This is not a 2010 prediction, but a certainty: Many more travel planning, research and metasearch websites are planned for 2010.
This crowded field promises to get more crowded.
Goissimo.com, a U.K. start-up travel planning and metasearch site, announced Dec. 24, that its several-week-old beta has been going well and it will launch full-throttle in January, adding that "it is set to revolutionise online travel search and will lead the way into the new decade for a new era of preference-based travel choice for consumers."
Next month, Goissimo plans to unveil the full version of its Holiday Helper search tool, saved searches, reviews and filters "along with many other exciting new developments."
Suppliers and intermediaries in the mix include lastminute.com, Hilton, LateRooms, Airtours, Travelocity, booking.com, British Airways, EasyJet and On The Beach, among others, Goissimo says.
However, Europe is not the only arena where the travel-planning frenzy continues unabated.
Centr'd, based in Menlo Park, Calif., filed a notice Dec. 24 with the Securities & Exchange Commission that it has issued stock and raised almost $1.9 million, with another $2.1 million in equity remaining to be sold. The notice doesn't say what the proceeds are being used for.
Centr'd uses its SentimentAnalysis tool to cull user reviews using natural-language processing technologies and then recommends restaurants, attractions, events and shopping experienced based on user preferences.
There is indeed lots of innovation taking place in the trip-planning sphere on both side of the Atlantic and other parts of the world, and it looks like the cast of new entrants will be looming ever-larger next year.