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Why these top emerging trends significant for travel businesses?

The travel industry is one of the early adopters of novel innovations to deliver enhanced and improved customer experience. Undeniably, technology takes the front stage in the travel business as customer expectations are growing by the time. According to a Google Travel study, 74 percent of travelers book their trips on the Internet, while just 13 percent use travel agencies to prepare them. That is why most businesses now turn to digital travel, spending massive capital on it. Since the number of travelers worldwide is surging exponentially, eMarketer predicts global digital travel sales will reach US$817.54 billion by 2020.

Travel has always been an adventurous segment for every age of people, especially millennials who always lean towards a personalized and unique experience. Modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chatbots, and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are taking those experiences to the next new level by giving access to personalized offerings throughout the entire travel lifecycle. Essentially, whatever experiences your business delivers in the tourism sector, you always need to have heard of.

Let’s explore the top emerging trends redefining the travel industry in 2020 and beyond.

Mobile Travel

The proliferation of mobile devices has already changed the way users interact with things. In the travel industry, it has enabled always on the go travel experience as most of the travelers plan their journey online using smartphones. Most travel companies even now allow to plan trips using their apps, making the booking process smoother and convenient. They want to offer travelers not only transportation and convenience stay options, but also engage them before, during, and after the journey. Along with, mobile travel enables on-demand conversation, personalized offerings, easier payment, last-minute bookings, etc.

AR and VR Travel

Augmented and virtual reality has emerged as immersive technologies, bringing a new virtual world and immersive experience to life. In recent years, the use of these technologies has become increasingly prevalent within the travel industry. This is significantly enabling hotels and other businesses operating in this field to enhance the physical environments by allowing customers to visit virtually before choosing them. Besides, there are some travel companies developing AR apps that allow tourists to enhance physical locations and tourist attractions. This may also allow a user to point their smartphone at a building or landmark and learn more about that in real-time.

AI Revolution

Enhanced travel experience usually allows a traveler to stay a few more days to their trip and make it a leisure related one. In this way, some companies in this field are making use of AI into travel processes. From website chatbots to personalized search platforms and in-room virtual assistants, AI is being deployed to improve customer engagement, boost conversion rates, and personalize the entire guest experience. Using AI will give access to travel brands to create tailored recommendations based on a host of unique preferences. For example, by leveraging the IBM Watson tool, Thomson travel has built a virtual assistant to provide tourists with holiday recommendations.

IoT-Enabled Travel

The internet of things (IoT) describes everything is connected to the internet. It can make processes easier and in-lined with as expected and automate tasks without any human-to-computer or human-to-human interaction. IoT has brought a colossal transformation in the world of tourism, streamlining operations, improving the in-flight experience, enhancing personalization, and much more. According to SITA Airline IT Trends Survey 2015, 86 percent of the airline companies believe IoT will provide clear benefits over the coming years. By making the data of customers accessible, IoT helps serve travelers in a better way.

In a crux, there is no doubt, future innovations in technology will bring even more disruptions in the travel industry and revolutionize business models. These innovations will make the travel experience even better and personalized, allowing both companies and customers to garner more value.