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Travel Technology: What You Need To Know

September 13, 2021 - 12:19 pm
Travel Technology: What You Need To Know
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Technology has changed (and still changing) the way we travel, making our adventures and trips more convenient and fun. This massive change in the tourism industry is what we now call travel technology.

Travel technology, or travel tech, is the use of IT and e-commerce solutions in the travel, tourism, and hospitality (TTH) industry, intending to automate travel processes, save time, reduce costs, and create a seamless and personalised travel experience for consumers, including before, during, and after a trip. This could be in the bookings, payments, and back-office tasks for travel agencies.

Impact of Technology in the Tourism Industry

Travel technology is on the rise, driving us slowly towards a fully digital future. Condor Ferries published the Online Travel Booking Statistics 2020-2021 and revealed the following:

  • 70% of travellers use smartphones for travel research
  • 33% of travellers plan their trips with the help of a virtual travel assistant
  • 82% of all travel bookings in 2018 were done online via a mobile app or website
  • 27% of users prefer to book using a mobile app (if the company has one)
  • 72% of consumers won’t make a booking before reading online reviews
  • 23% of travellers going on a trip for leisure are confident they’ll find the same flight or hotel details on mobile compared to desktop
Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash.

Technology has been integrated into our travels, making every step of the trip hassle-free as possible for all parties involved in the travel activity.

For more specific applications of technology in travel, check this article: The Travel Revolution

Deciding on the ‘Right’ Technology for the Industry

Because of the proven potential of travel technology, some parts of the industry have begun to integrate it prudently. To help you decide how much or how little technology is right for your TTH business, consider the following suggestions:

1. Use technology wisely.

Technology, if used properly, can solve many problems in tourism. Among these are:

Language barriers: In an interrelated multi-lingual world, a great deal of information can be served to guests in their language. Communication will be more reliable.

Issues of time: Nothing upsets the tourism industry's clientele as much as the misuse of time. The proper use of devices to facilitate activities, such as check-ins and check-outs of places, allows the person on duty to attend to other problems.

Ease of place: Use technology, specifically social networks and websites, to provide visitors with the pleasure of researching from their homes. However, many hotels and transportation companies seem to hide telephone numbers on their sites/pages. Don’t fall for this common mistake. Remember that if the tourist can never reach you, then you may find that your customer has found a more user-friendly location.

2. Make sure that your employees are as ‘powerful’ as your latest technology.

Technology is only as good as the people who use it. Often, businesses in the industry hire people who are not up to the task, misusing the technology and creating more problems than they solve. So, train, train, and then train your people some more. Make sure that your employees' knowledge base and technology's capabilities are on par.

Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash.

3. Remember that tourism is about people "interfacing" with other people.

No matter how good your technology may be, technology does not provide human warmth. Be mindful that tourism is about the selling of memories, so ask yourself at what point are you willing to sacrifice memories for efficiency.

Travel technology has revolutionised tourism, and we can’t wait to see what its next chapter has in store for us. It brings the great advantage of replacing expensive human labour with technological labour, thus not only reducing labour costs but also avoiding issues of customer service.

People enjoying the sunset after a short hike to the top. Photo by Johan Mouchet on Unsplash.

Whether we like it or not, technology is going to touch almost every aspect of the industry. If we are smart enough to use the benefits of technology such as convenience, speed, and accuracy and avoid some of the pitfalls of user-friendliness and lack of human contact, then technology can be a great time and cost saver. At the same time, do not forget the importance of the human element and that tourism is all about the experience.

Featured image: Yolanda Sun on Unsplash

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