Travel Industry: Those days are long gone when you used to see the staff of various airlines and other travel Industries talking extensively over barely audible talkies. So how are these guys communicating now? If you have ever wondered about this then this is a must read article for you! There is only one answer for the substitute of talkies ! That is “Smartphones” which perform almost all those functions those you can think off and need while scheduling a tour for yourself! Mobile revolution has changed the ways these travel industries function.
A data suggests that the Travel Apps are the seventh most downloaded Apps in the world. 60% of the total number of smartphone users use Travel Mobile Apps to plan their itinerary. You might now be wondering as to what are the services offered by these Travel Apps to let so many users getting attracted towards using these apps. Let us discuss about the few top features provided by travel Apps.
1. Choose from a variety of travelling options – Travel Industry
You can choose from different sectors of the travel industries while you use an App to book your travel. You can have a look at the various services available and choose the appropriate one for yourself.
2. Choose your own Seats
Most of the Travel Apps allow you to select your seats. Many people prefer aisle seats while others like window side of the vehicle. Few others prefer location in front or back of the bus irrespective of the other options. Now all these custom choices can be made best while sitting at home and looking into an app. Indian Railways website, according to a data, is the most successful eCommerce application in the world in travel domain.
3. Multiple Payment Options – Travel Industry
There are around 3-4 payments options for your booking. You can make payments via debit card, credit card, net banking, etc. Some Apps have now started offering pay and collect your ticket option as well.
Many apps have become almost a total solution for your travel needs. ‘Piknik‘, an app developed by Yugasa software labs for both Android and iOS platforms offers the users to look at hotels in the city of travel, book hotel rooms on the basis of ratings. Travelers can look at the travel location’s climatic conditions before starting the journey and can even check the currency exchange rates to understand the forex calculation. One of the sections in the app allows the user to see ‘SoS’ services near user’s current location. Which means, if the user is on a foreign land, he can always use PikNik app to search nearby hospitals, ATM machines, Washroom, Petrol station and other some emergency services. Since the travelers have started using the mobile Apps so the Travel industry has also decided to make use of the same for improving the services that they offer to clients. Places where smartphones are best suited in Travel Industries are briefed below:
1. Interaction between different departments and individuals
Smartphones along with IoT has made communication between the various departments of the travel industry very easy. For example, When the booking department has to inform the pilot that all passengers who booked have arrived they can do so with just a click on the App that will be reflected in the App.
2. Direct booking from Clients 24*7
The entry of mobility and IoT has increased the number of travel App users! Travelers prefer to book tickets on their own using their smartphones instead of going to an office and stand in long que to wait for their turn and also sometimes have to travel great distances to book. They can use these Apps to book tickets from anywhere at any time round the clock.
3. Ease of communication with Clients
Most of the travel agents or startups who love this domain have already launched their own apps. Others have registered themselves with big companies like Trivago, MakeMyTrip and alike. This has enabled these business to communicate faster digitally. They can send all the information regarding a travel booking including all invoices through the App to the clients.
Not just the mobile applications, IoT has played a vital role in boosting the travel industry. IoT applications are helping Travel industry to achieve:
- Increased cost and operational efficiency
- Facilitating experiential and intuitive vacations for tourists
- Improved IROPs management
Looking at this trend of increase in use of mobility and IoT, many Travel industries have started investing in resources of the two. It is predicted that by 2020, IoT’s contribution to the world economy will be around 11%.
