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Improving Travel Research By: David J. Wardell © 1999 By: David J. Wardell. Reproduction or redistribution in any form without written permission is strictly prohibited. Please press the Exit Article button at the left when you have finished reviewing this page.
At the start of 1999 the latest round of what passes for industry research has made its way into view over the last few months. Although notoriously over-surveyed, the travel industry remains awash in bad data, ill-conceived and poorly executed research projects, and self-serving studies that are relevant more to the next round of funding or the next newsletter sale than to developing a real understanding of markets and trends. Eventually the industry may get better at labeling useless research for what it is, but for now the very few good studies routinely drown amidst the hyperbolae of research that can’t connect with real insight—or those that connect all too well because the result was fairly evident before the process began. Nowhere is the problem more acute than in online travel sales. High-priced research typically reinforces conventional wisdom and assumptions while key customer and behavior questions remain unresolved. I’ve wondered aloud previously why the major trade groups show such slight interest in these issues. If the "Interactive Age" has such monumental consequences (encouraging commission cuts being just one), what precisely could be more important to their members? Here are a few suggestions for modeling a new research project. Hopefully it will help you to appreciate the limitations of today’s travel research and be positioned to improve it in the future. I’m especially interested in your comments and observations on this topic. Successful studies need wide participation and sponsorship. Those funded and controlled by a single company or clique are not necessarily bad, but this adds complexities and concerns that are avoidable through planning and execution that strives to include more viewpoints. Addressing the needs of a broad constituency increases both value and integrity. Limiting control over a study to its sponsors or other "insiders" cannot but color the result as self-serving. Enlightened researchers learned along ago that the "best and brightest" often don’t work for them and they seek such talent out wherever they can find it.
The industry doesn’t need another round or praise describing how great the opportunity of the day may be. What’s needed is thorough research and careful answers to key questions that relate to real business concerns and allow the reader to reliably take action. This simple definition disqualifies most of the fluff-laden e-commerce studies of the past few years. There are people who know how to do real research—it’s a mystery when their input is so clearly lacking in the major reports of today. As there are competent researchers there are also competent interpreters who can make connections between abstract numbers and real business situations. Their work ought to by key to any research project. A study lacking informed, usable conclusions should be first into the worthless bucket. There’s a saying that teaches thus: "premises that are absurd when projected into the future were absurd to begin with." Researchers and readers alike need to apply logical tests in order to understand the validity of a study’s conclusions. For instance, most predictions about the fantastic growth of online travel purchases assume a level of personal computer use and literacy throughout society that is simply absurd within the time-frames the studies consider. Clearly studies are failures when they cannot withstand the test of reasonableness.
Research is ongoing and the "final word" on most travel topics will likely
never be written. Successful research projects are willingly subject to critical review
and are revised in light of new viewpoint and data. A premise holding that the oracle has
now spoken and nothing further may be added only highlights the underling weakness of the
research in question.
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