As a followup to my blog coverage of the “Travel 2.0” conference, held a couple of weeks ago in Hollywood, I conducted a brief email interview with the host and primary moderator of the event, Philip Wolf. He’s the president and CEO of PhoCusWright Inc., the producers of this major annual event for executives in the travel industry, now in its thirteen year. PhoCusWright is an independent travel, tourism, and hospitality research firm specializing in consumer, business, and competitive intelligence. It conducts and publishes primary work focused on strategic assessment and segment forecasting, and it offers a range of custom research and strategic consulting services, in addition to producing its annual series of high-profile executive conferences. PhoCusWright has clients on six continents.

TECH~SURF~BLOG: Phil, what was your overall assessment of this year’s executive conference?

WOLF: I’m sure this year’s event was the best ever. We had record attendance and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback. The buzz was definitely palpable in Hollywood. The theme, “Travel 2.0 Confronts the Establishment,” was incredibly important to those in attendance, and the timing was perfect to discuss this subject. This is the most exciting time since the online travel wave hit — it is really the next wave, though not as big. The dialog on stage was very strategic. PhoCusWright’s moderators asked great questions, and didn’t let go without real answers. The caliber of our audience was incredible — senior level executives. Off-stage, the seeds were planted for millions of dollars of deals.

TECH~SURF~BLOG: What was the most surprising development?

WOLF: The conference was a prototype of 2.0 at work — not just about 2.0. It was wonderful to see how successful it was with attendees distributed throughout the conference area. The headsets worked incredibly well, and it was great to see how “tuned in” everyone was with them — whether they were in the café area, the exhibitor area, or outside on the terrace, they were as involved as those sitting in the theater.

TECH~SURF~BLOG: Generally speaking, how is the industry reacting to the whole “Travel 2.0” concept, based on your feedback so far from attendees? Do they get it? Do they buy it?

WOLF: Most people attending The Executive Conference got it; some hate it. I’m pretty sure it’s going to stick.

TECH~SURF~BLOG: What moves can we expect to see from some of the Travel 1.0 players in the next year? How about the Travel 1.5 metasearch players — how will Travel 2.0 affect them? Any predictions based on what you heard or observed at the conference?

WOLF: Prediction: This time next year, those expressions won’t be in play. Most of the five tenets I mentioned in the opening monologue will be “the norm” in the business world. For example, mapping was a special thing a couple of years ago; today, everyone’s got it. [Ed.: The tenets that define Travel 2.0 according to Wolf are these: transparency, collaboration, better basics, speed, and predictability. You can read his opening speech here.]

TECH~SURF~BLOG: What about the subject of content in the whole Web 2.0 travel mix, and the role of professional vs. user-generated content? How important is content, what kind of impact will it have, and which firms do you think best undertand what’s going on here, or how best to handle content on their sites?

WOLF: There’s going to be a blending of different types of content — user-generated, vertical, professional, etc. The blending will be across search, shopping, and sharing, and their aspects will start to blur. Whether content is labeled “user-generated” or “professional” won’t matter over time. What matters is what was most helpful to the customer.

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Thanks, Phil. I thought it was a very worthwhile event, and enjoyed blogging it. From the boost I saw in my blog traffic, and the many people I heard from commenting favorably on my coverage, I agree this is a very hot topic. And I look forward to following Travel 2.0 going forward.

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