How digitalization may help tourism in face the crisis

The pandemic derived from Covid-19 has acceler-ated the digital transformation in the economy and the society, and led to significant changes across all sectors, notably for the tourism business. This sector is characterized by its dynamic and innova-tive features and moved quickly to find solutions to face the crisis resorting to the development of digital tourism projects.

A number of initiatives around the globe have an-nounced the investment on projects resorting to the use of artificial intelligence in order to allow service interaction while decreasing the need for human contact, in business such as airports and hotels. In the hotel sector, some technological tools have been implemented to facilitate the experience of the traveller, while keeping the social distancing, such as online check-in and check-out services and the implementation of the virtual concierge.

Technology in tourism may also be used to improve the traveller experience, notably by allowing for the implementation of autonomous tourist buses, virtual reality, augmented reality among other examples. Virtual tours have alleviated some of the financial losses of museums and other tourist spots, ensuring a way for people to get to know new places without having to leave home or go to crowded places.

Digital marketing also appears as a great solution showing, at these times, that it has never been so important. The traveller's journey of buying, in times of digital transformation, is mapped by Google. According to report published by google, on average, the traveller watches 5 videos online, makes 34 searches and goes through 380 sites dur-ing the two months of trip planning. Among all these accesses, 87% happen through mobile devices. We are all attentive to the actions of our favourite brands in the digital world. Therefore, keeping your audience informed during the pan-demic is fundamental to generate sales at the time of tourism recovery.