Helping small tour operators and niche agents with travel ecommerce
New Online Travel Idea - Feedback?
Hello again,
I´m the one who is desperately searching for a fancy litte Online Travel Startup..;-)
Another thing which came to my mind is an idea regarding trips to New York. I´m a regular traveller to New York an already got some inside connections over there besides the classical things you can do when you are there. Here is my idea:
Thinking about a really niche travel service:
New York has so many local tour operators, sightseeing possibilities, restaurants, museums, musicals etc.
1) Why not setup a Website where people who like to do a New York trip can choose from all the possibilities New York has to offer (just look at www.nycgo.com!!).
2) After the traveller has choosen his option and things he likes to do in NY he gets a full individual itineray of his requests.
3) If he accepts you do the booking for the customer. Revenue comes from the New York suppliers, maybe you could also charge a small handling fee for the customer.
What Do you think?
Carsten
I´m the one who is desperately searching for a fancy litte Online Travel Startup..;-)
Another thing which came to my mind is an idea regarding trips to New York. I´m a regular traveller to New York an already got some inside connections over there besides the classical things you can do when you are there. Here is my idea:
Thinking about a really niche travel service:
New York has so many local tour operators, sightseeing possibilities, restaurants, museums, musicals etc.
1) Why not setup a Website where people who like to do a New York trip can choose from all the possibilities New York has to offer (just look at www.nycgo.com!!).
2) After the traveller has choosen his option and things he likes to do in NY he gets a full individual itineray of his requests.
3) If he accepts you do the booking for the customer. Revenue comes from the New York suppliers, maybe you could also charge a small handling fee for the customer.
What Do you think?
Carsten
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Alex Bainbridge on -
Hi Carsten
It is a good idea - selling around a destination niche can work quite well
Out of all your ideas you have added to these forums, this is my favourite - mainly because I know you are a sales guy - not a web developer. This has the most areas where you can apply your skills well - and the technical requirements are minimal
Cheers. Alex
-
Permalink Reply by Peter Syme on -
This has legs
However, do not underestimate the volume you will have to sell if you are just working on margins! You will only get any business if you have a site that is well marketed and that will mean a substantial investment in money and time a quick search tells me it is a very competitive area.
I am looking at doing something very similar for other city destinations but the main difference will be that we deliver the tours and hence we will not require the huge volume that sites that work just on margin do .
Hint. The trend is that customers more and more want to book with the supplier. The web is managing to put people in contact with people. The middle man part although will always be required to a degree will continue to get squeezed from all angles.
People have always bought people so if it was me looking at New York I would come up with some new innovative tours and deliver them with a team that was trained to deliver the best tour in the city.
Peter
© 2010 Created by Small Fish Big Ocean.
