作为一个技术人员，我的主要兴趣是长尾末端系统的影响。我发现Barnhart先生在2007年奥兰多PhoCusWright会议上的演讲和这个较为相关。虽然Orbitz的是一个旅游分销领域的大鳄，但相对另外两个巨头Expedia和Travelocity就比较小了。以下是Barnhart先生的演讲摘要和我认为小型旅游企业会感兴趣的几点。
首先，在旅游产品创新和在线分销上有三个大的趋势：
1、产品和信息大量增长。人们在互联网上创造越来越多的东西，包括产品和信息，这带来了信息民主化。
2、获得这些产品和信息的渠道在急剧上升。通过新的方式聚合和集成信息带来分销渠道的民主化。像Kayak.com这样的公司正在利用这些新的方式搜索和呈现信息，希望为非常多样化的和分散的市场带来订单。
3、利基市场越来越受关注。（译者注：利基市场指企业为了避免在市场上与强大的竞争对手发生正面冲突而受其攻击，而采取的一种利用自身特有的条件和优势，选取的竞争对手获利甚微或力量薄弱甚至忽视的一小块市场。）虽然利基市场毫无疑问已经存在了相当长的时间，但他们正以越来越快的速度赶超着，在某些情况下，它们甚至超过了常规的搜索。
但是，这些趋势在旅游行业不是必然存在的。旅游的长尾超越产品和信息的获取渠道。旅游行业必须帮助客户在探险的同时很舒适，并理解利基。
对旅游行业而言，库存的有效性从来就不是问题。在一定程度上，旅游行业总是有进入长尾产品的渠道，但也涉及协助客户降低风险。旅游是一项大的投入，特别是时间投入，而不仅是一个99美元的交易。例如一个家庭旅游就很复杂，因为你要涉及到许多人（因为有VITO因素，译者注：人多了意见难以统一） 。家庭旅游可能是一次志愿者之旅、一次生态之旅，或者是一个小规模的圣胡安岛之旅，都很难在线预订。问题是存在风险，需要确保旅行体验将符合他们的期望。
所以，以家庭度假为例，旅游行业如何帮助这个家庭降低风险，并在线确认度假的体验呢？一个方法是，不用太担心库存的销售，把重点放在客户服务上。技术可以用来降低产品分销成本，所以现在多花多点时间和金钱来提升技术，以改善客户体验。让我们着眼于统一这些平台，和改善产品库存的销售渠道，并注意常见的在线购物功能非常缺乏旅游预订体验，例如收藏、分享、地图和评论。
最后，还是用家庭度假的例子，让我们重视对体验的销售。为什么呢？因为旅游体验是无穷无尽的，但旅游目的地是有限的。可以认为对一个方面而言是长尾的东西对另一个方面来说是一个肥尾。旅行总是可以到达这些目的地，但也可以到达所有其它地方，旅游目的地没有太多的需求弹性（译者注：需求弹性是指需求量对影响这一数量的某一因素变化的反应程度，或者说，影响需求量的某一因素变化1%，会引起需求量变化百分之几。）。所以我们不要把重点放在试图说服某个家庭去一个没有名气的地方，而是帮助他们去是他们的长尾的一部分的目的地。这就是一个方面的长尾是另外一个方面的肥尾。
提供大量的长尾体验的小型酒店和小旅行社，现在还不能通过Orbitz这样的公司分销他们的产品，Barnhart认为这是一个挑战。Barnhart说，然而如果有一个系统能让这些运营商连接到Orbitz这样分销渠道，在这方面就会有获得财富的机会。Barnhart说得好，虽然也有为中小旅游企业设计的网上预订和分销系统，但如同这些系统帮助分销的产品一样，往往也是的旅游业技术的长尾。
作者：Stephen Joyce
原文链接：http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2007/01/steve-barnhart-ceo-president-orbitz.html
Steve Barnhart, CEO President Orbitz: Economics of the Long Tail
As a technologist primarily interested in the effects of systems on the trailing end of the long tail, I found Mr. Barnhart's presentation at PhoCusWright Orlando 2007, one of the more relevant. Although Orbitz is a huge player in the in the travel distribution game, it is relatively small compared to the other big two, Expedia and Travelocity. The following is a summary of Mr. Barnhart's presentation and a some points that I feel are of particular interest to SME operators.
First of all, there are three big trends happening with travel product creation and distribution on the Internet:
1. There is an increased proliferation of stuff. People are creating more and more stuff on the Internet, both products and information. This is resulting in a democratization of information.
2. Access to these products and to information is increasing at a dramatic rate. The aggregation and integration of information in new ways is resulting in a democratization of distribution. Companies like Kayak.com for example are using these new ways of searching and presenting information in order to bring some order to a very diverse and fragmented marketplace.
3. There is a growing focus on niche markets. Although there is no doubt that niche markets have existed for a long time, they are emerging to the fore at an increasing rapid rate and in some cases they are eclipsing regular search.
But these trends do not necessarily work for the travel industry. The long tail of travel goes beyond access to inventory. The industry must help customers become comfortable with adventures and understand niches.
With the travel industry, it has never been a question of availability to inventory. The travel industry has always had access to long tail product (to a certain degree) but it is also about helping the customer move down the ladder of risk. Travel is a big investment and most of the time, it is not just about the $99.00 deal. A family trip for example is too complex because you have to involve many people (caused the vito factor). The family could take a volunteer tour, an eco-tour, or a small San Juan Island trip, none of which could be easily booked on-line. The problem is risk and the need to ensure that the travel experience will be consistent with their expectations.
So, using the example of the family vacation, how does the travel industry help this family move down the ladder of risk and book their vacation experience online? Well one way is to stop worrying so much about access to inventory and to focus on customer service. Technology is used to decrease the cost of distributing the inventory. So now spend the time and money to enhance the technology in order to improve customer experience. Let's look at unifying the platforms and to improve access to the product inventory. Let's look to common online shoppping features that are seriously lacking from the travel booking experience, for example favorites, sharing, maps, and reviews.
Finally, still using the family vacation example, let's focus on selling experiences. Why? Because with travel, the experiences are infinite, but the destinations are finite. What is considered the long tail for one may be in the fat tail for the other. Travel has always had access to those destinations but has also had access to all the other locations. There isn't as much elasticity in the demand for travel destinations. So let's not focus on trying to convince the family to go to a some obscure location, but rather help them go to a destination that is part of THEIR long tail. What is long tail in one perspective is fat tail from another.
One challenge that Mr. Barnhart identified is that small accommodation and activity providers, who provide a significant number of long tail experiences, cannot distribute their products through a company like Orbitz at this time. Mr. Barnhart said, however, that there is a wealth of opportunity in this area if there was a system that allowed these operators to connect to distribution channels like Orbitz. Well Mr. Barnhart, there are web reservation and distribution systems designed for small tour operators, but like the products they help to distribute, they tend to be in the long tail of travel technology.
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