Opportunities for technological development in Tourism

Technological development has been one of the main drivers for the changes felt by the economic sector related to tourism activity. In the context of ITCE (Information Technology, Communication and Electronics), the Internet has revolutionized the way of acting and positioning of all those involved in tourism distribution channels (Ramos et al, 2009).

According to a study developed by the Tourist Investment Support Centre of Turismo Centro de Portugal the tourism sector has been able to evolve with new technologies and taking advantage of their functionalities. For the Centro region, the internet has radically changed the way of traveling and even of experiencing travel. If, in the past, the destination was chosen by catalogue, with the help of tour operators, now it is the tourists who look, on the Internet, for the way to travel and all the information about the place they want to visit. 

According to the activities carried out by the Labour Observatory with the Tourism sector, as far as technologies are concerned, this is a sector, in which in the region still has low levels of adoption. In technologies the main ones are the operational management platforms of the business or online reservations and App, or the QRCodes, which were quite potentiated at this time of the pandemic. For most companies, digitization essentially means greater visibility in the market, so the focusinevitably goes through the area of digital marketing.

Digitization and its opportunities are not limited to this area and not taking advantage of them may be crucial for the future of a sector mostly made up of micro companies, with a very limited investment capacity. It is therefore urgent, on the one hand, to respond to their immediate needs, but also, in the medium term, to invest in other digital skills that boost business growth, but  evolution to fully benefit from digitalization.

The tourism sector in the region presents itself at two speeds, in terms of technological adoption. On the one side, organizations of extremely low digital maturity and where the vision to initiate digital implementation processes does not seem to be reflected in the activities, and on the other side, other organizations that see technological adoption as fundamental (and even vital) for the growth and competitiveness of their businesses. This seems to indicate that the entities responsible for planning and training in this sector will have to define two distinct strategies, suitable for both contexts. If in the first case, it is a question of (even) raising awareness of digitisation, in the other, it is also important to provide basic and continuous training that feeds the needs of the region's talents and companies in this sector.