Speaking at the Hays Independence Group Conference in Vilamoura, Travelport managing director UK, Ireland and Nordic countries Simon Ferguson said the proportion of people making bookings online in the UK and Europe is slowing down and reached 47% this year.
Predicting there was only about 3% further potential growth available for online bookings, he added the channel is likely to go no further.
Ferguson said: “Most things you can book online are being booked online; anything with any complexity is done offline and a lot of that is agents and other intermediaries.”
He cited the example of Amazon, where its entire strategy to date has been selling online as a company of the internet era.
However, with delivery costs of £6.6 billion a year, which is “growing out of control and not sustainable” Ferguson said, the company announced last week that it would open a bricks and mortar book shop.
He added: “The future of retail is a mix between online and offline.
“If you think about it traditional retailers can absolutely be digital retailers and you have some natural advantages playing in this space.”
Ferguson’s argument rings true with current technology, but will the situation change as it grows more intuitive?
