Here at Seismonaut we are working on an interesting project about travel 2.0 – or tourism 2.0, if you prefer. “What’s this? Tourism 2.0? But I’d just gotten my head around that whole web 2.0-thing”, you might say. But as with most aspects of our technology focussed lives the web is also changing the way we travel.

A quick reminder: Web 2.0 represents a fundamental change in the way people use the Internet. Rather than present information passively, as web 1.0 sort of did, web 2.0 is an amalgam of different technologies and more importantly ideas and philosophies that come together to form something new. Openess, sharing, user generated content – these are the things that characterize web 2.0.

When we travel we often research our destinations before hand. Exploring the mysteries of a vacation spot can be part of the adventure. Travel consumers have until recently relied heavily on travel guide books, traditional media and experienced travel agents to help guide them through the best places to go and most exciting things to do.

The internet has changed that.

While the first generation of travel websites (lets call them travel 1.0) revolutionized things by making information freely available for users 24 hours a day, travel 2.0 is allowing people to give back.

With web services such as blogs, podcasts and wikis the creation of good travel content is no longer solely the domain of the professionals. The consumer is becoming far more involved. Hit up something like travelwiki.org to see just how involved. Or Google Maps!

We have only seen the beginning of this travel 2.0 revolution – a revolution that will challenge the tourism industry. At the same time though this increasingly online world is opening up a whole new arena of opportunities for the travel industry – and the traveller.

For the next few days I will be attending a conference in Amsterdam called ENTER 2009. The conference is a gathering of some of the most influential people in the business. They are the ones with some of the freshest ideas and I will be posting the good stuff here. If you are interested in hearing what’s new with travel, come back Wednesday. I should have the first post up by then.