An article that our CEO and co-founder Aaron Gowell has written commenting on some of the impending changes in the European travel industry has been featured by Tnooz, the leading site for travel technology.

Aaron comments on the top ten things that he thinks will change the way travel distribution will work in the future.

From the article, a couple of examples:

London calling… to teach us a lesson

Hundreds of thousands of tourists (mostly un-savvy) are expected to descend upon the UK capital for the London 2012 Olympic games, and their airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted) are by no means ready for even a dress rehearsal for the influx of people. Travelers in the know, seek out the rail infrastructure despite poor online functionality to reach the Olympic sites: some cope, some cry, people will finally get the point of rail travel.

Partnering gets real

So much for the promise of a unified EU, where businesses partner and consumers benefit, there’s still no way for a consumers to book rail tickets from Manchester in the UK to Nice in France in a single ticket.

When cross-border differences disappear, the industry gets a brand new market that is currently untapped by current travel distributors. New sectors are created for travelers to access, and for distributors to sell.

Cross-carrier rail ticketing partnerships (like interlining in air) means consumers flock to take new trips they were not able to purchase easily or at all before, and a big shift takes place from air to rail.

Those regions who invested smartly in rail speed and rail infrastructure see the fruits of economic development in their region, and more tourist dollars.

Mobile impact

In short: traveler demand prompts mobile apps to replace TMCs for corporate travelers changing bookings, TMCs struggle to understand how to cope

As corporate travelers get better mobile travel products as consumers than they do as corporate travelers, TMCs can’t keep up.

They will need to invest in products, or acquire app developers to help them match the demand and pull towards competitive platforms.

Travel policy will not prevent the use of mobile by travelers, making mobile compliance and ease one of the most important parts of the equation.