The technological revolution of the last 20 years and its consequent globalization has made many companies in the tourism sector, whether hotels, restaurants, commerce, travel agencies, focus on the online market of new technological tools to increase the segmentation and reach of their potential target.
Decisions like this have led to a radical change in the way we travel, consume, behave with our environment and experience what a market that stands out for fierce competition offers us, with the aim of increasing its economic benefits through increasing the number of customers.
A study by ‘Google Travel’ in 2018 shows that today around 74 percent of leisure travelers prefer the use of new technologies, that is, going to the online market to organize/book their trips and cruises, staying in the hotel stays they prefer, consuming the most attractive cuisine in the place or choosing the most comfortable travel routes.
While the rest, 13 percent, continue to opt for a more traditional model, such as going to the “typical” neighborhood travel agencies, whether they are strong chains such as ‘Halcón Viajes’ or ‘El Corte Inglés’ or other more modest and private retailers.
According to 2018 data from the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), the sector with the highest online turnover in Spain was tourism with almost 15 percent, within all its different lines of business: travel agencies, hotels, land and air transport.
On the other hand, travel agencies and tour operators that operate online placed their market share in electronic commerce at around 14.9 percent.
Advantages of using new technologies
The influence of technology on tourism is more than evident and that is why a new term arises that not many years ago would have “sounded Chinese”: ‘the digital traveler’, whether you are a “long-distance” globetrotter or if you are just starting to catch the bug of traveling around the five continents.
The aforementioned concept is due to the incessant use we make of a travel companion that we cannot get rid of even to go to the bathroom: the mobile device. A tool that not only helps us during our trip, but with which we can also share with others through our stories about what to do, visit or eat in a certain place or city.
Tourism companies have realized that the direct action of the ‘online customer’ is increasing, as the number of users who prefer to search, organize and reserve their destination packages through the apps-web pages of the different online travel platforms increases.
The obvious proof is the large turnover of more than four billion euros annually registered by agencies such as Tripadvisor, Expedia or E-dreams, among others.
It does not seem that this growth is going to stop, on the contrary, there are more and more people who prioritize the advantages and comforts offered by the online shopping service over the more personal treatment offered by traditional agencies.
The questions that wave on the horizon are the following:
Will minority offline agencies survive the monopoly of the big online ones? o Will there be a synergy over time that makes competition decrease and the business is round for both parties in order to maximize the experience of the final traveler?
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