“Searching For Butterfly Effect”
Extension of influence on travel searching market in Korea

This is time of Chaos regardless of local or foreign business who they have been bringing such proliferation by introducing travel search engines. The latest mood is very different, which has systematic approach in categorizing diverse single travel supply such as flight, hotel, and rental automobile, so it could improve channel to promising tourists with required applications.

Travel industries are well aware of growing online search markets, but they seem hard to know what’s meaning of it and where it goes. Although we could assume that is just expansions to another infrastructural platform, on the other hand, it has implied gigantic changes. Aftermath of this phenomenon has high probability of fundamental changes, which are different circulation in tourism and sales.

Not only getting into a certain web site running by a travel agency, but searching for any form of service relating travel via portal site can be designated as ‘surfing’. New trend suggests customers use specific sites and applied applications rather than excessively focus on exposures of keyword advertisement. It is obvious that this movement has started from foreign enterprises. Sky-scanner, established in 2001 searching for boarding pass, has arrived in Korea 4 years ago and taken advantage as initial effect.

Though growth of mobile platformer booking flight tickets is 24 percent annually, the notable change came from Naver, Korean portal, using Galileo platform ‘Meta Search’ last year. By showing integrated results for searching airlines or destinations in one step rather than introducing other links, Naver’s Meta search enhances traffic of air market, but it still reveal crucial limits that, nevertheless, travelers need to move again to another website for real booking.  

It is interesting that Korean entrepreneur, Mr. Ahn (chief executive of Traport), have launched 3 years developed new model in 2015, which overcome inconvenience and slowness of Meta search is ‘Meta Booking’. It thoroughly realize search and pay, so tickets being reserved in one website. Now Meta booking can also look for accommodations.

While this tropical competition among in and out regional entrepreneurs, online portal, and travel agencies have been intensified, fully evolved searching service, named ‘KAYAK’, had launched in Korea last April. KAYAK treats not only finding flights, hotels, and rental cars, but showing comparable prices and offering travel itinerary. KAYAK basically do not acquire charge from users, but it gets commission from airlines, travel agencies, and their partners when any reservation conducts.

In past it was difficult to take advantages when only travel agencies were concentrating package sales and, furthermore, every brand has different positions and price tags in this market. For this aspects smart travelers has been chosen sole product. Therefore, sales people had to keep both group seats and singles’ for flights, accommodations, and even amenities. Local travel agencies might had not wanted to give up depending on their package sales and had brought belated and copied FIT platforms, whereas foreign investors march early and charmed customers soon.

Analysis of this movement says it is natural change in travel market for high demand of FIT and singularity of such strong IT country, Korea may experience epidemical phenomenon much severely. Local travel agencies need to learn from foreign travel service, searching in online, which have both flexibility and compatibility in operation of sales. They cooperate with each other, for example, sharing superior platforms and making partnerships, so general distribution of travel can be enhanced. 

The lack of substantial understanding of real value in travel market in online search, so business people willing to dive need to be selective when making partnerships with search service franchises rather than being conjured and satisfied with congested traffic in website. Complaints from local airlines were ensued when they have paid proportion of ticket fee to GDS. The more expense related GDS was asked to local airlines, and it brought more conflicts while air market have been gone down for long time in Korea.

Expansion in online search of travel can be a crisis or a chance eventually. It would be enough making profits if they have solid infrastructures where high rate of supply in smart phones and IT accessibility already exist. For now local travel agencies prefer a combined model to immediate face-off against foreign enterprises. The expansion takes centerpieces from travel agencies and gives all the aces to travelers. Thus, there is no showcase without competitive prices and various choices in the search, which means also there is higher velocity on aggressive promotion and marketing in the traffic.

Summarized and Translated by PARK KYUN SUNG(전문 번역가)