Hotelbeds Group publishes results of industry survey on data analytics taken at MarketHub Asia

• Data analytics survey launched at the recent Hotelbeds MarketHub Asia event in Bangkok surveyed 250 plus participants and over 30 nationalities.
• Almost 90% of APAC travel companies will increase data analytics budget next year – and over half expect 30% plus increase in revenues from data analytics boost.
•  Lack of skilled people and lack of clean data amongst biggest data analytics challenges for companies in the region.
• Powered by data, driven by people theme of event focused on central role of data analytics in growing revenues.

Palma, June 15th 2017 – Hotelbeds Group, the leading bedbank worldwide and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry, has published the results of an industry survey focused on the topic of data analytics taken at the recent MarketHub Asia event in Bangkok.

Over 250 industry professionals from across Asia Pacific participated in the survey, with more than 30 nationalities represented, including from the Middle East and countries such as Australia, China, Thailand, and Japan.

Surveyed for their opinions on some of the biggest data analytics challenges facing the travel industry in Asia Pacific, the participants revealed that:

• Over half the audience (57%) felt that data analytics will help to contribute annual increases of revenues of more than 30% over the next five years – with 19% expecting increases of over 60%. 
• Nine in ten (88%) of the respondents said their companies will increase budget for data analytics next year, with no companies reported a planned decrease – and 49% preparing for a ´significant´ increase.
• The biggest benefit they receive currently from data analytics is in forecasting demand (34%), followed by targeted marketing campaigns (24%) and revenue management (23%).
• Whilst the biggest challenge they face in the area of data analytics is attracting talent (34%), closely followed by a lack of clean data (33%). Only 9% cite a lack of technology partners as a problem.

Sam Turner, Global Sales Director at Hotelbeds, pointed out: “This survey has been a very valuable exercise to generate insight into exactly how the leading travel companies in Asia Pacific are embedding analytics into their organizations – already we are adapting our approach based upon these learnings.

 “One of the biggest issues travel companies will face in the future will be getting the skilled people required to analyse and manage the ever increasing amounts of data they are producing: a data-driven world requires data-driven employees.”

Gareth Matthews, Marketing and Communications Director at Hotelbeds Group, added: “These findings are particularly relevant for the Chinese market, already the world’s largest e-commerce market.  China does not have legacy issues and can therefore leapfrog straight to advanced data analytics and smart technologies to track and anticipate consumer behaviour, just look at the success of WeChat. The Chinese market is perhaps uniquely well-positioned to exploit this new wealth of data from a marketing perspective. It will be fascinating to see how this impacts the travel industry in the region over the coming 18 months.”

Additionally the audience survey also explored other areas relating to the Asia Pacific travel market:

• 61% believed that personal recommendations or social media activity of influencers have the greatest impact on the booking choices of travellers in the region – with only 7% believing that previous experience of a destination is the top factor in picking a destination.

• The biggest concerns for Asia Pacific travellers when visiting Europe are firstly the threat of terrorism (32%), closely followed by visas (26%).  Only 10% thought language barriers were an issue and only 2% thought the food an issue.

The MarketHub Asia event was attended by around 250 senior travel professionals from tour operator and OTA clients of Hotelbeds from across Asia Pacific.

The theme of the event was Powered by data, driven by people. Focusing on how travel companies can use data to drive growth in their businesses, it included insights into how the landscape of travel data will evolve over the coming years.

For more information about MarketHub Asia, please visit www.themarkethub.com

About Hotelbeds Group

Hotelbeds Group is the world’s number one bedbank and a business-to-business provider of services to the global travel industry.

Operating mainly under the Hotelbeds and Bedsonline brands, the company connects, 35,000 travel intermediaries across more than 120 source markets globally with travel providers in over 180 countries representing more than 120,000 hotels, 20,000 transfer routes and 14,000 activities.

In September 2016 the company became independent under the ownership of Cinven and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). In June 2017 Tourico Holidays became part of Hotelbeds Group, operating as a business unit within the Group whilst its integration progresses.

The company is headquartered in Palma, Spain and has 6,150 employees working across 150 offices globally. In the financial calendar year of 2014 / 15 Hotelbeds Group sold around 26 million room nights and achieved a Total Transaction Value (TTV) of €3.8 billion.

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Hotelbeds Group Media contacts

Communications Department

Roman Townsend                                                                                                    

Head of Media Relations & Corporate Affairs

media@hotelbeds.com