Efforts needed to educate the masses: IAMAI's Travel and Tourism Summit

Recognizing the role of technology in taking the travel and tourism industry to the next level, Himanshu Singh, CEO, Travelocity said, "India has the opportunity to create next generation models that will boost the online travel industry. We need to come up with hybrid business models to boost the online travel industry. Speaking at the Travel and Tourism Summit organized by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) Singh added that more value creation was needed for a sustained growth of the online travel industry. He also said that a framework is required for the digital commerce industry to exploit its potential.

Describing the online medium as immediate and dynamic, Hanelli Slabber, Country Head- South African Tourism said, "Knowing about the medium is the key to use it effectively. Travel industry and tourism is one area which can judiciously use the digital medium to reach out to the right people at the right time"

Presenting a case study on effectively using the digital medium for promoting tourism, Nicholas Foo, Country Head-Singapore Tourism Board said, "Personalization is the key to build an effective and innovative online campaign. For example, the India page of the Singapore Tourism Board got about 2000 hits per day demonstrating that an India specific webpage was accepted and adopted better."

Panelists agreed that a concerted effort to educate the masses about the online travel industry is needed. "A synchronized effort to inform the masses about the various features and facilities of online travel industry will drive its adoption," said Devdutta Banerjee, Regional Director- Revenue Management, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Amitabh Pandey, President e-Business, Thomas Cook India added that the process of education about the medium is a continuous process. "This process will further get a boost when more and more people experiment with the medium and get more confident."