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.
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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.
Executive Interview: Facebook - Phocuswright Europe 2019