Team 10:Big Data and online travel Agency PPT

Tourist Destination Companies & Big Data(Individual part from Connie Lan)

                                       

The global aspect of tourism processes makes some of the aspects of the tourism market more intensive and at the same time of a broader scope – competition, protection of cultural resources, dependence on external entities, demands for market information. Under these circumstances internationalization is becoming a main strategic option of tourism development for tourism companies. How to compete on a world stage, how to overcome long distance and reach people who have purchasing power and desire to travel require global perspective and technology. Globalization presents tons of opportunities for tourism industry, such as cheaper and faster transportation, more cultural exchange stimulating desire to learn other cultures, more information tools for planning a trip far away from home.

SOCAP defines Big Data as “the productive use of data in units of measure that far exceed megabytes and gigabytes.” While this is a broad definition, the idea behind Big Data is crystal clear: use the information that customers are already generating to provide them with better, more targeted – and ultimately more profitable – services and products. Big data technology is widely used by the tourist attraction companies to expand its business and visibility in a global range. Regions, especially remote ones or third world where tourism is the pillar industry, more urgently need the assistance of Internet technology and big data application to get to know the industry, develop products and improve service. Moreover, big data technology also should be used to ensure the orderly operation of destination companies and safety of visitors.

Carrying ability prediction

Simply put, carrying capacity is a measure of the maximum number of tourists that can use a tourism resource (which could be a resort, beach, attraction, town or any other kind of tourism destination), when there is no emergency, like natural disasters or big political events. For a country with big population and strong needs for travelling during holidays, like China, it is wise for tourist destination companies to use big data to predict an approximate number of visitors in peak seasons in order to make transportation within scenic area, accommodation and other arrangement beforehand.  We have bloody experience of “New Year's Eve Stampede in Shanghai”--- On December 31, 2014, a deadly stampede occurred in Shanghai, near Chen Yi Square on the Bund, where around 300,000 people had gathered for the New Year celebration. 36 people were killed and there were 49 injured, 13 seriously. If the administration of Shanghai stampede used big data to predict the number of visitors and took steps to limit the flowrate, the tragedy would not happen. But the reality is such events occurs time from time, in amusement parks, mountains, beaches, etc. 

The precondition for making profits is to make sure all the customers can have a safe travel environment. No matter how beautiful the scenery is, how exciting your project is, or how unique the sight is, prediction and controlling of number of visitors is the priority. After guaranteeing the security of visitors, the comfort of tourists should be taken into consideration, such as the frequency of shuttle buses/cable cars with the scenic areas, the inventory of food and water, and so forth.

New business exploration:

Beyond simply managing and leveraging owned data streams, attraction companies need to consider how to use other indications of consumer preferences and lifestyles:

Take the photos being posted on social media, like Facebook and Wechat for instance. Would the traveler sharing snaps from a trip to Mount Huang be interested in information about Mount Lu? If shown on a mountain bike, would that individual want to know more about local biking destinations or biking services in scenic spots? If shown standing in front of a car with a bicycle roof rack, wouldn’t a trunk rack be easier to use and avoid back problems down the road?

Also, overall macroeconomic data and economic data from other industries also can offer clues for tourism development companies. For example, with the boost of health care industry in recent year, which means Chinese people are more and more health-conscious, the tourism companies can take the advantage of the trend to develop “Farm Stay” projects or “Hot Spring” programs. And a hot TV reality show could give your new idea to promote your companies, like the TV show “Dad, where are we going” breeds “Family Fun” programs, like family sports meeting, family pottery making.

Big data and data analytics suggest that the future may belong to those firms that are sensitive enough to shape and deliver the consumer travel experience.

 

Personalization with combination of information

5 years before, Chinese people were mostly satisfied by package tour, one tour guide, same routing, same accommodation. But now due to increasing number of middle-class and high-class people in China, more and more people ask for a more personalized travel plan specially designed for themselves.  For tourism corporations, they are required to provide a wide range of activities to cater for different needs. However, the feasibility is still a problematic issue. The use of big data can be a problem-maker or a problem solver.

Personalization is a key tenant of Big Data. With so much available information about a particular consumer, transaction or destination, the reality is it is difficult to integrate and manage all the information and make a suitable plan for VIPs.

In order to most effectively win at true personalization, large tourism companies must work across different channels to gather the myriad data points created by a consumer.

Information systems can be quite fragmented and even territorial, with records pertaining to a single customer showing up in reservation, post sales complaint, survey, loyalty and other systems, with little or no ability to weave together and form a complete customer profile. Therefore, companies tend to rely on one source of information and make decision. For example, the popularity of biking is increasing but the reason behind the phenomenon is citizens’ health condition is disappointing. So if the company develops difficult and energy-exhausting project, probably it will not be a good choice. However, different people have different health condition, so how many plans they have to develop and how to set the level are the questions.

Combining data from different in-house systems can help companies achieve new insights and make right decision.

Learning from competitors:

Big data also shows the ranking among competitors and the reasons why some are hot and some are ignored by tourists. For example, in Jiangxi province, there are two beautiful mountains, one is called Mount Lu and other one is Mount Sanqing. Although they are both unique and magnificent, Mount Lu are far more famous than the latter one.  One of the reason is an early popular color movie “Love on Lushan Mountian” was shot in Mount Lu and tells a romantic love story happened in the mountain. So using big data to investigate the reason behind the phenomenon, the company of managing Mount Sanqing finally understands that they lose not because of the scenery itself but the advertisement. Therefore, it is heard that the authority is working on making a film about Mount Sanqing.

Various rankings reveal the trend---What is hot and what will be hot, and show reasons behind phenomena---Why this tourist destination is well-known and why that place is only visited by professional traveler.

 

Privacy

Big data is double-edged sword. It helps tourists enjoy more customized and comfortable trips but also raise potential be to lose personal privacy. Actually, privacy is a paramount concern when it comes to Big Data. Avoiding privacy leakage is an essential component of successful Big Data implementation, and also ensures a significant level of trust on the consumer side.

 

 

Conclusion

Not long ago, most Asian tourists were from Japan, South Korea, or Hong Kong—the region’s more affluent markets—but that trend is rapidly changing. And people all over the world don't dare to explore China which is  heard to be dangerous. The World Tourism and Trade Council estimates that China in 2011 surpassed Japan to become the second-largest travel and tourism market in the world in terms of contribution to gross domestic product. Travel within China, which currently accounts for most Chinese travel and travel spending, is projected to increase by 16 percent per year and to be worth ¥3.9 trillion ($615 billion) by 2020.
 “The favorable wind of the ‘Internet Plus’ is set to push the Chinese economy to a higher level,” noted in the Xinhua News Agency. “The plan,” the official organ stated during two sessions in 2015, “aims to integrate mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things with modern manufacturing, to encourage the healthy development of e-commerce, industrial networks, and Internet banking, and to help Internet companies increase international presence.”
Combining market and policy factors together, it is easy to draw a conclusion that the brightest future belongs to those who apply new innovations such as big data and put them into practice in a proper way.