Social networks : a new distribution channel for tourism products.

Just like Facebook and its 500 million users and 250 million daily users loging on facebook, social networks became a growing influence in travel booking, they have changed the way travelers determine where they will stay, particularly leisure travelers.

 A few years ago, the only way to book an airline ticket or a hotel room was on the website of the airline company or hotel or through an online agency. Nowadays it is possible to book a holiday via facebook for example. Delta was the first airline to allow online booking via Facebook. It is now the case with many airlines such as Air France.

Official Facebook page of the French airline Air France

It is also possible to login yourself on the website of your hotel and go through the pages with your Facebook or Twitter login, such as on the Four Seasons official website and thus share it with your friends.

Official home page of the luxurious Hotel Group Four Seasons

From the point of view of the tourism businesses, social media (one of which are social networks) represent a growing opportunity that they will need to exploit.

Source : World Travel Market 2010 Industry Report

According to this study, a fifth of the industry views social media as the single biggest opportunity over the next few years followed by technological advances.

Virtual Reality - The example of Expedia.ca

Virtual reality is a computer simulation that offers the user the opportunity to experience different kinds of pre-produced programs, as if on real time (Williams and Hobson, 1995). Virtual Reality enables the simulation of the physical environment of nearly any tourist destination or any hotel as it offers a three-dimensional perspective through the use of sound, sight, and touch technology. Virtual Reality gives people the possibility to to experience artificial tourism products and services at a low cost.

THE CASE OF EXPEDIA :

Expedia Canada has recently launched a new program called "Expedia Virtual Vacations. Making your dream vacation a virtual reality". It is a revolutionary travel experience ; thanks to a "vacation buddy" you can explore the Great Barrier Reef and still be home in time for dinner.

"With Expedia's Virtual Vacations, the world is virtually at your doorstep. You can climb mountains, explore caves, talk with local residents and take pictures for your own personal photo album, all from the comfort of your own home," said Craig Ruse, newly appointed Vice President, Expedia.ca Virtual Vacations . "And if you like their virtual vacation destination, you are just a few clicks away from booking a flight and accommodations."

Very smart innovation, Expedia found a way to make future travelllers pay for "trying the vacation" and at the same time they succeed to push them to buy it afterwards.

There are three easy steps to reach your "dream holiday" :

1. Pick a destination
2. Find a virtual vacation buddy 
3. Tell your vacation buddy where you want to go

The vacation buddy will wait for the user at the chosen destination with some sophisticated equipment (HD 2080p wide-angle, light weight panoramic video helmet). Thanks to a virtual reality head wear that has previously been sent to him after he signed up the virtual traveller can see and communicated with her/his travel buddy in real time.

Expedia offers at the moment only a limited choice of destinations :

Virtual Reality however raises the issue of authenticity. How can an artificial environment reflect exactly the reality? It is a bit scary in one way. It also raises the question of the border between virtual and real world.

M-tourism - The example of Paris transportation.

What is M-Tourism ? M-Tourism stands for Mobile Tourism. Year after year, the daily use of mobile phones has constantly evolved. M-tourism takes into account all kind of touristic use of mobile phones. Tourism destinations, as well tourism organizations or any company  linked to the field of tourism is developping new mobile applications or even mobile websites. M-tourism, after E-tourism is a very promising branch of tourism.

The example of the Paris transportation applications illustrates the development of this M-tourism.

• AUGMENTED REALITY : Metro Paris Subway Your New Eye is a augmented reality functionality that enables the traveller to locate the nearest subway station with iPhone's camera live view. The application displays elements located at maximum 1km away from where the person stands.  The iPhone user can display his phone in the horizontal position to get a list of all nearest stations. When a station is selected, a red arrow (compass) is displayed to show the direction and the distance to that point. He can also position his phone vertically to obtain a 360-degree view of all stations nearby your location, updated in real time as you walk in the streets.

• FLASHCODES : The RATP (the Paris transportation company) has been displaying more than      20 000 flashcodes over the past few months, that are 2D bar codes, on the overall tram and bus network. When scanning this bar code with a smartphone, it is possible to get all infomation about the network in real time. There is however one inconvenient : the application is compatible with few mobiles.

• POI (Point Of Interest database) : This application can be added to the Metro Paris Subway (receiving Subway alerts in real time). It allows the traveller to activate Food & Drink POI, Restaurants POI, Coffee, Pastry & Ice Cream POI, Leisure POI, and Accommodation POI in all over France.It enables to locate all nearby POI on Google Map.