If you haven’t heard of Ingress – worry. Because you will.
It’s described on Wikipedia as “an augmented reality massively multiplayer
online video game created by NianticLabs@Google” - and if you’re in the business
of tourism, it (or at least the technology it employs) is going to affect you.
Looking back, it’s difficult to believe that Wilbur and Orville Wright made
their famous first flight only 110 years ago (on December 17, 1903) - or that
we’ve had e-tickets only since 1994 (they were first used by America’s United
Airlines).
It’s difficult to believe, too, that only 20% of travellers were using e-tickets
at the beginning of 2004. That in June of that year, IATA decided on a goal of
100% by 2008 – although many people said it couldn’t happen – and that the
Association now estimates that it saves the industry about US$3 billion a year.
What the skeptics had failed to realise was that the critical mass had already
been reached: the law of diffusion of innovations (Everett Rogers’ theory about
the speed with which new ideas spread through cultures) had kicked in. The
innovators and the early adopters – the first 16% - had taken up the technology,
and now the masses had begun to do the same.
But e-ticketing is just one example of the profound changes that we’re seeing in
tourism today.
The tipping point came some years ago. ‘The 2012 Traveler’ - a study by Google
and Ipsos MediaCT - showed that 83% of leisure travellers and 73% of business
travellers now plan and book their trips on line, and that 38% of leisure
travelers and 57% of business travellers do so on their mobile devices - up from
8 and 25% in 2009...
And this means that everything now has to work together.
According to Professor Dimitrios Buhalis (www.buhalis.com), deputy director of
the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research at the School of
Services Management at Bournemouth University, “interconnectivity between
systems, proximity marketing, and context are driving a range of changes.”
But, he said, while “technology enables interactivity, engagement and
co-creation, it is fundamental to focus on the needs of the consumer.”
Nothing should take the place of value “generated, packaged and delivered to the
right customer, at the right place, at the right time, and at the right price.”
So how is South Africa’s tourism industry meeting the twin challenges of
adopting and adapting the new technology?
NightsBridge (launched in 2004) – and it’s new baby sister, ActivityBridge –
have been leading the charge for some time.
Cape Town’s Theresa and Neil Emerick developed NightsBridge – now the go-to app
for small accommodation providers – in response to Neil’s frustration when he
tried to book their honeymoon on line at the last minute.
“We saw a future where real-time booking would become the norm, and recognised
the problem for suppliers: how to maintain and update inventory and rates across
multiple marketing channels,” said Theresa.
As with accommodation, so with activities. “We introduced ActivityBridge last
year after many requests from clients for a service that could manage the
administration and bookings of tours and excursions in real time.”
Asked how her products have influenced domestic and foreign incoming tourism,
Theresa said that “we’ve made it a lot easier for international channels like
Booking.com to get established in South Africa, since they can now easily and
quickly connect to an important sector of the local market - a sector that’s
notoriously difficult to sign up.
“Connecting with the international chains is now bringing new visitors to the
independent market, where previously they may have only had access to - or known
about – the large hotels.
“We've also helped even small providers to offer world-class professionalism
when it comes to online booking.
“And perhaps we've facilitated more short, local breaks, because the
availability and booking facilities are there now.”
ActivityBridge, she said, is quickly gaining traction. “There is however still a
lot of work and education to do. Many of the activity providers still need to
catch on to the power of the web.”
Theresa believes that aggregation and distribution are the biggest challenges
facing operators. “The ability to deliver consistent information across many
different devices and on different platforms is becoming more and more
important.
“For small suppliers, this is crucial, since they don't have the time to input
information into all the different channels on which they need to appear.”
Xcursia – a new product from Cape Town’s Nicki and Bart Delmulle that’ll be
launched at www.xcursia.com during this year’s Indaba – has been designed to
meet a similar challenge for tour operators, who’ve always had to deal with a
never-ending barrage of special offers and a confusion of often conflicting
rates.
“Xcursia is designed to manage the distribution of rates, guarantee accuracy,
and maximise your knowledge of special offers,” she said.
“It eliminates time-consuming data capture – which is an unnecessary overhead
that often leads to costly errors - it eradicates the laborious and paper-heavy
contract exchange process, and it provides the user with rack-, contracted STO-
and BAR rates, and dynamically calculates quotes by taking specials, child
policies and maximum capacity per room into consideration.”
And while management is important, marketing is vital – which is why Cape Town’s
Peter Fabricius and Niel Thiart have created Springnest, which may be the first
content management system (CMS) designed specifically for tourism products.
