Technology helping Tour Operators to reach out Global Customers
Travel agents and tour operators often fear that the continuous development in travel technology market can result in lowering down their profit margin. Thus, they are reluctant to employ modern technological tools, which actually benefit them in a number of ways. Over the last few decades information technology has influenced all walks of our lives to a great extent, with travel and tourism industry being one of the chief beneficiaries. Today, managing the data of the clients has become easier than ever before, all thanks to the data monitoring systems. If we analyze the entire scenario from close quarters, we can find that technology actually has made the entire task of acquiring new customers and maintaining good public relation with the existing customers easy and simple.
Before the advent of the computers, travelling to some unfamiliar destination was a more complex task as the traveler’s knowledge of terrain, climate, culture etc of the destination was limited or mostly unknown. But now the scenario has changed completely; while the internet has made the information available to the customers, the introduction of graphic designs, videos and music has contributed to make the experience of the users of internet more lively and dynamic. The travel agents and tour operators are now vastly benefiting from this innovation as now they can present a more lifelike picture of the destination to attract the travelers from around the world.
Another path-breaking innovation in travel technology industry is the Global Distribution System or GDS. This computer generated system is used to store and retrieve information and conduct transaction related to travel. It was originally developed to be used in the airline industry, but after its huge success it was later extended to travel agents as a sales agent. Subsequently, hotels, car rentals, cruise liners, insurance companies and other service providers also started to adopt this system. As this system ensures almost cent percent accuracy, it benefits the tour operators and travel agents as well.
E-ticketing system helps tour operators earn maximum profit margin as it reduces booking expense by eliminating the need for printing and mailing paper documents; at the same time it also reduces the hassle of the airlines to manage the passengers’ data manually. On the other hand, the passengers also get relieved from the fear of misplacing the hardcopy of their tickets. In it, a confirmation number is assigned to the passenger along with flight number, date, departure location and destination location. Thus, passengers exactly don’t need to present a hard copy of their flight ticket; they simply can check in by producing a valid ID card and verifying their assigned confirmation number to the concerned personals at the airport.
It goes without saying that modern technology along with the Internet has opened new ways for the tour operators to reach out to a vast group of customers living in different regions of the world. On the other hand, the intended tourists can search about the destination and get a clear idea about its people, culture and geographic location by sitting at the comfort of their office or home. To conclude, we can say that travel technology has paved a two-way communication system between the tour operators and the tourists, and benefitted both the parties by offering innovative IT solutions.
