Richard Downs the founder of ski and cruise specialist Iglu.com said that Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple were growing more and more powerful.
“Google’s probably the most profitable travel business that’s not called a travel business,” he told delegates at the Challenges for the Travel Industry 2016 seminar in London.
Downs said that Amazon’s move into the food sector through its recent tie-up with Morrisons showed how fast it was able to disrupt established industries.
“Two weeks ago Amazon wasn’t in the food industry the UK; it does a deal with a food supplier and suddenly Ocado has got to wake up.
“[Companies] that are building those platforms and building those customer bases – you’ve got to watch like a hawk.”
For Downs, the encroachment of non-traditional travel companies in the travel industry raises a number of questions – particularly on the subject of regulation.
“We need to be very, very careful when we just frame travel as this bit over here and we regulate the hell out of it and there’re other people here that falls outside that.”
He pointed to Airbnb as an example.
“Add them [Airbnb] to that universe that are non bricks and mortar, non EU largely, none regulated largely, that have a big agile customer base that can disrupt our own market place.”
Meanwhile, Downs also played down concerns that cruise companies would eventually decide to go it alone and dispense with the services of agents.
Iglu started off as a ski specialist but branched out into cruise, which now accounts for around two thirds of all holidays sold.
“Cruise lines don’t owe us a business. We’ve got to continue to add value,” he said.
“Whilst they may get 10, 20% direct they actually don’t look at the integrated model, they don’t look at Thomas Cook and say well ‘we want to build our business like that and we want to own distribution and we want to own flights’…”
Many in the industry share Downs’ concerns and there’s a perception that established travel businesses aren’t on a level playing field with the likes of Airbnb and Google.
