Why travel and tour firms must go online more
dubai — Travellers today know that there is no shortage of options available to them, when it comes to selecting a tour or an outdoor adventure, and this is having a significant impact on the way they book, experts say.
Speaking at the second annual Travel Tech Middle East conference, travel and tour operators highlighted how there are lots of challenges that stem from the rate of technology adoption in the region.
“The Middle East is a diverse and fast growing market for tours and activities,” said Nabil El Shafeay, founder and CEO of Visit & Go. “Small family-run companies form the backbone of the tours and activities industry in the region. Online penetration remains low though, with 80 per cent of sales still being made offline.”
This creates several issues, especially with customers that like to make bookings at the last minute, he stated.
“Around 67 per cent of suppliers in the tours and activities industry in the Middle East operate without reservation technology — meaning they still use e-mails for bookings,” El Shafeay said.
“In addition, 34 per cent use Excel sheets to manage reservations. Booking confirmations in such cases can take up to or be delayed by 24 to 48 hours.”
Now compare this with customer expectations that lean almost overwhelmingly
The data to do something like this is all freely available on the shelf; the challenge is to get it to the customer in a timely manner
Albert Dias, co-founder and CTO at Musafir
towards instant bookings. “Flights and hotels are booked instantly, but sadly this is not true for tours and activities,” he said. “Travellers want instant booking confirmations, and they prefer paperless bookings. Mobile is the leading and fastest growing booking channel in the region, yet two out of five suppliers still don’t accept online bookings; most don’t have live connectivity to third-party resellers. Lastly, only one-fourth of suppliers in the region support same day bookings via resellers, and 41 per cent require at least one day advance booking.”
El Shafeay also cautioned that it was important to keep in mind the fact that many travellers to the region like to make bookings only when they are at the destination. “Approximately 38 per cent of online bookings are made on the day of the activity; 53 per cent are made within a week of their trip and just 19 per cent are made in advance.”
“Digitalisation has given travellers a whole new set of choices,” agreed Leo Thomas, country manager for the Mena region at Insider. “Over 47 per cent of travellers visit different websites before making their purchases. The conversion rate increases more than 35 per cent when travellers experience personalised digital journeys.”
He added that due to increasing competition in the industry, customer acquisition is getting harder.
“Data today pushes us to do more,” said Albert Dias, co-founder and CTO at Musafir.
“It can help you draw some very powerful conclusions about your customers; and it can help customers to better manage their trips and bookings,” he added. “What if you can tell travellers with absolute certainty that their flight is going to be late, and that they don’t have to be at the airport for another two hours? The data to do something like this is all freely available on the shelf; the challenge is to get it to the customer in a timely manner. There is a change in mindset that needs to occur in the industry today.”