At Wakaholic we keep you updated on the latest trends in the world of travel, tourism, and hospitality. Today, we zoom in on Travel Technology.
According to Wikipedia, “Travel technology is the application of Information technology and Communications Technology (ICT) in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry”.
Some quick forms of this technology include flight tracking, trip planning journey planner, booking price tracking and others.
A typical example is E-travel or e-Tourism. Technology is vast and has unlimited applications.
A simple way that technology is being applied in travel and tourism is that of the tour guide. Conventionally the tour guide is an individual who guides tourists and explores locations with them. Today the tour guide could be an audioguide or i-Tours.
Imagine exploring an Island like the Bahamas but instead of a tour guide showing you around, you are listening to an audio file on your headphone and exploring based on the directives and information being given to you by the voice of a tour guide on the audio file.
Travel technology is also applied to the use of the internet. You know the internet is very important to hospitality and tourism. A traveller uses the internet to explore possible tourist locations. He or she explores different websites, sees photos of the locations and knows what to expect. Websites, blogs, online advertisers, social media and other online platforms use the internet to convince travellers to visit a particular location.
Bookings, tickets and hotel reservations are now done online via different systems. Many travellers are users of smartphones and tablets, through these devices hospitality businesses and travel agencies can communicate with travellers, sending adverts, offers, deals, notices, text messages, emails, etc, all thanks to travel technology.
As tech evolves, travel technology evolves too. We are in for exciting times.