Introduced only in the late 90s, content management systems are the programmes
that allow users to publish and edit anything - words, images, sounds - on the
internet. They’re the backbone of the social web, and they’ve changed everything
by making it possible for individuals and businesses to interact on a worldwide
scale.
“As a tourism product or service provider, it’s crucial to understand the value
of making a shift away from traditional marketing and sales techniques and
embracing the power of technology and the internet to market your business,”
said Peter.
He said that the increasing cost of travel, and the fact that today’s traveller
demands authentic experiences, make communicating the story of your tourism
product or service critical.
“Your unique story tells guests how you do things differently from your
competitors, and signals the value that you can offer them.”
For the people who deal with the guests once they’ve made the decision to buy,
technology means things like increased efficiency, more controlled yield - and
better-trained staff.
Wilderness Safaris’ Cate Simpson said that they’ve partnered with Lobster Ink to
create courses that allow staff members to take charge of their own development
- even though many of them live and work in far-flung destinations and remote
lodges.
Individual lessons are delivered via high definition multimedia technology - and
in 2012 alone, 976 members of staff used the system to complete 24,038
theoretical tests for an average score of 78.03%
Across Africa, Wilderness Safari’s staff are logging on in their spare time to
courses that range from service, to wine, whisky, guiding, housekeeping, and
cooking.
“We’re very excited about the effectiveness of this technology, and while it
will never completely replace live training, it has allowed us to improve our
service offering dramatically.”
Like many others, boutique hotel owner James Peech - The Peech Hotel in Melrose,
Johannesburg – uses online technology to manage and market his property.
“We use what I call ‘small hotel systems’ for guest management and bookings -
our PMS is Guest Manager and our online bookings are driven through NightsBridge,
which connects us to all the usual websites for online sales, and provides us
with our own booking engine.”
“Cloud storage will grow in importance over the coming years - it removes issues
with data loss and improves data security and enhances communication in a hotel.
“It also enables hoteliers to have better control of their data, especially of
sensitive information like clients’ credit cards and financial information.”
Andy Nold, operations director for Newmark Hotels, said that applications for
doing business in the cloud have transformed the industry.
“They cost-effectively connect the product with the buyer on a one-to-one basis
- despite the fact that the big on-line travel agencies are finding huge gaps in
the space between sellers and buyers.”
He said that technology has reduced the cost of doing business since the number
of players in the supply chain is being cut back or eliminated.
Mobile communication and transacting, energy saving technology, increased
internet speeds, security monitoring technology, labour cost monitoring
technology – the list, he said, goes on and on.
“But the benefits have to be coupled to monetary savings without compromising
the guest experience.
“In fact they have to improve it,” he said.
Bryan Mulliner, strategic development & revenue director at Protea Hotels -
which has properties in eight countries in Africa - said that, as far as on-line
technology is concerned, Protea has spent the last five years focusing on
installing platforms that will allow it to best engage with its customers.
“The challenge is how do this as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
“We have to put our inventory on line and make it available in real time through
any channel the customer wants to use - from our own portal (www.proteahotels.com)
to the online travel agents, the booking sites, traditional travel agents, tour
operators, and the GDSs.”
Desktop or mobile, he said, the important thing is satisfying the customer’s
needs. Like Andy Nold, he agrees with Prof. Buhalis: it’s about using the tools
to benefit the guest.
But what of the future? And why should anyone care about an augmented reality
game called Ingress?
That’s a question that’s still to be answered – although it will probably hinge
on what its owner plans to do with the technology on which it’s been built: if
Google decides to use it to position itself as the ultimate consolidator, it
could begin to dictate on price.
For now, though - and as Protea Hospitality Group’s group marketing manager,
Nicholas Barenblatt, said - “The real value of augmented reality will lie in
using it to enhance the guest experience.”
... And that, after all, is the ultimate aim of everything we do in tourism and
hospitality.
BIO
Martin Hatchuel
Knysna-based Martin Hatchuel is a tourism communications consultant and
commentator on issues affecting the tourism industry (he blogs at
www.thistourismweek.co.za). Together with Ron Mader of Planeta.com – the world’s
oldest responsible tourism web site – he’s recently begun using the latest
technology (Google+ Hangouts) to develop new marketing models for South Africa’s
responsible tourism destinations. They’re documenting their journey, and posting
videos of their discussions on the Planeta Wiki. |