Travel 2.0

Intro to Web 2.0

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Web 2.0 buzz, here is quick introduction: The old Web 1 was all about bland html sites. Each of these websites are run by one company exclusively. While some of them have grown into giants… their days are numbered.

Web 2.0 is the way of the future: these websites enable social interaction, collaboration and transparency. They are trustworthy, and consumer oriented. They give customers incredible resources that they would usually not have access to. And the diverse sources of content for these Web 2.0 sites (such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, and Wikipedia) means that they can grow at rates that even the most powerful corporations could never achieve. This is the power of Web 2.0 – this is the future of the internet.

Travel 2.0

Much like the rest of the web, travel, accommodation and tourism sites are set to undergo the same kind of changes. It is still early days for the new travel 2.0 paradigm, but travellers are already beginning to expect features that the online giants of travel seem reluctant to provide. Research has shown that potential guests seek out honest reviews and respect blogs and user opinions more than expert write-ups. Despite this trend, 10 year old websites seem to have become stuck in their ways. These once dynamic players, newcomers to the global industry, have become too comfortable. They simply list accommodation. They allow users to book a place to sleep. And they refuse to recognise that customers demand more, and that’s why ZissuTravel.com is set to knock the socks off the South African tourism industry…

On the bleeding edge

Zissu Travel offers all the traditional features and more and more and more… The only paradigm that we are stuck in is that we are committed to moving forward, evolving, remaining on the bleeding edge. Currently, online tourists are expressing a desire for Web 2.0 philosophies being applied to a travel site. The most important features required by users are collaboration,transparency and ease of navigation.

1. Collaboration: Collaboration is to everybody’s advantage. ZissuTravel.com has thousands of content pages about regions (from Provinces to tiny suburbs) and tourist activities (from iconic attractions to niche interests). So do many of our competitors. The difference is the rate at which information on our Travel 2.0 site can be accumulated. Many of our guides have already been written or contributed to by establishments listed on the site, but once we open to online travellers this information can mushroom exponentially. This will clearly benefit visitors to the site and accommodation establishments listed on the site. Soon, we expect to be South Africa’s most comprehensive travel guide. Later, posting reviews, comments, YouTube videos and travel blogs will all be options available to Zissu users.

2. Ease of Navigation: You might think that with this vast amount of content that users will be lost. For instance, if I want to travel to Cape Town how will I know that Table Mountain or Cape Point is more relevant than Ouma’s Beadshop? Well Zissu Travel has poineered an “importance factor” that will ensure that more relevant options come up more often, and like everything else on the site, importance will be decided by the input and preference of the entire Zissu community. On top of this, searches on the site aren’t  hindered by the archaic limitation imposed by some of our competitors that only recognise searches of establishment names or region names.  ZissuTravel.com can search all of these, but can also handle more general inputs like “beach” or “horse riding“, or “horse riding in KwaZulu-Natal“. When using ZissuTravel.com you will always know where you are, and how to get to the page that you want to see.

3. Transparency in Data: Ever wandered why all the reviews on Example.com’s site are over 90%? How can everyone rave about every accommodation establishment? Surely not everyone had the best holiday of their life though this site? Well, the truth is, many of our competitors hide bad reviews and never let them see the light of day. They consider bad reviews to be bad for business. While certain fact checking should certainly be undertaken, the only requirement to post a comment should be that you actually booked at that establishment – beyond that it is up to the establishment to post a reply and justify the experience. Believe it or not, some of our competitors even allow guest houses, B&B’s and hotels to write their own reviews! These same places allow establishments to pay to rank higher on their search listing, meaning that the accommodation options presented to you are often not even relevant to you desired holiday. These practises are unacceptable and cannot persist. ZissuTravel.com is designed with the customer in mind – its the only approach that makes any business sense.

To sum up

This isn’t innovation for innovation’s sake. This is innovation where it is sorely required. You will love this. South Africa will love this. The tourism industry. Establishment owners. Guests, guests, guests. Everyone.