How Digital Transformation Will Revolutionise the Travel Industry In 2020

Planning to travel in 2020? We’ve covered the seven biggest travel trends to watch out for in the coming year. From eco-tourism and travel that’s transformative, there are a lot of big things happening in travel.

However, digital transformation is also affecting the travel industry on the client-facing side of things. In fact, 77% of airports say that they’re investing resources to implement biometric ID management over the next five years. They’re doing so because they’re monitoring industry trends and listening to the needs of their clients.

It’s clear that companies in the travel industry understand the impacts of digital transformation. But, just how much is it affecting customers on the receiving end of the service? A lot! Here are the top three ways it’s revolutionising trends in travel and the travel industry in 2020.

Connected Analytics to Solve Travel Industry Woes

In the industries of travel and hospitality, a customer’s experience starts long before their actual trip does. As a traveller, you’ll know that well. Your journey begins online as you interact with various digital touchpoints. Whether you’re planning a trip through TripIt or looking for hotels on Booking.com, you’re interacting with travel companies without even knowing it.

This means that in 2020, companies in the tourism industry need to monitor the customer experience from the beginning of the process. It’s the only way to ensure that travellers like you can easily accomplish what you set out to do when visiting their webpage. Customer experience analytics become extremely helpful and important in this aspect. 

They allow companies to gain insight into the struggles of their customers as they navigate their page.These kinds of automatic visual insights allow companies to quickly analyse behaviour patterns and tendencies. And, that means more personalised travel experiences for the user.

Tracking the Modern-Day Customer Journey

When talking about the travel industry, it’s important to navigate the customer’s journey in that specific industry. For example, over 90% of travellers experience something called choice paralysis. It’s like when you’re looking for a new tour company. 

Let’s say you’re planning a trip to Bali and you know you want to learn to surf. You know what you want to do, you just don’t know where you need to go for that.

This is where feedback and a more optimised customer experience comes into play. This, combined with the variety of functions that AI provide companies with, can help a travel company track the customer journey and identify pain points where they occur.

If a company is tracking customer analytics and using AI to ensure that their website or chatbot can offer you suggestions in real-time, you’re able to ease the effects of choice paralysis and other common complaints that travellers have.

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Smarter Chatbots for Streamlined Service

We’ve mentioned chatbots a few times, and it’s because they’re probably going to be even bigger in 2020. Artificial intelligence is transforming the way that chatbots interact with customers online. The more data they’re able to collect, the more accurate they’re able to be when providing feedback and answers to travellers.

This is probably who over 50% of people prefer a chatbot to a real person. The reason why? They feel like they get faster responses. Companies like Expedia, Booking.com, and KLM are already utilising this kind of AI when it comes to booking. 

But, travel companies can use this kind of digital intelligence across their website to optimise customer support in many different ways. If they’re using connected analytics to see where you get stuck during the booking process, for example, they can send you a quick message with more customised tips or help.

Incorporating Digital Transformation into the Travel Industry

There’s no doubt that digital transformation has arrived to the travel industry and that it’s fostering in an era of change. This will become more apparent than ever in 2020.

Any company in the travel, tourism, or hospitality industry, will need to adopt these changes fast in order to stay ahead. And, it’s likely that as a traveller you’ll notice the different. Planning a trip will feel more personalised, and tons of new options to help you craft the perfect experience will start popping up.

If you’ve already started noticing cool digital shifts like this in the travel industry, drop us a comment below to let us know how.