Ajay Khajuria KAS (Retd)
Like every year, September 27, 2018 is being celebrated as the World Tourism Day all across the Globe and the theme identified for being highlighted on this day this year by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ‘Tourism and the Digital Transformation’ reflects the importance of harnessing innovation and digital advances to generate opportunities in the tourism sector for better satisfaction, ease of travel and inclusiveness amongst the stakeholders. While activities connected with highlighting the theme will be organized by member countries the World over, Hungary are the official hosts where the main events of this year’s World Tourism Day celebrations are being organized in its beautiful Capital Budapest.
The theme is apt as, in recent times, digital technologies have imparted a positive impetus to societies and economies around the world. The way people and businesses now connect, exchange information and execute transactions has undergone a vast change. In the tourism sector it has given rise to the digital tourist who is more autonomous, hyper-connected, increasingly demanding and expecting personalized customer service. For the tourism industry, the combination of digital platforms, user-generated content and feedback, social media integration, global positioning services, and the use of big data and artificial intelligence, has offered indispensable and very powerful tools for management, logistics, distribution and marketing. In fact disruptive technologies are profoundly affecting established players in the tourism industry. These include companies like AirBnB, low cost carriers, online travel agents, high speed trains, and self-service kiosks at hotels and airports.
The emphasis by tourists today is on new ways to spend their time, seeking out experiences rather than just places, as digitalization has transformed the decision making processes of travel as well as the opportunities for tourism marketing. The shifts in customer expectations and global trends are, in turn, compelling the tourism sector to adapt business and operating models in order to achieve better customer satisfaction and operational performance. This is creating opportunities for new entrants into the tourism value chain, in particular by digital entities like ‘AirBnB’, and online booking sites like ‘MakeMyTrip’, ‘TripAdvisor’, ‘Trivago’ etc which are some of the more familiar examples of the change that digitization is bringing in the travel industry.
To cope up with the changing environment hotels are now increasingly using property management systems that process guest records and bookings, as well as, accounting, housekeeping etc. Other Tourism sector components like the museums, convention centers and different tourist attractions are also going in for specialized IT systems for managing ticketing and security. In fact, even destinations are developing destination management systems to link together different sectors in the destination to support their marketing and management strategies. The recent introduction of the ‘CoRover Connect’ App by the Tourism Department in Jammu is an example of a technological innovation by way of a specialised system for providing a safe and convenient travel experience to the tourists visiting the State.
There are numerous other ways in which Technology is also being used to enhance tourist experiences. This includes creation of tourism experiences by providing new settings for tourism activities, like use of technology in them park rides, spaces centers, etc. Tourist experiences are being enhanced by providing a more comfortable setting, preventing them from getting lost, and facilitating access to information, like for example through the use of GPS navigation. Technology is also being used as an educator which helps to provide information about the objects, people and places they visit, like the use of virtual guides, mobile apps and holograms in museums. Technology can provide visitors with substitute experiences in tourism settings when the resource is threatened, congested or not accessible, by way of live camera feeds, simulations, augmented reality and 360-degree virtual reality. Further, back office systems, the Internet, and social media are all important tools for the tourism industry which play an important role, behind the scenes, as a facilitator of travel services. For tourists themselves, technology helps to serve as a reminder of holiday experiences. In fact cameras, social media and mobile phones support the recording, reflection and sharing of experiences.
Though these roles and examples illustrate the opportunities presented by the use of technology, they also raise a number of challenges for tourism organizations, in terms of cost and expertise. While hotels and the other service providers in the tourism industry need to constantly innovate and upgrade technology to remain competitive, the Government Tourism Organizations and other Destinations Management Organization also need to remain abreast of the latest technological developments if flow of tourists to the destinations is to be maintained. The recent initiative by the Department of Tourism in introducing a tourist centric App for enhancing the experience of tourist visiting the State is a welcome development. It is hoped this beginning is carried further to use latest technology for marketing the vast potential for development of ecotourism in the State.
(feedback; ajaykhajuria1955@gmail.com)
Follow our WhatsApp channel