PhoCusWright, one of the leading travel industry research companies, conducted an online event last week sharing its experts’ top 10 travel trends insights into what 2011 holds for the performance of the travel industry.

Truth, Myth, and Pith: PhoCusWright’s 2011 Travel Industry Trends presentation, moderated by Lorraine Sileo, vice president of research, made clear that the biggest news for the industry is that vacations are finally making a comeback. People are tired of having to cut back or postpone their travels due to economic factors the past few years, they’re getting on the road again, and they’re willing to spend more and spend directly with suppliers as opposed to online travel agencies.

Other key trend topics included air distribution, with a battle lining up for online retail storefront and, ultimately, consumers that will eventually end with all parties coming to an agreement on how to live together; shift in search whether or not Google completes its acquisition of ITA; China, India and Brazil continue to lead the way in emerging markets, followed by Singapore, Mexico, Hong Kong, Argentina, Indonesia and Chile; and more advances in how mobile devices and tablets will improve customer service and enrich the travel experience.

Here is the complete list of 10 travel trends for 2011, along with which trends participants deemed the most important (each listener could choose up to three):

1. Vacations (Finally) Make a Comeback – 31 percent
2. Emerging Markets: No Internet, No Problem – 21 percent
3. Air Distribution: As Clear as Mud – 31 percent
4. Google-ITA: If Not Plan A, Then on to Plan B – 34 percent
5. “Mobile” is Not a Trend – 47 percent
6. Suppliers Get Smart About Smart Technologies – 30 percent
7. Suppliers Claw Their Way Back – 21 percent
8. Emerging Markets: Which Ones are Real? – 17 percent
9. Private Sale: Flash of Brillance or Flash in the Pan? – 15 percent
10. Tablet Wars Spark a Travel Revolution – 28 percent

PhoCusWright presenters included Carroll Rheem, director of research; Cathy Schetzina, director of communications and senior research analyst; Douglaa Quinby, senior director of research; and Ram Badrinathan, market analyst the Asia Pacific region.

Participants compared how 2010’s predicted travel trends played out, with 78 percent saying PhoCusWright was either spot on or mostly on target. Last year’s trends:

1. A Restrained Recovery
2. Online Travel Agencies Maintain Momentum
3. Airline Optional Services – Ancillary No More
4. Mobile Travel Bookings Become Reality
5. Social Media Tops Agendas
6. Getting Local: Mobile, Social and Search Converge
7. Growing Pains Prompt Meta-morphosis
8. Trip Planning Gets Personal
9. Emerging Markets on the Radar
10. Mapping Makes its Mark

How do you think PhoCusWright experts did in predicting 2010 trends, and what are your thoughts on their picks for 2011?

(There was a technical glitch with the recording of the webinar, but the company is working on rerecording the information, and a download of the transcript will be made available soon.)

Related posts:
Best and Worst of PhoCusWright @ ITB Berlin 2010
PhoCusWright/Akamai Study on Travel Site Performance
Goldman Sachs Investment Trends in Online Travel
Business Travel Trends from the AMEX-CFO Research Survey

(Photo credit: PhoCusWright)

Well, we tried to make your day by offering to fly you to the Moon (Virgina) but it seems airport pat downs and body scanners have got you in a bad mood. What’s a traveler filled with wanderlust to do? A road trip might be just the thing to pull you out of your funk. Imagine only getting patted down when you really want it.  It’s okay to admit – we’re all friends here.

UpTake will send you on the road trip of your dreams if you refer someone for any of the full-time positions listed on our jobs page. So cheer up and start driving! Who could be sad motoring through Happyland (Connecticut) or Happy Hills, (Massachusetts)? Maybe a quick tour through Christmas (Florida) might get you in the holiday mood. Of course, a cruise to Climax (Georgia) is certain to perk you right up (see ‘pat downs’ above.)

