The digital transformation has renovated the personal and professional life of every human being. Numerous organizations have integrated themselves with digital technologies to improve their workflow and expand their business around the world. Moreover, the travel and tourism industry has been adapting the digital technologies for decades and constantly changing the way people travel. The positive impact of digital transformation in the travel and tourism industry is that we do not have to wait in a queue to book railway tickets. Through digital mediums, the tickets can be booked over the internet effortlessly and customer’s time is saved. Similarly, we can book airline tickets, bus tickets or any tickets from the many online travel portals. Online booking is just a single example of digital transformation in the travel and tourism industry. The introduction of new and innovative travel technologies is redesigning the travel and tourism industry in the following ways:
Utilizing innovative technologies for boosting airline facility  Â
While traveling by airplane, the customer’s baggage might mislay or stolen. Adapting the blockchain technology can help the airport to avoid such a situation. A specific message could be attached to the baggage for tracking its position from the origin point. The message would be in an encrypted form that is stored in a blockchain system. In this way, each baggage check-in will contain a unique code and the baggage management would become effortless for the flights, connected flights, airports, and customs. Along with that, robots powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) can execute the entire operations of the airport. Another area of improvement can be an airline’s On-Time Performance (OTP). The OTP transformation into digital would enhance flight delays and operational efficiency as well as increase the airlines’ brand value while maintaining the OTP. AI-powered chatbots can optimize the booking process efficiently. The smart chatbots can handle queries of travelers as well as book their tickets effortlessly.
Redesigning travel amenities using big data analytics  Â
Before the digital transformation, the hotels used to have binders on the desks, outlining where to eat, what to see, what are the hotspots and everything you needed to know about the area. Using those binders, explorers used to see and search nearby locations, but the digital transformation changed everything. Now, tourists can easily search for information about their nearby areas with their smartphones. Based on their experience, tourist offers their opinions via Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TripAdvisor, and other travel review websites. These channels produce a large amount of data, which could be utilized by tourism brands. For that reason, new as well as old vendors in the travel sector are searching for innovative ways to take advantage of generated data from consumers so they can offer more customized and cost-effective products and services. Big data analytics can help vendors to identify consumer trends and business opportunities. The statistics information also enables the hotels to offer the best experience to the customers. Travel agencies are also utilizing the gathered data to provide customized and flexible package, which is suitable for their travel and accommodation needs.
Accessing any information from the wearable device Â
Wearable technology is fast becoming one of the best innovations in the modern world. The trend is no longer a simple idea that gadget lovers can sport under their collar and many individuals adapted it across the globe. The travel and tourism companies are slowly but surely using this technology to offer customers a more personalized and united experience. While traveling from one place to another, the wearable device performs many functions the same as a smartphone. Some of these functions are boarding pass reminders, reservation information, gate updates, QR codes, etc. which greatly benefit travelers in their journeys. Through wearable technology, airlines can push a gate change notification directly to a user’s watch, and down the line, travelers may even receive this alert via smart headphones.
Experience the world without leaving home  Â
Over the past few years, travel and tourism industry have seen an increase in AR or VR popularity. Typically, these technologies are being used either for content marketing or to enhance the customer experience. However, virtual reality allows users to get an opportunity to see new sights or to enjoy exotic journeys without leaving the comfort of their own space. For example, a traveler can experience the sceneries of Italy from home. Furthermore, the hotel can use VR to exhibit their rooms, reception areas and even local area hotspots on their website, in order to boost bookings.
Utilizing the recognition technology in the travel industry  Â
The existing system needs to be reformed to tie up with cutting-edge technologies. For safety measures, many devices and technologies are used such as fingerprint, facial recognition, retina scanning or other biometric identification methods. However, the travel and tourism industry utilize these technologies to diminish traveller’s distress. As technology advances and becomes more widely accepted, travelers could use this technology to authorize payments or check out of the hotel. This could radically help reduce the long queues and free up restaurant or reception workers to deal with customers who require more hands-on assistance.
Conclusion:
Every traveler has faced good as well as bad experiences at one point or another within the tourism industry. Often times, the services provided to the travelers were not up to the mark and as a result, they remain unsatisfied. With the implementation of innovative technologies, the travel and tourism industry can offer consumers with personalized packages at an affordable cost and enhance their customer experience. In this way, the consumers can search according to their needs and buy a holiday or vacation package that contains all the services they need under their budget. Hence, travelers can enjoy their trip with better amenities. Alongside this, the service providers also get the profit due to which they expand and cultivate themselves in the travel and tourism industry.
