And the winner is… “Mobile” is not a trend.

The other top nine 2011 trends are:

• Vacations (finally) Make a Comeback
• Emerging Markets: No Internet, No Problem
• Air Distribution: As Clear as Mud
• Google-ITA: If Not Plan A, the Onto Plan B
• Suppliers Get Smart about Smart Technologies
• Suppliers Claw Their Way Back
• Emerging Markets: Which Ones Are Real?
• Private Sale: Flash of Brilliance or Flash in the Pan
• Tablet Wars Spark a Travel Revolution

Download a PDF of the findings at the following .http://www.phocuswright.com/free_downloads?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonv6XBZKXonjHpfsX67OooW7Hr08Yy0EZ5VunJEUWy2oEASNQhcOuuEwcWGog80ARXGfWGa5JJ%2Ff1J

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/12/six_social_media_trends_for_20_1.html

Five Emerging Trends Around the Convergence in online travel.  I found this little gem in from Tnooz and wanted to share it with our ETourism subscribers. http://www.tnooz.com/2010/12/14/news/five-emerging-trends-around-convergence-in-online-travel/

What many people do not realize is that Google’s sales and marketing departments are structured by industries and sub-niches within the industry.   Among the 11 experts who will be presenting at E Tourism Summit in Las Vegas (www.etourismsummit.com)  is Kallista Stephenson, marketing analyst who works specifically with destinations.  Here she answers some questions about Google’s marketing offerings.

 Q:  Can you tell us something about Google’s travel division that few people know about?  

 Kallista Stephenson: Google’s Travel Division, also known as Google Travel, works with some of our most high potential clients in the space. We develop strategic partnerships with our customers to help them grow their businesses and online marketing strategy with Google’s suite of media solutions, from Search, to Display, to YouTube advertising. On the industry front, we examine Google search trends, and other data sources to  gain and publish insight on travel consumer and technology trends.

Q:  What does the Google Display Network consist of…video, adwords, banner ads? 

 KS: Great question! All I have to say is “Watch this Space”- www.google.com/adwords/watchthisspace.  Our recently launched video illustrates  the Google Display Network, our publisher network with over one million sites that host Google Adwords, Ads in a variety of ad formats including text ads, banner ads, click-to-play video ads, in-stream video ads. Pretty cool! Imagine advertising next to content related your destination. The interesting thing is that we see advertisers getting on average 20% of their conversions from the Display Network, at a similar cost per conversion (CPA) as on the Search Network.  If you would like a preview of the websites in the Google Display Network, check out our free media planning tool, Google Ad Planner- www.google.com/adplanner
Q:  What type of support does Google offer those that do not understand the campaign building tools? 

KS: Google AdWords has a extensive library of resources in the Google Adwords Help Center. Ranging from articles to Youtube videos, this comprehensive resource is aimed at educating the novice to the professional about setting up and managing your online advertising with AdWords start to finish — including a plethora of nifty tools in what we call the “Opportunity Center” to streamline the process. We also have our Inside AdWords Blog that provides helpful pointers as well as latest product updates. Feel free to explore the links below. 

Google Adwords Help Center   http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=en

Google AdWords Youtube Channel  http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleBusiness

Google Inside AdWords Blog   http://adwords.blogspot.com/

 While in general Google employs a self-service model, we also have a team who helps customers who are new to Google’s advertising solutions. Hayley Lambert is the best point of contact for Travel industry clients.

Q:  What are the main factors affecting a Google quality score and is there anyone you can think of that is exemplary? 

KS: The main factors affecting quality score are landing page quality, relevance of the keywords to the query or website and click through rate (the ad’s historical performance on the query or website). There are many advertisers that have strong quality scores through optimizing for these factors. 

For Google Search Network http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=49174

For Google Display Network  http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=48863

Q: With your PPC programs are their branding benefits tied to those that do not click through?  

