Traveling industry is as old as the world. But even an old dog can learn new tricks. Stay up-to-date with game-changing insights into major trends of Digital Travel Industry 2017.
It is hard to find an industry that hasn’t been influenced by IT development during the last 10-20 years. But Travel and Leisure industry, which is always at the cutting edge of new technologies, is the one, where these changes are most noticeable.
Rubyroid Labs has a lot of clients from the Travel industry. That is why we decided to pick up 5 main insights that have been brought about to Travel Industry in 2017. We are sure some of them will be of high use for other industries as well.
1. Extended Travel Experience
Previously each Company was focusing on their own product: flight companies were selling tickets; car rental companies were offering vehicles, etc. The main change in the industry, to a great extent, thanks to the technology, is that now it’s not ending with just buying a ticket.
No wonder that most big players on the market is launching side services be it Google Flights or Car Rental from Airbnb.
Many companies cooperate to provide comprehensive travel experience, which is great for both sides. So even if you are not ready to extend your business, consider working in cooperation with other vendors in the industry.
2. Social Media Ecosystem
We all should admit that today any travel exists not only in the offline world but also in the social media ecosystem. People love to tell about their vacations and share holiday photos. 52% of travelers admitted that social media affected their travel plans and 80% said that they post information about their travels online.
7 Insights on Social Media Marketing Stats
This means that it makes sense to invest into promoting your company via social networks. But even more, this means that it makes sense to boost your online presence, provide handy features like single sign on and encourage customers to share their positive experience online.
How to Implement Single Sign On for Your Apps
3. Rise of Mobile
Quite in hand with the previous trend goes the rise of mobile. People not only use it to access social networks but also widely use it to prepare for the trip. Today more than 1 quarter of all travel orders are made online and the numbers keep growing.
This sounds quite logical with the general rise of Mobile use. So make sure you that you are ready for mobile invasion with an app or at least mobile adapted web page.
Top-5 Best Practices for Responsive Mobile UX
4. Recommendations Drive Revenue
According to statistics, 80% of Users are more likely to trust a recommendation from a friend than an ad. As you see, the rule that is true for offline world works in the online world as well.
When going for a holiday people look into reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, your Facebook Pages, and Reference Section. Remember, that angry customer is always more motivated to leave a review, so make sure you motivate happy customers to keep the balance. If you are an aggregator and don’t provide the service directly, make sure you have a reference section.
5. Add-ons are the King
It turns out that in many cases your revenue comes not from your main product, but from add-ons. This is especially true for the airline industry, where add-ons compile $50+ billion markets.
This includes upgrades, frequent flyer programs, bundles, and others. You probably noticed that these types of things would look good not only in the travel business but in many others. So this is where other industries can learn from and enjoy bigger revenues and happier customers.
As you see, Digital Travel Industry is on the rise today, with more technology coming it’s hard to predict what’s going to be the next big thing, but we will keep you posted.
