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The Travel Marketing Digest
11th September 2013 - Volume III, issue 4
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IN THIS ISSUE.....
Dear Industry Colleagues and Friends,
Welcome to The Travel Marketing Digest.
In this edition of The Travel Marketing Digest we cover:
- Groupon buys last minute hotel company Blink
- Airline Ancillary Revenues double
- Via Milano - innovation in airport connections
- Best of the blog: new news items from our blog, CMOsInTravel.com includes:
- The Future of Wearable Technology in Travel
- Tokyo wins Olympic Gold
- Starwood and the future of hotels
- Social engagement in Middle Eastern Airlines
- Travelocity & Expedia reviewed
- IATA Airline growth
- The 2nd Global Travel Marketing Forum programme
- The Travel Marketing Directory to be launched soon
- Seecrypt, secure your communications
Best regards,
Duncan Alexander
Director
The Travel Marketing Store
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 Groupon buys Blink and expands it travel footprint
Groupon has announced the acquisition of last-minute travel app Blink, a leading European destination for great deals on highly curated, same-day hotel bookings, bolstering its rapidly growing Groupon Getaways travel business. The Madrid-based Blink works with more than 2,000 hotel partners in eight European countries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This expands Groupon's footprint in last minute travel and provides a competitor to start up Hotels Tonight.
"We are very excited to welcome the Blink team to the Groupon family," said
Aaron Cooper, Senior Vice President of Groupon Getaways. "The combination of a fantastic mobile app, same-day inventory management for properties and a team that is obsessed with mobile and last-minute travel will help us further expand our travel business as the go-to destination for great deals on great places to stay."
The addition of same-day bookings gives Groupon Getaways another way to serve customers' travel needs, whether it's deals on hotels across the globe, all-inclusive travel packages or full-service tours in popular destinations. Blink's easy-to-use mobile app caters to on-the-go travellers looking for unique hotels in travel hotspots across Europe and complements Groupon's existing European travel offerings.
"Groupon's commitment to expanding its travel business and its focus on delivering a first-rate experience for its customers make this a great fit for Blink," said Blink CEO and founder
Rebecca Minguela. "We are looking forward to building more relationships with top hotels around the world and helping customers find unbeatable deals, even when booking at the last minute."
The Blink app will be rebranded "Blink by Groupon" and will operate separately as the team develops an integrated experience that takes advantage of the full breadth of Groupon Getaways global travel offers. Groupon Getaways, launched in 2011, works with hotels and other partners to provide curated travel deals and experiences in 48 countries.
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Airline Ancillary Revenue Reaches $27.1 Billion - More Than Doubling the 2009 Number
The new 2013 CarTrawler Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue by IdeaWorksCompany, now available free online, provides the most detailed global assessment of a bottom-line-booster that can represent more than 38 percent of a carrier's revenue. The full 80-page report examines 53 airlines that disclosed revenue during 2012 from activities such as frequent flier miles sold to partners, fees for checked bags, and commissions from car rentals. The complete alphabetical list of carriers is provided in the press release in a carrier-by-carrier table, followed by a graph of ancillary revenue expressed as a percent of total revenue.
In terms of percentage of total revenue Spirit tops the chart with over 38% of its revenues being reported as being ancillary. On a per seat basis Qantas lead with a reported EURO dollar 43.4 per seat being reported.
To obtain this insightful free report follow this link
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 Innovation in Airport Connections at Milan
Milan Malpensa have developed an innovative connection service that takes advantage of its location and mix of airlines. Not all airline's, such as low cost carriers, participate in Global Distribution Systems that travel agents and online travel portals use. The Via Milano programme facilitates connections between any airline that operates at the airport thus making it an attractive connection proposition. In addition they promote the connection with lounge access and airport retail discounts. The video explains it all...
 | | ViaMilano - Malpensa Airport Connection Service |
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REGISTER HERE:
"The Complete Visitor Economy" 
The Global Travel Marketing Forum
Dubai Madinat Jumeirah
25th September 2013
"the marketplace for travel marketing services"
REGISTER HERE:
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Speakers for The Global Travel Marketing Forum include:
Martin Craigs: CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)
Dan Cross: Middle East Head for TripAdvisor
Walid Driss: Middle East & North Africa, Facebook
Alan Hewitt: Business Development Director, Porton Group
Antoine Medawar: VP Middle East & North Africa, Amadeus
Hany Mwafy: Managing Director, Middle East, Brand Finance
Rick Helliwell: VP Corporate Leadership Development, Emirates Airline & Group
Alan Simpson: Director of Talent & Resourcing, Jumeirah Group
Tarique Khatri :Senior Vice President, Business Development Cleartrip
Mohamad Ibrahim Masri, Managing Director Middle East & North Africa, Wego
Scott Booth, Head of Leisure and Entertainment, YouGov
Dr Ahmad Belhoul, CEO Strategy and Tourism Sector Development,Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing Government of Dubai
Download the Forum programme
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The Global Travel Marketing Forum 2013
Wednesday September 25th, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM GST
"the marketplace for travel marketing services". The Global Travel Marketing Forum is an annual conference and exhibition based in Dubai that brings together Travel Marketing thought leaders. The Forum provides a platform for travel marketing suppliers to promote themselves through sponsorships, presentations and dedicated meetings with buyers.
Madinat Jumeirah Conference Centre, Mina A' Salam, Dubai.
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The best of the blog.
"The Forum for Travel Marketing Specialists"
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Coming Soon: The Travel Marketing Directory
 The Travel Marketing Store has teamed up with D2i SYSTEMS to build the next phase of our business and to provide an online Directory of Travel Marketing Suppliers.
 This will provide a facility for user generated content and automated subscriptions for Travel Marketing Services Suppliers to list and promote themselves.
At its launch The Travel Marketing Directory comes with three levels of participation:
- Free: basic company listing with contact details
- Standard: $300 per annum: logo placement and additional space for promotional copy
- Premium: $800 per annum: logo, extra copy space, ability to load corporate presentations/video clips, links to your corporation's social marketing sites, ability to book appointments at our events and outside of our events.
The directory is divided into 5 broad categories with over 30 sub categories of marketing services.
Further details will be made available soon as we prepare for the launch of The Travel Marketing Directory.
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Secure communications on the move
 SeeCrypt is a downloadable application that costs as little as $3 a month and allows users to make encrypted voice and text messages using military strength encryption. The application is provided by Porton Group, a privately held venture capital firm specialising in commercialisation of military technologies. The timing of their roll-out could not be better. The application currently runs on Apple, Android and Blackberry 10. It enables Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls for free with the added benefit of the best in cryptology, key management and information security. Two users can make unlimited calls and messaging from anywhere in the world at no additional cost.
ENJOY THE APPLICATION FOR FREE FOR SIX MONTHS WITH THE TRAVEL MARKETING STORE REFERRAL CODE:
1. Download Seecrypt from the Apple/Google store (depending on your device).
 
2. Register with your email address and set a new password.
3. Enter this referral code: FLYSAFE.
4. Go to your email and verify your email address (very important) - click on the link.
5. Log in to your Seecrypt account to check all your details and active devices.
6. Invite your colleagues, family and friends to create your own secure network.
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Seecrypt Mobile
The Privacy Solution
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Porton Group are the main sponsor of The Global Travel Marketing Forum. They will present and discuss this important issue for those involved in the travel industry and in the wider private and government sectors at our event.
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The Travel Marketing Store
Nicky Baxter
Editor
The Travel Marketing Digest |
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Images courtesy of Shutterstock
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