Social media data is key to produce profitable travel products

62% of travel product developers say social media and in particular Facebook is a vital source of data when building new products

Early findings for a report to be delivered this November indicate that social media is no longer just for marketing and customer service. Well over half the travel companies surveyed so far show that data gathered from social media is vital to assess and forecast demand for new travel products.

37% say that Facebook is the best network for product development but with Twitter performing so badly in the survey it does indicate that more focussed social communities are also proving highly valuable. As well as the free data from social media sites, Google is another incredibly useful data source with over 21% rating data from Google is vital for their product development.

The travel industry spends millions on data procurement and analysis each year and the survey reveals the industry needs guidance over which sources of data are truly valuable. 28% of those polled say it is lack of knowledge on the data sources that is holding their product development back.

The full report findings will be delivered at the Product Development Strategies for the Travel Industry Conference taking place in London the week before the World Travel Market in London.

Over 100 top route planners, product developers, purchasers and investors will attend to debate what strategies are best for delivering long lasting profitable products and particularly focus on the evolving sources of data and data management that the industry is starting to integrate into the product development process.