VIDEO: Facebook on inspiring travelers and connecting them to relevant brands

While Google – and to a lesser extent Amazon - have garnered attention in the last year for their push into travel, another of the tech titans - Facebook - has perhaps not generated as much buzz in this space.

But that doesn’t mean the world's largest social network is not actively working to boost its presence in the industry.

On the contrary, Facebook has been busy developing new products and tools to enable brands to connect with consumers at every step of the travel journey through Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.

At Phocuswright Europe in Amsterdam, Facebook’s head of global travel strategy Nikhilesh Ponde spoke to Phocuswright European market analyst Peter O’Connor about efforts to build the platform’s ability to inspire travel decisions and to maintain that connection with users through purchase.

And he shared how Facebook is “leaning into conversational commerce” by developing a catalog feature in WhatsApp that enables brands to showcase their products during a chat.

Here is the full interview from the event.