Skift Take
Destination marketers are skilled at helping travelers plan trips, but they’re poor at encouraging transactions. Are they missing a trick by not driving more direct bookings and, thus, helping to level the playing field for the smallest travel suppliers?
This week, let’s do a thought experiment. What if cheap technology has improved so much that destinations could start driving bookings themselves — rather than leave the selling to the online giants?
That’s the idea floated by Vinicius Geraldo, a São Paulo-based travel tech executive.
Geraldo believes many destinations, especially in Latin America, are leaving money on the table and they need to become “more transactional.”
- The websites of destination marketing organizations are often sophisticated. But they have gaps. They’re generally ineffective at driving travelers to buy hotel stays.
- “Most destinations use white-label booking tech that looks…