Survey Says....
In this day and age of high tech gadgets, you just can’t ignore what technology has done for us. I’ll be the first to admit that I LOVE technology. This laptop for example is like my right arm, and when my old laptop bit the dust back around Christmas I was like a fish out of water.
I can certainly remember growing up when we had one phone in the family kitchen, rabbit ears on top of the TV to get maybe 4 television stations, (PBS was big when I was growing up.) days when we actually went inside the bank to open my first savings account from money made from my first job, and mail had a stamp instead of an “e” attached to it when it came.
I’m sitting here as I type this evening with my son on the desktop computer in the office as he plays a couple internet games with Curious George. (PBS is still big my household.) My daughter is so well versed in recording her favorite shows on the TiVo, and while her shows are never overridden by MY favorites, (NFL Football and the Pittsburgh Steelers) I do find myself having to weed through a ton of kids shows before I find anything to my liking.
At times I have to admit I get a little jealous over the fact that my two kids have these types of entertainment options. By the time McDonald’s Playplaces started to show up, I was already way to big to fit inside the tubes. (Yes, I’ve tried.)
I firmly believe the one technology advancement that has made more of an impact on our daily lives today are computers and the internet. I barely even touched a computer until I went back to school in the very early 1990’s and at the time thought I was behind the times. I’ve since realized that I was very much of an early adopter of this technology and while just about everything I’ve learned concerning computers has been “self taught”, I happen to know far more about how to communicate effectively than the average person.
There is no question that computers and the internet has reshaped the way we communicate, purchase products, and acquire information. I can’t remember the last time I actually saw a weather forecast for example, but had a very close eye on Faye this past weekend as it skirted south of Atlanta. We needed it to hit here in a big way. You need to look at Lake Lanier to see why.
Back in November I pulled up a 2007 report which documented how on line travel sales not only reached a whopping $146 billion, but for the first time in history, nudged out offline sales with 52.5%. PhoCusWright has been surveying and reporting on travel trends for the last 10 years and in their latest report, there doesn’t seem to be any slowdown of the trend towards online travel sales. Frequent travelers and seasoned online buyers continue to dominate, but now the former “diehard” offline users have begun to use the Internet as their usual method for travel shopping and purchasing.
There has been a lot of talk of how inferior people are who purchase travel on line. It’s been speculated that the level of intelligence and net worth of people who actually purchase on line is far less than those who use a Traditional Travel Agent. We are less educated, make less money, and don’t have the proper resources available to us to make an informed educated decision about our personal travel or vacations.
It appears that we now have some actual data of just who purchases online travel. While I can’t supply the actual data from this report (costing a pretty penny) I did find a nice outline of this report which I found rather enlightening.
I’ll let you read the outline on your own, but wanted to highlight what I thought was the meat of this report for you here.
“According to the survey, these "next generation" travelers are highly educated (30 percent with a four-year college degree; 20 percent with at least one year of graduate school), affluent (30 percent of households with an annual income in excess of $100,000), and are equally likely to be Echo Boomers (18-28 years of age) as Baby Boomers (43 to 61 years of age), thereby debunking the belief that the usage of new technology is concentrated among younger travelers. They have a zest for travel (75 percent would travel more if they had more money; 62 percent would travel more if they had more time) and spend, on average, over 50 percent more on travel services annually than their less tech-savvy counterparts.”
It’s odd to me how planning a vacation should be reserved for those who have the proper training and credentials which are touted to be equal to being a Medical Doctor or Rocket Scientist. It just can’t be done without the help of our “Professionals”. (After what I’ve experienced this last year, yes, I use the word “Professional” very loosely these days.)
After reading the bits and bytes from this article, it appears that those that make their own bookings are quite educated and thanks to technology and this sharing of information on the internet, the long kept secrets of our “Professionals” are now available to everyone. “EP” for example, is now spelled out as being nothing more than a “European Plan” for the average consumer.
Last Wednesday, I highlighted how Arnie Weissmann believes our model of self service is here to stay with or without YTB. Now it appears that PhoCusWright is providing the proper demographic might add some validity to his case.
PS - If you’d like to keep up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB feel free to sign up for my FREE Newsletter. Just like here, it’s loaded with food, water and sunshine to grow your YTB business.
Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812
Learn How To Become A Travel Agent
Book Your Travel & Vacations With
Travel Reservations: 1.800.243.4450
RTA #24635
I can certainly remember growing up when we had one phone in the family kitchen, rabbit ears on top of the TV to get maybe 4 television stations, (PBS was big when I was growing up.) days when we actually went inside the bank to open my first savings account from money made from my first job, and mail had a stamp instead of an “e” attached to it when it came.
I’m sitting here as I type this evening with my son on the desktop computer in the office as he plays a couple internet games with Curious George. (PBS is still big my household.) My daughter is so well versed in recording her favorite shows on the TiVo, and while her shows are never overridden by MY favorites, (NFL Football and the Pittsburgh Steelers) I do find myself having to weed through a ton of kids shows before I find anything to my liking.At times I have to admit I get a little jealous over the fact that my two kids have these types of entertainment options. By the time McDonald’s Playplaces started to show up, I was already way to big to fit inside the tubes. (Yes, I’ve tried.)
I firmly believe the one technology advancement that has made more of an impact on our daily lives today are computers and the internet. I barely even touched a computer until I went back to school in the very early 1990’s and at the time thought I was behind the times. I’ve since realized that I was very much of an early adopter of this technology and while just about everything I’ve learned concerning computers has been “self taught”, I happen to know far more about how to communicate effectively than the average person.
There is no question that computers and the internet has reshaped the way we communicate, purchase products, and acquire information. I can’t remember the last time I actually saw a weather forecast for example, but had a very close eye on Faye this past weekend as it skirted south of Atlanta. We needed it to hit here in a big way. You need to look at Lake Lanier to see why.
Back in November I pulled up a 2007 report which documented how on line travel sales not only reached a whopping $146 billion, but for the first time in history, nudged out offline sales with 52.5%. PhoCusWright has been surveying and reporting on travel trends for the last 10 years and in their latest report, there doesn’t seem to be any slowdown of the trend towards online travel sales. Frequent travelers and seasoned online buyers continue to dominate, but now the former “diehard” offline users have begun to use the Internet as their usual method for travel shopping and purchasing.
There has been a lot of talk of how inferior people are who purchase travel on line. It’s been speculated that the level of intelligence and net worth of people who actually purchase on line is far less than those who use a Traditional Travel Agent. We are less educated, make less money, and don’t have the proper resources available to us to make an informed educated decision about our personal travel or vacations.
It appears that we now have some actual data of just who purchases online travel. While I can’t supply the actual data from this report (costing a pretty penny) I did find a nice outline of this report which I found rather enlightening.
I’ll let you read the outline on your own, but wanted to highlight what I thought was the meat of this report for you here.
“According to the survey, these "next generation" travelers are highly educated (30 percent with a four-year college degree; 20 percent with at least one year of graduate school), affluent (30 percent of households with an annual income in excess of $100,000), and are equally likely to be Echo Boomers (18-28 years of age) as Baby Boomers (43 to 61 years of age), thereby debunking the belief that the usage of new technology is concentrated among younger travelers. They have a zest for travel (75 percent would travel more if they had more money; 62 percent would travel more if they had more time) and spend, on average, over 50 percent more on travel services annually than their less tech-savvy counterparts.”
It’s odd to me how planning a vacation should be reserved for those who have the proper training and credentials which are touted to be equal to being a Medical Doctor or Rocket Scientist. It just can’t be done without the help of our “Professionals”. (After what I’ve experienced this last year, yes, I use the word “Professional” very loosely these days.)
After reading the bits and bytes from this article, it appears that those that make their own bookings are quite educated and thanks to technology and this sharing of information on the internet, the long kept secrets of our “Professionals” are now available to everyone. “EP” for example, is now spelled out as being nothing more than a “European Plan” for the average consumer.
Last Wednesday, I highlighted how Arnie Weissmann believes our model of self service is here to stay with or without YTB. Now it appears that PhoCusWright is providing the proper demographic might add some validity to his case.
PS - If you’d like to keep up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB feel free to sign up for my FREE Newsletter. Just like here, it’s loaded with food, water and sunshine to grow your YTB business.
Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812
Learn How To Become A Travel Agent
Book Your Travel & Vacations With
Travel Reservations: 1.800.243.4450
RTA #24635
Labels: Network Marketing, Social Networking, Travel Agent Issues, Travel MLM, YTB Travel Network
