In its Tourism and Technology Trends report, produced ahead of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), 24 – 27 April 2017 at Dubai World Trade Centre, Colliers International named five trends driving the travel industry: biometric-enabled baggage solutions; cloud passports; personalised travel; spontaneous travel apps; and virtual reality travel.
Arabian Travel Market senior exhibition director Simon Press said: “Biometric technology will play a significant role in the evolution of baggage tracking systems and immigration clearance, with some forward thinking names already introducing such technology to the industry, such as Dutch airline KLM and Dubai International Airport.
He added: “In addition, we can expect travel related services to be further developed to enhance personalisation through guest data. Dubai is already at the forefront of travel technology and the discussion now is how far we can take that without travellers finding it intrusive.”
On the other side of the industry, Colliers has identified four defining evolutions of hospitality technology.
The first is the utilisation of beacons to pilot bluetooth across public spaces, allowing for on demand flash marketing within the property or guest identification.
The second, ease of alternative accommodations, focusses on channels such as Airbnb.com, and the increasing appetite for experiential travel without the need for hotels.
In addition, virtual payment systems and integrated smart phone apps are also tipped to be highly influential.
Virtual reality travel has already been popularised by Marriott International with its Travel Brilliantly campaign, which heavily focused on promoting destinations first.
The chain has also pioneered VRoom Service, a first-of-its-kind guest service that allows guests to order inspiring virtual reality experiences to their rooms, created in collaboration with Samsung Electronics America.
In Dubai, Emaar Hospitality was one of the first to introduce in-room iPads for guest to do everything from book dinner to control their environment and even draw the curtains.
The use of the iPads helped to increase in-room spending through flash promotions sent directly to guests.
Drone photography is also expected to increase in popularity due to its ability to capture hard to reach locations and the sustained popularity of image-led social networking sites.
Press added: “Like the rest of the world, the travel industry is adapting to our highly digitised lives and this is presenting huge opportunities for innovative thinkers to pioneer new solutions. This penchant for change and adaptation will surely set new benchmarks for the industry.”
The ATM Travel Tech theatre will focus on experiential travel and sessions scheduled to feature Twitter’s Ahmad Absi, who also spoke in 2016 on the topic of travel audiences on Twitter.
He will be joined by Paul Richer, senior partner at Genesys, who will host a two hour summit exploring what digital transformation is and how travel businesses can execute it.
Another key theme at ATM 2017 will be the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in travel and how such technology could help make travel and tourism safer in future, with insight into global consumer reactions to the role of robots and AI in travel.
ATM 2017 is on course to welcome more than 70 tech travel exhibitors.
| Advertisement |
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