KS: There are several ways an advertiser can see this on our Display Network. One of the easiest ways is to look at their view-through conversions, conversions that are attributable to someone who has seen your ad but who has not clicked upon it. There is also a study called Campaign Insights Tool that we can run that allows advertisers to see the lift they are getting off of their Search campaigns by running Display campaigns concurrently.  

View-through Conversion Tracking   http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=160784

Google Campaign Insights Tool   http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/campaigninsights.html

Q: What will you be presenting at E-Tourism Las Vegas?

KS: I will be presenting an overview of recent Travel marketing trends including key travel consumer online behavior. In addition, I’ll be highlighting approaches for DMOs to include in their marketing strategy — underscoring the movement of media consumption from traditional channels to the online space, particularly in online video and mobile.  Go to www.etourismsummit.com to view the program.

Following e-Tourism Summit in New York City in October, we asked attendees to rate the content and presentations.  We decided to invite four of the top ranked presenters to the e-Tourism Workshop in Las Vegas, December 9^th.  What follows is a brief interview with Emmaneulle Legault, Director of Information Technology,  about their strategy to go 100% on the web.

Q: Can you tell us something about Tourisme Montreal that very few people know?

A :We are a private, non-profit organization, with about 80 employees. At the heart of our work is marketing and communications. For 2010-2013, we are focusing on content outreach, merging Communications, PR, and Tour and Travel departments, and creating brand ambassadors who push content outward to journalists, bloggers, travel agents and tour operators.

 Q: What prompted your decision in 2009 to go 100% interactive marketing?

A:  In the grand scheme of things, the decision came as a result of our conversion objective, which is a response to the current challenging economic conditions that face our biggest leisure markets in the United States. This led us to enhancing the idea of Montréal as an ideal short-term getaway destination; to showcasing our Sweet Deal (2nd night at half price) packages to the city; and to assisting potential visitors in planning their stay in Montréal (given the fact that 80% of people make their destination decisions online).

Q: What has been the impact on P.R. where you had previously advertised?

A:  There was actually no real impact. Our sales and editorial workforces have well-defined actions, and as long as there is a story to tell, visibility is there.

Q: What were to tools you used?

A: 100% web strategy. We are present on travel and lifestyle sites, with banner ads and content integration. We have a Web 2.0 strategy, awareness objectives, and brand ambassadors outside of our usual ecosystem. We are on Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook, and in the process of maximizing visibility through Foursquare. We also have a blog that focuses on letting visitors know what to do when they are in Montréal.

To learn what the results were for 2009 and how 2010 is progressing to date, attend the e-tourism Summit Workshop at www.etourismsummit.com.  (Note previous e-Tourism attendees receive a $300 discount off the $895 rate. )

Turn your head and cough

Enter our TSA Photo Contest.  Submit your caption ideas by submitting a comment below. (Captions will be voted on and winner will receive comp registration at E-Tourism Summit Workshop December 9th in Las Vegas.)  http://www.etourismsummit.com/workshop-las-vegas.html

What Are The Top Ten Twitter-Friendly DMO’s?  From cheapoair.com—it is a second-tier airfare comparison and booking site—comes a list of Twitter-friendly CVBs compiled by the site’s Spencer Spelman. The list, with excerpts from Spelman’s commentary, follows:

@VisitSavannah: In their bio they put the Twitter handle of the person who tweets, so you know who you’re talking to. Also, you’ll find them tweeting and interacting with users on the most important travel days of the week, Saturday and Sunday.

@PureMichigan: Pure Michigan may just be the most well-known tourism company on Twitter. They are award winning for their use of Twitter. They tweet about all things Michigan, everything from local news to events to destinations. They are often interacting with residents and travelers and retweet posts and photos about Michigan from other users. 

 @VisitPhilly: Visit Philly has a large following, with over 7,000 followers. Don’t let their large following deter you, as they often reply back to users that mention Philadelphia. They tweet about things beyond Philadelphia itself, to include the state of Pennsylvania as a whole.

