Expedia Vice President Outlines Advantages of On line Booking
Cyprus must jump on to the e-marketing bandwagon in order to capitalise on a new trend in booking trips on line says a senior official from Expedia , one of the best known names in the sector.
Murad Hajeebhoy, Expedia vice president of lodging emerging markets, says the Cyprus Tourism Organisation would do well to promote Cyprus as a destination through the web, tapping into a growing number of people who make their travel bookings on line. Expedia alone, which has 18 sites worldwide has some 60 million visitors every month.
“I think marketing on line, marketing all the benefits that a tourist can have in Cyprus, so that people don’t think about the island as only a sun and sea destination, is extremely important.
Focusing on the Internet is something that Cyprus needs to do much faster so that it does not lose out to other destinations that are doing more,” he said.
“There are better deals on line and as an on-line organisation, we are able to get the rates and destination information to more customers very quickly and as a result more companies like Expedia are able to book more rooms.
“The rates are lower and because of the economic recession people are looking for deals.. our survey shows that rates worldwide have dropped significantly with large drops in major destinations across the world, but rates are coming back up in 2010 slowly. Although they are not coming up to 2007 levels, they are increasing. So we hope the rates will be equal to what they were before the recession by next year.”
The tourism expert said more and more countries were going on line. And travellers are now booking hotels for shorter holidays of up to four nights and also make their travel packages on line buying hotel and flight together for holidays with a stay of about six and a half days.
Overall , 40% of Expedia bookings include hotel and flight combined.
The tourism industry is seeing signs of recovery from the economic crisis, especially when it comes to city destinations but it will take more time for Mediterranean resorts like Cyprus to recover, especially since they involve longer flights, he forecasts.
On-line hotel bookings for Cyprus were seeing a 40% growth in the first three months of 2010 and revenue has grown 51% during the same period which could mean higher rates or people choosing better hotels. There are signs of recovery, Hajeebhoy said.
Sinc e Cyprus has traditionally been a very “strong” destination for specific nationalities like the UK, he believes the island should diversify its source markets.
“Cyprus is a fantastic destination. You have a great combination of sea and sun, you have the historical tourism, you have the nightlife, so you have a combination of items. You can diversify the source markets and there are so many markets that you can attract. You can attract European and more Americans since business from North America into Cyprus is growing much faster than European business this year. You can diversify with the Internet your customer base since the Internet business can reach customers everywhere. We have websites everywhere, including China, India and the Middle East and you can attract customers from there. The CTO and the Hotel Association need to consider ways to diversify so that Cyprus is not dependent on the UK market.”
Cyprus also needs to decide who its competitors are and invest in different kind of items,he said.
“Tunisia for example, advertises in London, as a very big spa destination, Dubai as a golf, sun and sand destination. You have to decide what kind of competition you have and then what to invest. Cyprus has the benefit of offering a combination of different things and this should be promoted on line,”he said.
With the economic crisis consumers are looking for more value as they travel and are shopping around much more before going on holiday. And there is atrend for last minute bookings with travellers booking closer to their holidays in anticipation of prices coming down.
“The economic crisis means that there is value in many destinations and people have a bigger choice now. There’s been a lot of equalisation now. People are able to travel to different destinationswith the same amount of money.
“So, destinations have now to compete more with one another, promoting the values they are able to provide.
“There is a big opportunity for Cyprus to be on line as a destination like other Mediterranean destinations. More and more consumers are now going line80% in the US and 60% in the UK, 40% in Spain.”.
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