The theme for this PhoCusWright 2008 is "The Perfect Storm: Search, Shop, Buy" -

The potential for discussion around this theme is intriguing because I think there is a lot of opportunity to show how online travel is blurring the entire process and how some opportunities are clearly being lost because of a lack of consolidation between these distinct travel purchase steps.

In my opinion there are actually four distinct steps in the travel planning process:

Dream -

This is a visionary step where the traveler dreams about where they might want to go based on their unique travel style and lifestyle preferences. 

The dream stage doesn't necessarily identify specific destinations but rather builds a concept of an ideal holiday in the mind of the traveler.  This dream vacation or holiday becomes the basis for the next step of the travel purchase lifecycle, which is "The Plan".

Plan -

The planning step takes the criteria derived from the dream step and puts some specific physical constraints on them.  These physical contraints generally don't include budget but do include best times of year to go, seasonal considerations, access to specific attractions and events or activities. 

This step usually involves a considerable amount of research and may include travel guides (both online and offline), blogs, review sites, dmo sites, Wikitravel, World66, and other third party resources. 

The traveler will generally be planning an itinerary at this step including things they would like to do or see on their holiday, how long they would like to go, and where they want to go based on their dream.

Shop/Buy -

The shopping step is the first dose of reality in the lifecycle and is also where the bulk of travel abandonment happens.  I don't have specific research to back up this claim, but I can extrapolate, based on anecdotal research that this is the case. 

The shopping step aligns the true costs of the holiday against the planned expectations.  This is also where, if the traveler is willing, the most amount of compromise will happen. 

For example, the traveler wants to go to Australia to rock climb Ayers Rock but discovers that airfare is going to cost 10 times more than if they travel to Smith Rock in Oregan which has superb rock climbing.  The question then becomes, is it the rock climbing or Australia that is the primary driver of this dream holiday. 

The subsequent decision to purchase airfare to Oregon or to Australia will be based on the traveler's own prioirties.

Reminice -

The Reminice step is post travel and involves the sharing of the traveler's experience with others.  This reminice step is becoming more and more important in the travel lifecycle because studies have shown that travelers rely on first person reviews and experience when during the planning and shopping steps. 

More and more sites on the web, primarily travel communities are dedicated to facilitating the reminice step and are now starting to include some planning and shopping aspects to their communities in order to monetize this important and increasingly relevant step in the travel purchase lifecycle.

One key issue I have identified over the last couple of years is the disconnect between the steps.  Many new technologies have come down the pipe that help with either one or two of the steps, but for the most part, all three steps are not addressed in one application. 

Over the next few posts I will take a look at some sites that addressing the steps in their own way.

www.tourismtechnology.rezgo.com