Technology penetration encourages change in the tourism industry in terms of how companies interact with customers. Travel and travel companies adopt different technologies to improve operational efficiency and meet customer expectations.
The report of the leading data and analysis company GlobalData “Technological Trends in Tourism” found that tourism companies use different technologies to attract and engage more and more customers. The report describes that trips continue to focus on human relationships, creating opportunities for emotional experiences and strong sensations. To be successful, however, companies must strike a balance between technological innovations and the human element.
Here are the six trends that were found in 2018, included in the GlobalData report.
- Enhanced and Virtual Reality (AR and VR): Over the last few years, there has been an increase in AR and VR popularity among tourism companies, with the trend continuing to grow in the coming year. These technologies are used either to market content or to improve customer experience. For example, some airlines have begun to use VR technology to show cabin travelers to increase ticket sales or other ancillary services.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial Intelligence is behind many evolving technologies and innovations in the tourism sector. The ways in which it helps the industry can be classified into three main categories: Machine Training, Chat Bots and Robots. Thanks to AI, operations that typically require human intervention and a lot of time to acquire new skills can be automated, thus speeding up processes and contributing to improving quality and productivity and reducing costs.
- Internet of Things (IoT): The Internet of Things has a great potential to shape the future of the road and tourism industry. An example of a company that uses IoT to reduce anxiety and stress levels associated with lost luggage is Lufthansa. Passengers can track their luggage via a link on the Lufthansa mobile board.
- Voice technology: Voice technology is another digital novelty that begins to enter travel and tourism, as more and more customers switch from print to voice interactions. More and more hotels have started experimenting with devices activated by voice.
- Wi-Fi connectivity: When they travel, people always want to be connected or get ideas for destinations and places to visit, share their experiences with friends via social media, or use other connectivity platforms. As a result, networking investments help companies offer easier and highly personalized customer experience, increase operational efficiency, help make real-time decisions by using CCTV along with privacy.
- Carriers: Despite the delay, travel and tourism companies are gradually embracing this technology with the idea of offering users a more personalized and comprehensive experience. For example, the Walt Disney Company has a user-friendly, adaptable to the Magic Band RFID, which connects to the theme park infrastructure to reduce waiting times and track the locations and activities of the guests.
Source: https://www.globaldata.com
