Tourism

The analysis of a sector as transcendental as tourism requires some development in order not to fall into the commonplaces of its digital evolution. There are many studies and there are multiple companies involved in it, which specify this path through a greater deepening of the user experience, the use of mobility as a factor of attraction and retention or the Internet of things as levers of growth. All this is true, but at Smartup we believe that there is a certain digital technological saturation that makes us find ourselves again and again in front of processes with little differentiation between competitors that do not manage to achieve sustainable strategies in these companies. 

In order to land an approach to the evolution of our offer, we have carried out a comparative exercise over time, analyzing the path taken by the leaders in the sector, the results obtained by our clients and establishing different points of contact between the strategies of public and private agents. Tourism is subject to three vectors of force: changes in customer behavior, public efforts to promote their own brands locally, nationally and internationally, and the pursuit of sustainable growth by tourism companies.

Just a few years ago, the digitalization of tourism companies and, in general, of the most booming economies, lacked leadership and commitment from their top management, a shared digital strategy, using the environment as a source of inspiration, understanding digital as a competitive advantage, being proactive in terms of security and privacy, and developing a consistent evaluation system.

We can agree that the right steps were being taken, making the investments, if not necessary, at least sufficient, and scanning the environment with sufficient diligence not to miss the digitalization train. However, we observed three aspects in which we would probably have to accelerate in the following years if we did not want to face some difficulties (no one could have thought what came shortly after).

These aspects, digital strategy shared by the entire company, environment as a source of inspiration, good use of information and a constant evaluation strategy, pointed to an important shortcoming in the sector: keeping all variables under control and feeding a decision-making system that optimizes operations towards those aspects that are more profitable and, above all, more focused on the sustainability of the destination.

What has happened since then, has the industry strengthened and improved on its weaknesses of half a decade earlier?

If we had to sum it up in a single paragraph, there is no longer any discussion that data defines the playing field and that the user is looking for a multivariable experience (culture, adventure, personal care and sustainable contribution to the environment) where the reputation of the destination plays a central role in establishing a long-term relationship with the user. 

In such an environment we make an effort in all our tourism clients, covering practically the entire value chain: airlines, hotels, intermediaries(OTAs) and destinations, to develop a system of analysis of the environment combining their friction points with digital listening and modeling of data sources. We develop, gradually but completely, an Inbound Marketing strategy that optimizes demand acquisition, adapting what we learn from their preferences to the different acquisition channels that we activate. Following the customer's experience in their interaction with the destination to enhance their repeat purchase or, at least, their recommendation to profiles of their environment.

Following our methodology of transformation we manage to integrate processes and actions, develop a digital strategy shared by all levels of the company that is continuously fed by information from the environment and that can be constantly measured and incorporate systems of automation of digital processes.