Then again, if a road trip isn’t your thing, Uptake will give you a $2000 gift card instead. That might come in handy if you find yourself in Poor Town (North Carolina.)

Any full-time applicant hired for any of the full-time positions listed on our jobs page as a direct result of your referral earns you the “Road Trip Finder’s Fee”– The Road Trip Of Your Dreams. Please send your referral candidates to jobs@uptake.com. If the same candidate is received from two sources the first email received will win.  Offer expires 1/31/2011.

So good luck winning the road trip of your dreams! Just make sure it doesn’t turn out like this:

Do you dream of a trip to Moon?

Like most people, you probably spend a great deal of your day thinking about ways to fly to the moon. The weightlessness. The thin air. The space monsters. Pretty soon it’s six o’clock and all you’ve done all day is construct imaginary rockets in your head, you’re bloated on Tang and you can’t stop reciting that ‘”One small step for mankind…” speech. Well here’s your chance to stop dreaming and actually get to the moon.

Well, Moon, Virginia that is.

UpTake will fly you to Moon if you refer someone for any of the full-time positions listed on our jobs page. Why Moon? We figure it’s a little warmer than Mars (Pennsylvania), less gassy than Jupiter (Florida), more exciting than Boring (Oregon) and not obnoxiously Manly (Australia.) Just be happy we’re not telling you to go to Hell (Michigan.)

Interested in something more earthbound?

Then again, if the thought of going to Moon is making you feel like Crapo (Maryland) Uptake will give you a $2000 gift card instead to spend on a trip of your choice or on a Sandwich (Massachusetts.)

Any full-time applicant hired for any of the full-time positions listed on our jobs page as a direct result of your referral earns you the “To The Moon Finder’s Fee”– airfare to Moon, Virginia.

Please send your referral candidates to jobs@uptake.com.  If the same candidate is received from two sources the first email received will win.  Offer expires 12/31/2010.

While you formulate your list of possible candidates, we recommend a little tune from Frank.

SilverRail Technologies

Feature 1: SilverRail Technologies named Travel Innovation Summit winner at the PhoCusWright Conference held Nov 16 – 18, 2010 in Phoenix, AZ.

SilverRail (www.silverrailtech.com) took top honors among 33 innovative companies that demonstrated applications and technologies that will take travel planning, purchasing and memorializing to a new level.

PhoCusWright Press Release

Individual posts on each of the TIS presenters, by Elliott Ng (UpTake co-founder). Don’t miss the post about winner SilverRail and Elliott’s interesting take on Off and Away.

We Won't Fly

Feature 2: The TSA is under concerted attack from all sides for use of invasive full body scanners and enhanced pat-downs. Civil rights lawsuits were filed and fears about radiation levels raised. Travel industry leaders met TSA Administrator John Pistole. Pistole was hauled up before Congress for a hearing. But the real show is just about to begin.

Consumer groups have organized a National Opt Day on Nov 24 – WeWontFly.com

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced the American Traveler Dignity Act – TravelWeekly

The U.S. Travel Association wants you to lend your voice – YourTravelVoice.com

New York, Orlando airports join anti-TSA rebellion – arstechnica

Expedia to acquire mobile travel apps powerhouse Mobiata – Press Release 
Priceline goes Android – Press Release
Orbitz launches iPhone and Android apps – Orbitz mobile

Harrah’s IPO is a no-go – The Street
Kayak: New IPO, same conflict of interests – CNNMoney
Chatham Lodging Trust Offering delay could mean REIT problems – HotelNewsNow

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. enters loan business for luxury planes – Bloomberg
GM execs back to using corporate planes as economy recovers – Reuters Analysis

AA, Travelport mobilize for newest air distribution battle – Management.travel
Court says American has to stay in Orbitz for the moment – Travelpulse

Opryland reopens in Nashville, conventions booked as far ahead as 2020 – TheAdvertiser
NRA convention with 50,000+ convention-goers coming to Nashville in 2015 – Tennessean