Digital transformation is a buzzword that seems to reach a deafening volume. Almost any industry seeks for a digital transformation, and the travel business is no exception.
Even though the travel industry digitalizes not so fast as other sectors, you can see that the role of technology in the travel business is as high as ever before. In fact, Statista reports that the online travel services market is already worth $474.89 billion.
A meteoric surge in travel business digitalization doesn’t appear out of nowhere because there are sound reasons why travel companies nod towards implementing the latest tech solutions. In this blog post, the Btravel Online team will explain to you why you should care about digital transformation in the travel industry and what advantages your business can get by adopting various tech solutions.
Reasons to digitalize your travel business now
We would like to start discussing reasons why digital transformation in tourism industry is a must today by referring to the statement of The World Tourism Organization: “Digitalization is expected to continue propelling the travel experience on its trajectory towards becoming more seamless, frictionless, and high quality and in a way that contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.”
This statement perfectly describes why you need to unleash the might of technology to make your travel company prosper today. Harnessing leading-edge technology will help you to achieve the following competitive advantages:
On-demand service delivery
Today, travelers prefer to plan their trips carefully and have a greater range of travel options to choose from. On top of that, consumers prefer to book their trips from the comfort of their homes just by making a couple of clicks on their gadgets.
That is why many travel agencies offer online booking service as their main value proposition. For example, around 10,000 users around the world use Btravel Online all-in-one booking platform.
By using the buying power of this booking engine, travel agencies can provide their customers with tailor-made trips that include everything they need: from flights and airport transfer to accommodation and activities. In such a way, a smart tech solution enables travel agencies to instantly provide their customers with any travel options regardless of their budget, urgency, and specific preferences of a tourist.
Improved efficiency
The rise of demand on products and services from various industries means that companies have to speed up their operations. With the end of the global pandemic, the demand for consumer goods and services is ballooning as the coronavirus-period savings of the U.S. households alone has reached a whopping $1.6 trillion.
And when the borders are open again, people are going to splash out on travel a lot, so your travel business should be ready to meet the demand. But there is a catch: you have to digitalize your operations. Travel companies handle numerous manual processes with legacy solutions, which is evidently counterproductive given the circumstances of a rising demand on tourism after the end of the global pandemic.
For that reason, implementing digital products to optimize performance is a reliable way for travel companies to keep up with the demand. For example, TUI Group collaborates with Mobi to adopt a machine learning-based platform to enhance their operations. The solution focuses on providing real-time data about bookings made, weather, air traffic, and other relatable information that will help the company’s managers make decisions faster and with better precision.
However, technology doesn’t necessarily have to affect some major aspect of your travel company. In fact, many tech solutions are extremely effective on the ground level of operations.
A use of a customer relationship management (CRM) software is one of the valid examples here. A CRM system is a software application that allows travel agents to manage and analyze their interactions with customers and potential customers.
With a CRM system, travel agents can automate many of the tasks such as data entry, appointment scheduling, and follow-up communication. This solution saves a lot of time and effort, thereby enabling travel agents to focus on building relationships with their clients.
Examples like that are numerous in the tourism industry, so you just need to determine what processes are critical to your travel agency and find a tech product that can significantly speed up relatable operations. If you see a digital solution that fits into your workflow and can speed it up, you definitely should adopt this technology.
Revenue growth
This advantage stems from the previous one, but we would like to emphasize how digital transformation is important to your travel business. Once consumers require on-demand service delivery, and production intensity keeps increasing, it’s natural that many products and services have become available in digital environments: mobile apps, marketplaces, online shops, and so on.
As a result, many businesses find their customers online, which means they have a stable and growing channel of revenue. By digitalizing your travel agency and going online, you’ll be able to reach more customers than with just a brick-and-mortar office.
We won’t lie, just launching a website and selling your services online does not make consumers throw money at you. But if you have unique value propositions and manage to acquire customers with a proper marketing strategy, making money online will be one of your main revenue streams.
Digital transformation is not an option but a must. Your wallet will speak about this loudly.
Advanced customer experience
Together with on-demand delivery, contemporary travelers expect to get personalized services. Digital solutions enable travel agencies to collect all relevant client data to provide consumers with customized travel offers.
For instance, if a customer frequently visits mountain locations for their travels, using data analytics and artificial intelligence can help in suggesting similar travel packages that align with their tourism preferences.
Even just enabling consumers to select various options of their travel itinerary will take their experience to the next level. Travel agents can create any travel packages according to the preferences of their client: number of days, accommodation type, absence of connection flights, transfer availability, to name but a few.
When you approach every customer individually, you increase their satisfaction and lay a solid groundwork for their retention. Digital solutions are an absolute necessity in this case, as you have customer preferences information at your fingertips and can provide them with a travel experience they always dream of.
Transform your travel business with the power of Btravel Online
You can see that digital transformation in the tourism industry is a necessity not an option. Digital revolution of the travel business is inevitable, despite the fact that travel agencies are not in a rush to adopt game-changing technologies.
That is your chance to hop on the digitalization train and let your business get the benefits we’ve discussed in this article. You can do this by leveraging our powerful booking engine which will provide your travel agency with more than 300,000 accommodations, 17,000 airports, 600 airlines, and 12,000 transfer locations.
With our cutting-edge technology and expert team, we can help you transform your business and reach new heights of success. Contact us today to learn more about becoming a partner with Btravel Online and taking the first step towards digitalizing your business.