Last week Travolution, in conjunction with Travel Weekly Magazine, created a list of who they believed were the top ten power players that the travel industry should be watching in 2009. At LeadGenerators, we were delighted to spot Matt Brittin, the UK director of Google at the top of the list—it seems companies in the travel industry are finally taking notice of the power a good SEO campaign can have on their activity.

We’ve listed their top five, with our own comments on what we think about their choices:

Matt Brittin – It seems that the travel industry is finally realising the power that Google can have on their company. Travolution quote that when ‘Google sneezes everyone catches a cold’, and as Matt Brittin has the power to change the dimensions of their online marketing and SEO campaigns with the click of his mouse, it’s of no wonder that he’s one watch in 2009.

David Cameron – With the Labour government in disarray a general election is becoming more and more likely and if David Cameron becomes the next prime minister then he would be responsible for making many travel related decisions. According to them, Conservatives have very different views on travel policies from those in place, and David Cameron’s possible election could have many strong implications for the industry.

Marc Charron – Marc Charron is the managing director of Trip Advisor whose plan to bring about a meta search engine by the end of 2009 definitely makes him one to watch in the travel industry, but also with regard to SEO. The search engine is already estimated to be way beyond what is offered on other travel websites and will contain an in-built price estimator. One thing is certain; Matt Charron has certainly been very busy for the first half of 2009 with recent business-to-business deals with both EasyJet and VisitBritain.

Stephanie Draper – Sustainable travel may be big news this decade, but Stephanie has been helping businesses clean up their carbon footprints for the past 12 years. Many large travel organisations are now turning to Stephanie for advice on how to sell tourism which is sustainable for the future and she offers advice from carbon offsetting to longer holidays in order to make plane travel worthwhile. Longer holidays? We say that she’s definitely one to watch in 2009.

Tony Fernandes – Tony is the Chief Executive of Air Asia, the new low cost airline which aims to make long-haul travel more affordable. With flights to Kuala Lumpur starting at £129 and then follow on flights to places like Langkawi and Bangkok starting at just £29 it’s no wonder that his business has become an instant success. Tony also has backing from Sir Branson himself.