CEO and Project Manager
May 21, 2016
What is Google doing in the world of travel? Is Google trying to replace traditional travel agents? Will Google try to buy any large travel agent groups?
Those were some of the questions travel advisors were asking last week at the Virtuoso Symposium in Cape Town, South Africa, when Dave Pavelko, director of partnerships for list of ghana consumer email Travel Google Inc., took the stage to offer an update on what the search engine giant is doing in the travel industry. He also offered suggestions for what travel agents and suppliers should do to overcome the complex new challenges of the digital world.
Pavelko came at a time when the media is abuzz with speculative stories about what the search giant is doing in the world of travel and whether it aims to automate the functions currently offered by travel agents.
But I have to admit that I was not oblivious to the idea that Google was doing this – or even that it wants to do it . Google may well view travel agents as customers for its own services rather than competitors. Many travel agencies today are firmly embedded in the digital world and are already using Google tools and products to boost their businesses.
Table of Contents [ Hide ]
1 Digital doesn't do everything.
2 What Google offers so far.
3 A gloomy scenario for the agents?
4 Or a resource for agents?
Digital doesn't do everything.
Pavelko began by admitting that the digital world doesn't solve all of the challenges of travel. And he even said he was aloud to wonder how an online digital guy like himself could talk to travel agents and suppliers about their businesses and help them. Then again, Pavelko has held executive positions at Cendant, which was once the parent company of companies as diverse as Avis, Budget, Wyndham, and Galileo, so he must have known a bit about how travel agents work. (And he also acknowledged that he recently used a travel advisor to book a vacation to Greece.)
Google has been focusing on what Pavelko has called the “new consumer journey through travel,” which breaks down into “micro-moments,” meaning every step a consumer takes in the travel planning, purchasing and experience process, especially digital interactions.
He used his own travel planning experience with a travel advisor as an example , where he communicated via email and exchanged website links to narrow down hotels he could book and develop unique local experiences.
