“Sharing
Economy” is a frequently used expression nowadays, which can be
defined as “peer-to-peer-based sharing of access to goods and
services”. This new way of consuming is also a major trend within
the tourism sector. It was revolutionized by the sharing economy in
several ways: hospitality is affected by the sharing of individuals’
lodge; Destination Marketing Organization’s traditional offices and
brochures are not enough anymore to provide information…
Restaurants, car rentals, travel agencies face a new competition
coming from individuals or small companies. But these competitors are
not the ones you meet in real life: their growth is strongly linked
to the increasing place of IT in business. Social media, websites,
online communities gave birth to a whole range of services and new
kind of companies which competes the traditional tourism industry.
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| Sharing Economy, a globalized and connected world (© Octo Talks blog) |
AirBnb
is one of the most recognised one. This website provides an
international list of individuals lodging, from a villa to a sofa,
everywhere around the world. It is a serious competitor of the
hospitality industry and in some countries, legal conflicts are
opposing them. Airbnb could not have become what it is now without
the emergence of internet. Their competitive advantage was their
product: untraditional lodging by the inhabitants. But their relation
to IT was also one of the reasons of their success: at the beginning,
their online presence allowed travellers from all over the world to
book different lodging when and where they wanted, contrarily to
traditional hotels which were not at this step of development. The
hospitality industry catches up thanks to Online Travel Agencies like
Booking or Expedia.
Hospitality
is not the only sector concerned by the online sharing economy
growth. For example, Shutterbee is a website where people can create
travel books, where they record their travel tips, recommendations
about destinations… This site, like traveller’s blogs or Facebook
pages and groups could have endangered Destination Marketing
Organizations which were relying more on bureau and brochures than on
the emerging internet. But at last they became an example for the DMO
which are now most of the time active on Social Media, with complete
websites, like Visit Norway or 100% pure New Zealand. They actually
took advantages of both sharing economy and IT by involving visitors
and locals in the development of the destination.
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| (© Nightswapping blog) |
We
assume that what made the success of sharing economy companies may be
that they were the first to understand the capital place of IT in
consumers’ lives. While traditional tourism companies continued to
work as before with premises, providing information through
brochures, phone and writing booking, others understood that IT may
be the future of business and they launched their concepts with the
help of IT. When they became successful, the competition understood
that it was time to evolve and join the internet revolution but the
sharing-economy was already 3 steps ahead. The apparition of new
competitors of another kind seems to have revolutionized the market
by endangering traditional tourism industries and thus encouraging
them to change their way of doing business.
Sharing
economy seems to cause some dangers in matters of security,
certifications, leaks of taxes, job uncertainty, lack of
qualification… But it is sure that coupled to IT it had an impact
on the travellers’ lives and on the whole sector. Thirty years ago,
no one would have thought we would organize our holidays through a
machine, paying with our credit card without talking to anyone during
the process, going to holiday by a car belonging to a stranger, and
sleeping in someone else’s bed!
So
how do you see the travel industry in 30 years?
Emilie
Mika and Agnès Trucco
Sources :
