Rafat Ali

It is a travesty for American travel and tourism industry, and no one cares. At least no one in power who wants to do anything about it.

The boundary between professional and private worlds is increasingly blurred due to digital devices, and that has profound effects on the traditionally defined silos between managed and unmanaged travel worlds. And these changes differ from culture to culture.

Creating useful content helps build relationships with the consumer. It reaches the consumer long before they even start to plan their trips and it gets them familiar with the brand or destination and hopefully appeals to them when they are ready to start planning.

Considering the market penetration of online travel in China, still a long way to go on growth, and mobile is just getting started. Homegrown players dominate the market, and the only way larger global players can get in is buy their way in.

American tourism's gallery of shame.

Breaking Thomas Cook's own silos is one thing, understanding the collapsing silos of consumer behavior, that may have to come in another reinvention.