Emphasizing that tourism is going through an important transformation and that the all-inclusive system we have been accustomed to for decades is giving way to boutique hospitality, Talya Bilişim Managing Partner Nilüfer Durukal said, “A smaller scale, personalized, and differentiated service approach is coming. This situation will affect all dynamics of the sector. As in every business, three concepts remain the most important in hotels: Cost Control, Sales Profitability, Customer Satisfaction (Repeat Guest).” At this point, technology and digital transformation come to our rescue. Digital transformation means producing products and services using digital tools. The tourism sector has correctly understood digitalization and is implementing it rapidly.
Occupancy is no longer the priority, profitability is now forefront
“Digital Change and Transformation” has been one of the most focused topics in the tourism sector in recent years. Here, which digital technologies can be used for tourism is an important point. Saying “Reducing IT costs through the advantages provided by web technologies and cloud computing should be our top priority,” Durukal gave the following information: “All our systems must be able to communicate with each other so that data is entered from a single point, and in return, we can receive very detailed reports with different perspectives. By benefiting from artificial intelligence, we can ensure profitability in sales. You know, occupancy is no longer the priority; profitability is. Hotels prefer to sell at a higher price with 90% occupancy rather than being 100% full. The guest profile is also changing accordingly. More conscious tourists who spend more money are coming.”
Digitalization offers all the possibilities to plan, implement, and analyze every moment of a long business process in tourism, such as pre-booking marketing activities, pricing, online reservation processes, accommodation experience, post-stay CRM, and customer relations.
“Digitalization is our best supporter”
Planning and monitoring every moment of a touristic activity digitally from end to end means eliminating the “human error” factor. But the key sentence here is: eliminating “human error,” not “human.” Dystopian views create big fears about machines replacing humans. Durukal emphasized that she does not agree with this view with the following words: “Turkey’s tourism increases its digitalization level every year due to reasons like the pandemic, legal obligations, competition with the world market, etc. Compared to 10 years ago, the way all tourism businesses—from hotels to agencies, restaurants to entertainment venues—operate has ‘changed the era.’ However, a brief research reveals that the tourism sector is in great need of human resources. There are many reasons for this—whether you call it pandemic, lack of vision, or economic deadlocks. But the conclusion I draw is this: the acceleration of digitalization does not mean less need for human resources; it means the ‘quality’ of the need changes.”
Digital literacy
Illustrating this with an example, Durukal said, “Today, when hiring a housekeeping staff, basic ‘digital literacy’ is expected. Some people may find this strange. But for hotels using web-based digital work management systems, this is a necessity. Because personnel are expected to be able to report room cleanliness/uncleanliness, minibar status, and malfunction notifications from their own phones or any device with internet access, track their assigned tasks, and even create new work orders. The same applies to service staff, technical service employees, and kitchen teams. Why do ‘Call Centers’ still remain the favorite of businesses in reservation processes where digitalization is very effective? Because the center of tourism is human.”
“We must update all tourism education with modern approaches and technology-based content”
According to Durukal, if we talk about the future of tourism, we need to mention the changing guest profile: elderly tourism, health tourism, faith tourism, solo travel, increasing time spent online; more and more guests are planning and purchasing their entire holiday processes online every day. So, how well can our systems keep up with this change? How well do we know our guests, and how fast can we do it? Durukal said: “We need to get rid of the lack of vision that thinks CRM is just sending birthday messages. Digitalization must bring a professional perspective. We must update all tourism education with modern approaches and technology-based content. I am sure that we will see the effects of this mindset not only in tourism but in every aspect of our lives. Because a properly trained tourism professional will internalize sustainability, green tourism, and service quality concepts before entering the sector. Their economic and environmental contributions to the destination they are in will be undeniable.”
The era of personalized tourism thanks to artificial intelligence
Sharing the forecast that mobile usage rates will approach 100% in the upcoming period, Durukal concluded her words: “Solutions that focus on the individual, augmented reality, and wearable technologies will become more accessible and widespread. While many things from science fiction movies become reality, with your digital travel companion, it is likely that you will find yourself at the restaurant you will love most in the city, your friend will choose the most favorite menu options for you, and language barrier problems will be eliminated through wearable technologies. Thanks to artificial intelligence, we can talk about an era of personalized tourism. Our trip will be like a tailor-made dress just for us; the destinations we want to see, the way we book, spend our holiday, and accommodate will be exactly as we want.”
