italy - continue to experience significant online growth, but at dramatically different overall levels. The chart below illustrates the market share that each country had of the overall online leisure and unmanaged business travel in Europe in 2006.