In the 1800’s the British were exchanging heroin with the Chinese for porcelain and silks. The Chinese emperor objected and took action so naturally the British went to war. The result - the British East India Company got beautiful Chinese goods to sell to the global market in exchange for drugs.
Two centuries later tourism is becoming the world’s biggest activity. More and more tourism businesses are finding that it is difficult to get to the global market except through an OTA, which not only typically charges 15%-25% but also captures guest’s data for future business.
Why are the OTAs (eg Priceline, Tripadvisor, AirBNB) in this oligopolistic position?
There are three primary reasons:
The first is money. Because they have captured the market and therefore have a lot of dosh, they can spend squillions with Google – Priceline alone is said to give that nice Mr Google $2billion plus a year.
The second is power – Wall Street just loves them and they fight every fight. Whether it’s parity pricing or taxi driver’s strikes – they are there slugging it out like Uber.
And the third is the acquiescence of the destinations, which I don’t get. If the OTAs built a real paywall around New York you can imagine what Mr Bloomberg would say. But a virtual $trillion paywall? That’s for the techies!
They say when the going gets tough the tough get going – so where are the tough destination politicians?
SHARING ECONOMY – MORE SHARE, LESS FAIR: AirBNB – who’s sharing with whom?
GREEN TOURISM SEMINAR announced for Italy 2016 Lipman and Nicholas to be key masterclass leaders.
GET THE MOST OF YOUR GREEN DESTINATION ADVANTAGE - showcase it to a high value green-buying audience:
ALL-INCLUSIVE HEALING holidays unveiled to Italy's secret holiday spot the antidote to mass tourism...
ETHICAL DESTINATIONS 2016 winners unveiled: Five new countries join top 10 for treating their people and environments well:
NEW YORK GETS GREENER: Seventeen top Manhattan hotels commit to cut emissions and save costs:
GREEN TRAVEL TRADE OPPORTUNITY - all-inclusive green Italy healing holidays: + FAM opportunity + FITs + commission + support:
TAKE OWNERSHIP OF RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL - warts and all #rtweek16
BRUSSELS SET FOR SUSTAINABLE destinations ETIS EU meet:
SISTERHOOD OF NEPALESE SURVIVORS, tech park, treetop walk, honoured by UNWTO
TRANSFORM THE WORLD says the International Ecotourism Society in Tampa
TOURISM VALUE UP and up thanks to China and USA: 1.2billion destination opportunities –for who?
Comments, by the way always very, very, very welcome indeed.
Why not also tell your friends about 'A Vision for Sustainable Tourism' on Linkedin ...it's by far the biggest Sustainable Tourism group with today nearly ***11,000!*** professional members and at least one fascinating new sustainable tourism discussion every day - it's simply the best sustainable tourism Linkedin group.
And if you're a Destination Organisation or a destination supplier why not join our new linkedin group 'A Vision for Sustainable Tourism Destinations'
Like us at Facebook - have a look: http://www.facebook.com/totemtourismnews
Join our conversation on Twitter: @TotemTourism
All the very best
Valere
Ps check out http://www.totemtourism.com - it's a mine of sustainable tourism info.
And check out http://www.sustainabletourism2015.com
Valere Tjolle – Principal
TOTEMTOURISM: TOURISMVISION
Eagle House: Batheaston: BA1 7EH: UK
M: +44 7710 173005
E: valere@totemtourism.com
W: http://www.totemtourism.com
info@totemtourism.com
S: valeretjolle
@ TotemTourism
