The travel industry faces a hostile trading climate in 2010 as holidaymakers reel in spending and hold out for last minute bargains. The result? A tug of war between brand loyalty and decisions based purely on price.

For travel companies this means effective measurement of customer activity and a focus on the consumer’s online experience will hold the key to survival this year. With consumers in control, they will use all channels available to assure themselves they are getting the best deal at the best price. They will continue to scour the web and use numerous offline channels to gain information and opinion.

But while the emergence of online for researching and choosing holidays gives the consumer real choice and ease of booking it presents travel companies a huge problem. You can track activity online with relative ease but when it comes to assessing the benefit of other types of advertising, it can be a real challenge. Add to this the terrible conversion rates on most holiday websites and it becomes difficult to know how to make returns on spend.

So more and more travel companies will want to draw customers from their websites to their call centres where they can drive better conversions and upsell the customer far more easily. While this takes away a certain level of control from the customer, it does ensure they get the best deal. This is especially true in the lates market where time is important and the normally long decision-making process is condensed.

So travel companies need to respond this year more than ever. They must make clear to their customers why they should book with them and not a competitor. Simple websites integrated into alternative channels of bookings are imperative, and the customer must really feel they are engaging with a company that offers something different.

Matt Cheevers is non-executive director of Elmscott, a full service marketing communications company.