Businesses are increasingly investing more in data and analytics to get the maximum value out of the information available to them.
A report from travel research firm Eye for Travel found the industry is currently “awash” with data and companies are raising budgets so travel departments can get the insight it provides.
Three quarters of the 453 travel professional surveyed working with data believe their department will receive budget increases in 2017 against 4 per cent who expect a decrease.
More than half of all surveyed expect data budgets to rise by 6 per cent or more and 30 per cent expect it to increase by 11 per cent or more.
“The travel and tourism industry has realised the importance of strong data analysis and is manoeuvring itself into a good position,” said Alex Hadwick, head of research for Eye for Travel. “We found that in terms of analytics, data deployment and attribution, travel is relatively advanced compared to other industries.
“These planned budgetary increases will help increase the depth of talent and acquire the tools needed to get maximum value out of the huge amount of data that already exists and will be generated in the future.”
The survey also found variation between the expectations of data professionals for this year when it comes to where they are based. Respondents were most optimistic about budget increases in Asia-Pacific, followed by Europe and then finally North America.
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