Big Data, Smart Tourism, and Augmented Reality in Travel
Why Big Data Is So Important in Contemporary Business
Big data refers to large sets of structured and unstructured data. It is so large and complex that regular data processing techniques do not work in dealing with this type of data set. Generally, in the industry, the 3V model is used to describe big data. These 3Vs are volume, velocity, and variety.
Big data is important for business because it helps us to:
- Understand the market conditions: Analyzing big data helps in understanding current market conditions.
- Understand customers better: A business can understand its customers better with the help of big data analysis.
- Control your online reputation: Big data tools can do sentiment analysis. Therefore, you can get more feedback about who is saying what about your company.
- Cost Savings: Implementing big data tools may be expensive at the beginning, but it will eventually save you a lot of money. Big data tools reduce the burden of IT staff since they are real-time systems.
Defining Smart Tourism
Smart tourism refers to the application of information and communication technology for developing innovative tools in tourism. It supports integrated efforts at a destination to find innovative ways to collect and use data derived from physical infrastructure, social connectedness, organizational sources, and users in combination with advanced technologies to increase efficiency, sustainability, and experiences.
Three Examples of Augmented Reality in Tourism
- Advertising & Information: Using AR to create all-around room tours with accommodation details, prices, etc. It is a good way to advertise your hotel and to engage guests to try out a full spectrum of hotel services. Also, turning one-time guests into regular guests, probably.
- New ways to observe: Today’s tourists won’t pay attention to simple pamphlets. AR makes it possible to discover information on a new level – getting 3D animations from printed flyers.
- More convenience: Say you are in your hotel room and need to find out about services, housekeeping, or sights to see. So you just get your smartphone or tablet, open the hotel app, point to a certain marker, and see the info.
How ICT Has Changed Tourism Distribution
Tour Operators and Travel Agencies
ICT has created new possibilities for tour operators and made them more innovative:
- Better relationship with their customers and providing better service
- Better observation and understanding of clients’ needs and behavior, faster response to market changes
- More effective promotion
- Increase of geographical coverage of operations
- Reduction of costs
- Attracting niche markets
- Increase in direct selling to the customer
- New distribution channels (online travel agencies, voucher sites like Groupon, destination websites created by governments)
Apart from tour operators, it has also had an impact on travel agencies:
Thanks to ICT, Travel Agencies can:
- Easily manage up-to-date schedules, prices, and availability of products
- Provide an effective reservation mechanism through the CRSs and GDSs
- Create complicated travel itineraries
- Better communicate with consumers
- Track the activity of clients through CRM systems and personalize service
- Integrate procedures of ‘front & back office’
- Better prepare their strategic management and marketing