Saturday, 10 March 2018

A New Data Era Will Reshape the Travel Industry


The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) took place on January 2018 and revealed the main challenges that the tourism, and travel industry will have to face. The article emphasises four main emerging trends in technology that are likely to impact the travel industry: the 5G data connection, the augmented reality, the voice control, and the smart speakers. This article takes down the major changes that will influence the industry within the upcoming years, which makes it relevant especially for the travel companies that will need to adapt to these changes in order to satisfy the costumer who will probably be using these new technologies in his daily life.

The new 5G network:
If 4G has already well disrupted the market, through the emergence of companies such as Airbnb, or Uber ; 5G will increase even more the connectivity of the customers, and their devices ,as a result this new technology will give the opportunity to several new applications to emerge and to propose different services that require high connectivity . Travel companies, but also hotel chains, will be able to collect data on a real-time basis, and to provide their services with accurate data. Connecting easier, quicker, and more accurately to the travellers enable the companies to better promote their product, to the right target, at any time. And we believe that the advancement of the connectivity is a key strategic point for the travel industry suppliers to reach their maximum profit by affording what each customer really need since the data will be updated easily and rapidly.


The augmented reality:
With 5G, the suppliers will be able to better gather, and analyse real-time data from their customer base, and above all: to adapt their services to each customer. Augmented reality is the fact of adding useful information on the real world, such as mapping of your customers’ interests. The travel and tourism industry should combine augmented reality to Artificial Intelligence (AI), to better address the travellers’ needs, together with making their trips easier. We believe that This powerful tool is considered to be the future of on-line applications because it creates interaction between the consumer and what surround him using real life images.

Smart speakers:
Smart speakers will be more and more present in the future, which could be especially relevant in hospitality. Connected rooms are no longer futuristic but are about to come. The devices, which are more and more connected to each other with the cloud technology, are likely to integrate AI functions that will enable to directly know the preference of the users. Could you ever imagine entering your room, with a mirror that knows the weather, your schedule, and advise you on which transportation mean to rake? This is happening. Thanks to the internet of things customer customization is becoming easier even at a big scale since clients in hotels can feel special thanks to the information given by their different on line accounts.

Voice-controlled devices:
Finally, voice-controlled devices are proliferating, and this may completely change the way we travel, but also the way we book! Indeed, the CES showed that Alexa or Siri are not anymore just seen as information tools, but could become the new way to book trips, and holidays. Just ask your smart speaker to book a room for next week in New York, and it is all done for you. The potential is huge for the companies as it increases again the speed of booking! It is also a new way of promoting and distributing the products and services. Not only on traditional platforms or social media, the companies can now promote themselves directly at home, through the smart speakers, or even on the TV screen, if it is equipped with the right device and connected to the smart speaker (which is more than likely to be the case considering the increasing connectivity of devices).


Source : Sheivachamn, A. (2018, January 8). CES 2018 Report: A New Data Era Will Reshape the Travel Industry. Retrieved from https://skift.com/2018/01/09/ces-2018-report-a-new-data-era-will-reshape-the-travel-industry/

NoĆ©lie & Aziz 

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