Center Stage at the 2009 PhoCusWright Conference

PhoCus Wright is using the metaphor of the Perfect Storm to describe how changes in technology are changing the travel industry. The growth of ad and referral-based revenue is challenging the dominance of traditional bookings-driven business models.

This Perfect Storm affords abundant opportunity, provided that companies do three things:

1. Exploit fantastic advancements in technology and momentum
2. Avoid skills-focused decision making and business model preservation
3. Rededicate their business to solving big problems for customers

Excellent leadership in our industry is defined by those who actually fuel the storm, and in turn their own cause, by aligning their business with the contributing forces. In this Perfect Storm, a series of technologies and trends have created unprecedented opportunities—which sometimes challenge long-held assumptions and business models.

Center Stage at this year’s PhoCusWright Conference will put the travel industry’s Perfect Storm on the radar, shining a Hollywood-sized spotlight on three dynamic forces—search, shop, buy— that are uniquely combining to impact our industry in unprecedented ways. From PPC and PPA fronts and the rising winds of metasearch to the ground-level impact being felt by travel players throughout the industry-wide warning area, attendees will come away with insight into how their business can weather—or fuel—The Perfect Storm.