Investors and startups could finally be realising what those on the periphery have noted for years – B2B is where the sensible money and effort works.
New businesses are emerging that try to conquer and disrupt the consumer travel space – but the trend appears to be shifting in the other direction.
At a basic level: travel startups that target the industry with services and tools and new ways of doing things are capturing the attention of investors, rather than those that are hoping that they can alter an existing method of planning or shopping travel online.
This is no more obvious that in Europe and, in particular, Germany, where a sea-change is taking place in the types of new travel businesses entering the sector.
Speaking at the ITB exhibition in Berlin last week, Uwe Frers, an entrepreneur behind brands such as Escapio and TripsByTips (both with exits), says the vast majority of travel startups that have emerged and are likely to succeed to varying degrees are from the B2B end of the spectrum.
The background to this alteration in emphasis on B2B from consumer-facing business comes as many accept that the ability to challenge the likes of large online travel agencies, especially in the hotel and air booking world, has diminished to the point of it being almost impossible.
The Priceline Group and Expedia Inc, with their respective marketing war chests in the combined $8 billion range a year, make any threat to their positions extremely difficult, not least because getting eyeballs to a product is an…