Mark Zuckerberg via Facebook launched a new

media platform where you didn’t need to have

a big ad budget or expensive PR firm to get

your name out there, while YouTube enabled

everyone to become the star of their own videos,

and Instagram provided a free platform to post

beautiful travel photography only previously

seen in glossy magazines.

With nearly 2.5 billion social media users online,

travel agency owners and individual advisors

have recognized the opportunities to cost-

effectively use these platforms to compete for

customers beyond their localities, while building

their brands, positioning themselves as experts

and enhancing relationships and business with

current patrons.

In this landmark survey, close to 1,000 readers

of Travel Market Report responded to an online

questionnaire via SurveyMonkey.

INTRODUCTION

When Steve Jobs created the smartphone, he built a platform for travel advisors that cut the

cord that for more than 30 years tethered them to those CRTs with blinking green screens.

At the same time search engines such as Google were bringing a world of information to

the fingertips of consumers in mere seconds – too much information to be useful. Search for

“travel” on Google and you will get 4.9 billion results. Even a more targeted search for “Los

Cabos luxury hotels” brings back 6.3 million results while “Best Caribbean cruises” brings

back 181 million options!