The 2010 EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit North America is all set to take place at The Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago from Oct 13-14, 2010. For a basic introduction of the summit, refer to Part I.

TDS Social Media Strategies conference

The 2-day event actually consists of four distinct conferences, as outlined below.

A new American Express Business Travel survey shows that 50 percent of corporate travel professionals use social media for travel management, but significant barriers remain that are blocking enhanced adoption.

AmEx survey

Highlights of the AmEx Social Media in Business Travel Management report:-

- 50% overall and 59% of mid-size companies use social media for travel management.
- 42% use social networking to find travelers’ preferred vendors and services.
- 22% cite company policy prohibiting use as primary reason for not using social media.
- 17% said they didn’t know which one to use; 20% say information overload is overwhelming.
- 20% say that the biggest barrier to use of social media is an unclear business case or ROI.

Among those using social media, 63% said they have established an internal site and built a community to support improved travel management. 41% monitor social media sites to ensure corporate travel policy compliance. 45% actively engage with a public community, 43% post videos and 41% post corporate travel information in text form.

Types of Social Media Engagement to Support Travel

Among companies with air travel spends in between $10m-$20m, Facebook (63%) and LinkedIn (75%) are the most popular networks. Among companies who spend $20m or more, Twitter (67%) and TripAdvisor (67%) are the most popular.

25% cited trying to reduce business cost in travel as the main reason/benefit for using social media, followed by 18% who mainly use it to look for preferred vendors and services from their travelers. Another 18% use it to stay on top of the latest travel information.

The most interesting part of the report is the section which details the main reasons for not using social media. 22% said that company policy forbids them from using or participating in social media. 15% are not allowed to access social media sites while at work. 15% don’t trust the information, and 13% cite productivity loss.

Also, 4% of respondents said they didn’t know which social network(s) to use and 4% don’t know how to use social media – Period. 13% don’t see any benefit in it.

When asked for the biggest barrier to using social media for travel management, 20% cited an unclear business case or ROI. 15% lack support from executive and upper management, 7% lack IT skills and 6% lack funding.

A couple of revealing examples from the AmEx businesstravelconnexion.com forum:-

“We currently block all social media sites here.  How do we prevent unauthorized use?  If we allow people on to Facebook to check their travel information how do we control that they aren’t checking their personal page as well?”

“Aside from social media experts telling me how to use social media … are you aware of any high level travel executives (airline, hotel brands, associations) that are avid bloggers/twittererererers that review and analyse their industry? I think Roger Dow has a twitter account but doesn’t use it …Are you using twitter hashtags?  What are the best hashtags to follow in the business travel space?”

The latter query is from a CVB Sales Operations manager for a major city. Since the survey results show that many travel professionals are just as hapless when it comes to social media, it’s probably going to be a while before business travel management adopts social media enmasse.

AmEx ’Social Media in Business Travel Management’ survey report – Download (pdf)

Meet Sandy Monica – Jetsetting British socialite who is currently in California enjoying a one month vacation in Santa Monica.

Sandy Monica

Sandy Monica is, however, not a real British tourist. She is a life-size mannequin created by the Santa Monica CVB as part of a social media campaign. 

The campaign is pushing Santa Monica as a fun destination for visiting shopaholics, in order to generate some buzz for the Aug 6 re-opening of the Santa Monica Place shopping mall.

Sandy Monica has her own microsite, and the CVB is uploading daily pictures of her activities on to their facebook page. The mannequin is actually being hauled around to visit one new attraction in Santa Monica each day for a month.

As of now, Sandy has already enjoyed nine famous attractions, things to do and places in Santa Monica, including a bike ride from Santa Monica to Venice and a segway ride around Santa Monica, visits to the Santa Monica Visitor Center and the west end of Route 66, lots of shopping, al fresco dining and sunbathing on the beach.

Sandy Monica takes a bike ride and visits Route 66

Santa Monica tourism experts and residents are being asked for suggestions on facebook to decide which place Sandy should visit next. The most creative suggestion submitted before July 30 will receive a $500 gift card to shop at Santa Monica Place.

After Sandy Monica has enjoyed her 30 days in the spotlight, she will be put on display as part of the Mannequin Collective art exhibit, a community arts program developed by Santa Monica Place in partnership with Otis School of Design.

Sandy Monica’s website: www.santamonica.com/sandy-monica 

Contest page: www.santamonica.com/sandy-monica-contest

SMCVB on Facebook: www.facebook.com/visitsantamonica

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has put up interactive twitter walls in NYC, Chicago and Los Angeles which display twitter streams with photos and tweets abut Canadian destinations.

Canada Tourism Twitter Wall

The campaign was created by DDB Canada, and uses large 8 x10 foot touchscreens installed in Times Square and Chelsea in New York, Michigan Avenue in Chicago and The Grove in Los Angeles.

It’s not just for display, though. As you can see in this video, passers-by can interact with the touchscreens, and pull up photos and info about a Canadian destination related to a tweet on the screen, or one in which they’re interested.

Twitter walls are usually used at conferences and events to aggregate tweets based on the event’s hashtag, but video screens fed with twitter streams have been installed at public places before. The Berlin Twitter Wall set up last year for the 20th anniversary of the real Berlin Wall’s fall is a prominent example.

The Footwall, London

Another recent example is The Footwall – a giant 4-story World Cup twitter wall in London. The company that set it up – The Brand Union, simply used a projector to post a live stream of tweets from their @thefootwall account on to the side of their office building in Farrington.

Paul Wood, Account Director for The Brand Union, explains why they’re doing this. He says “Many companies use social media to be seen to be keeping up, but consumers are interested in relevance to create social currency. The Footwall is about uniting fans through the power that social media offers, giving them a voice.”

The Canadian Tourism Commission’s twitter walls and what they hope to gain from it is a slightly more complex issue. To motivate more people to engage with them on twitter, the CTC is offering Americans a chance to win a $5,000 travel voucher for a free trip to Canada.

All you have to do is follow the @Keep_Exploring account and reply to them mentioning your favorite Canadian destination. This will get others in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles interested in taking a deeper look at these Canadian destinations when the tweets show up on the twitter walls.

It’s a neat combination of online and offline destination marketing, and shows just how much power a social media-based tourism ad campaign has to influence and engage even an offline audience.