Over the past few years, the phrase “digital transformation in travel” has been repeatedly mentioned more and more. It is undeniable that digital transformation is fundamentally changing the model and way of operations of an organization or enterprise on the basis of utilizing modern digital technologies to create novel opportunities and values. According to research by Microsoft corporation on the economic impact of digital transformation in the Asia Pacific, in 2017, digital products and services brought about 6% of GDP for this region. It is also forecasted that by 2023, this figure will experience a rapid rise to 60%. The report also stated that in the next 3 years, 89% of jobs in the region will be converted.
The powerful spread of Industry 4.0 with the advent of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), big data, blockchain, virtual reality (VR)… is having a profound impact on the entire socio-economic life, gradually replacing the traditional mode of operation to operating in the digital environment. All businesses and industries that stay out of this inevitable trend may not benefit from its variety of merits. And the industry of travel and tourism is no exception. The digital transformation, or in other words, promoting the application of digital technology in tourism development is one of the vital factors, forcing the destination government and the business of tourism services to focus on implementation.
An overall view on the omnipresence of digital transformation
Over the last decade, the tourism and travel industry experienced the dominance of conventional offline travel agencies and the scarcity of agencies implementing high technologies. This trend was formed because these traditional agencies often possess undisclosed information that the customers can get from nowhere else unless they visited these agencies’ offices. People wishing to plan on a trip often need to spend hours just to book a ticket after undergoing a bunch of confirmation papers and forms. Especially with trips involving flights, passengers need to spend approximately 2 hours waiting for the check-in process due to all the manual procedures.
Digitalization or digital transformation tendencies in various aspects and industries of life have been undoubtedly exerting great influence on how we perceive the popular industries in our life such as healthcare, logistics, insurance, manufacturing, etc. Among the commonly used industry, travel and tourism are surely not an exception, especially in the midst of all the chaos and uncertainties caused by the rapid rise of the epidemic. The industry experienced enormous changes because of all the digital moves that influenced every part of it, transforming the travel industry into one of the most active adopters of digital transformation.
With the coming of digital transformation, the practices in the travel industry made an innovation in how people perceive and embrace the information and services that the travel agencies provide. Namely, the existence and spread of Internet usage, as well as the tourism software development, has wiped away the challenge in terms of geography, permitting the companies and their customers to interact with each other via a screen only. With the support of the digitalization process, the travel agencies made use of both transactions and information disclosure in each stage of the chain, allowing the customers to research thoroughly before packing for a trip, compare between agencies, and check feedbacks from previous users, other significant features could be listed out are reserving tickets, booking accommodations, or even requesting a virtual tour of their desired destination.
Read more: https://magenest.com/en/digital-transformation-in-travel/
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