 @VisitMusicCity: The Visit Music City Twitter account is the go-to place for everything Nashville, being used primarily to promote local happenings. They often do giveaways, including two in the last week, one of which that was a trip for two to Nashville. 

@VisitPA: Visit PA has been a leader on the social media space for a couple years. They go the extra mile for guests and users. This was evident in a tweet this week in which they researched a trip for a traveler that was not even visiting Pennsylvania.

 @VisitChicago: Visit Chicago has one of the largest followerships of any other tourism board on Twitter, at over 10,000 followers. You can often find them tweeting information, photos and articles from other users that are about Chicago and Illinois 

@ColumbiaSC: Columbia, S.C. tweets as much or more than any other CVB and tourism agency we found. They were also one of the few that we found that actively use Foursquare.

@ScottsdaleAZ: Scottsdale takes travel content production to a new level by uploading photos and videos of Scottsdale to their Twitter profile. Users can talk to the tourism bureau and get answers to questions they have about the city. 

@VermontTourism: They have really ramped up their use this fall, as September and October are two of the best months to visit to see the fall foliage. They have kept travelers in the know by doing daily foliage reports and uploading photos.

@VisitFlorida: Visit Florida has done a great job of using Twitter to leverage their overall social media use. For example, they’ll often tweet questions people have asked on their Facebook discussion board and ask users to respond to the person on Facebook.

40% of Women Travelers using Facebook. Not surprisingly, Facebook is the social networking venue of choice of female travelers, with nearly 40 percent using the site to provide status updates or commentary during their trips. This is just one of the findings of just released survey conducted by Vision Critical, a Vancouver-based research firm, for Women on Their Way by Windham Worldwide, branded hospitality program that focuses exclusively on women. The firm polled 500 women between the ages of 18-50 on how they use social media when they travel. The women surveyed have a social media account and have had an overnight trip in the past 12 months. Key findings from the survey include the following:
• Almost half (46 percent) of women use social media during their trip and half access it through their smartphones.
• Of those respondents who use social media during their trip, the majority (81 percent) are on a leisure vacation. Three in every four women are on family visits and a quarter are on girlfriend getaways.
• Facebook is the social media site of choice for the connected traveler. Almost two-in-five women provide status updates or commentary during their trip on Facebook and well over half (57 percent) share photos or videos.
• Younger respondents are more “plugged in” and are more likely to be using social media during their trip. More than half of those under the age of 35 are using social media while on their trip, almost two-thirds share photos or videos and 46 percent update their status or provide commentary.
• Most respondents commented that the biggest reason they use social media when they travel was to stay in touch with friends and family while traveling and share their experience with others.

Why Marketers Often Belly Flop On Facebook. There are 500 million fans on Facebook. Unfortunately, for marketers, interacting with brands is low on their list of reasons to be on the site. That hasn’t stopped marketers from targeting them -  or from making mistakes as they do so. A new study by ExactTarget, Facebook X-Factors, suggests companies rethink their approach to Facebook marketing -  or at least reconsider why their customers are on Facebook in the first place. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/23bt5gk

Four of the 22 session at this year’s E-Tourism Summit, October 12-13th in NYC will address these topics and more. www.etourismsummit.com

The reason why Facebook Places will make travel companies sit and up listen to ideas around geo services and location check-in is easy: 500 million members having the ability to pinpoint where they are and share information with friends is suddenly very important, and more than just a quirky tool that tech media luvvies FourSquare and Gowalla have produced.

In other words: volume and audience penetration will trigger a change in thinking.  See http://tinyurl.com/2744nyt

E-Tourism Summit NYC News: Several presenters will update everyone about Facebook Places during the workshop day October 12th.   Three new presenters have been confirmed this week: www.etourismsummit.com

E-Tourism Update: New session added:  Pimp My App: How to Use Viral Solutions to help spread the word about your new App and we are up to 23 confirmed presenters.   http://www.etourismsummit.com/e-tourism-summit-2010-main-event-agenda.html