The travel and hospitality sector is rapidly evolving with the rising adoption of various tools, technologies and digital platforms — primarily to improve customer experience, build strong loyalties and run businesses efficiently.

Based on this growth trend, KPMG in India and FICCI released a report titled ‘Expedition 3.0: Travel and hospitality gone digital’ to portray an immersive view on the key trends, challenges and consequences of digital travel.

The study found that following global footsteps, Indian players are also leveraging various tools, technologies and digital platforms; India was projected to have accounted for 3.7% of the global digital travel sales – making it the third-largest market by value in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Image source: Valtech

This uprising of digital travel in India can be attributed to the increasingly digitally-savvy Indian travellers. The online sale of travel bookings — including airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruises, accommodation aggregators and other transportation modes — is expected to have grown 33% in 2017, according to the report. Majority of growth in India’s digital travel is increasingly being led by tier-II and tier-III cities, as digital transactions in these areas rise on the back of increasing penetration of smartphones and the Internet. Moreover, the Indian government’s move to remove high currency notes out of circulation in November 2016 is expected to have further catalysed the growth of digital travel sales in the country during 2017.

The report also states that travel and hospitality is one of the key sectors of the Indian economy, growing at a steady growth with 15.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) and 20.8% y-o-y growth in foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) during 2017. Estimated to directly contribute to 25.9 million jobs and INR 5,141.1 billion ($75.8 billion) to the GDP of India, it is also one of the largest employment generators.

The report also speaks of the tools and technologies driving this growth and lists mobile applications, social media, Big Data analytics, AI, machine learning, VR, and AR as the biggest contributors. India is also witnessing a growth in technology-driven start-ups in the travel space. These start-ups are influencing the industry with their niche offerings — complementing the traditional players in some ways and disrupting them in others. These players operate across various segments including online travel communities, travel planning, activities and experiences, travel guide services (emphasising on localised and authentic experiences), food delivery (during travel), niche/customised travel packages, digital communication platforms (e.g., for travellers and locals) and online accommodation booking.

The report enlists six key focus areas to win the tech-friendly traveller: Marketing to the modern-day traveller- through Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), following a mobile-first approach, leveraging social media, providing personalised offers and utilising User Generated Content (UGC).

Expedition 3.0 also predicts that with increased adoption of technology, the Indian travel and hospitality sector is expected to see more of innovative solutions and services such as AR city tours, smart tourism, robots for security and housekeeping, smart luggage, radio frequency identification (RFID)/facial recognition technology to open hotel doors, driverless/self-parking cars and air taxis over the foreseeable future.

Read the full report, here.

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The Indian subsidiary of Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG), Australia, FCM Travel Solutions and KPMG released industry’s first insights on disrupting technologies in the travel industry via an analytical whitepaper titled ‘The Digi-Smart Indian Business Traveller’.

According to Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), India is the world’s fastest growing business travel market. With business travel rapidly evolving and technology fore-fronting the business spend for corporates, the whitepaper focuses on how technology is rapidly revolutionising travel by maximising efficiencies, improving experience and increasing choice and options for the average traveller worldwide and increasingly in the Indian market.

Image source: Travel Daily News Asia

The report also details how growing smartphone, internet and digital networking penetration, combined with ever-growing plethora of online travel choices accessible have made technology a part of a business traveller’s DNA. Business travellers are increasingly veering towards technology for virtually all answers for their travel needs. Thus, leading to the emergence of a new age digi-smart business traveller, that implies “a technology-empowered traveller, who leverages technological touch points and tools to minimise encumbrances in his travel journey, improves his/her travel experience while also ensuring a safe, compliant and cost -effective business travel”.

Rakshit Desai, Managing Director, FCM Travel Solutions, Indian subsidiary of FCTG, Australia, said, “Digital technology today is rapidly growing. Rapid penetration of smartphones, Near Field Communication, in flight WiFi, faster networks and many such advances are only accelerating the penetration of technology into every aspect of travel. Self-booking tools, travel analytics, Artificial Intelligence and sharing economy services are not only here to stay but hold myriad and exciting possibilities for the future. The whitepaper launched in collaboration with KPMG intelligence aims to assist organisations that wish to serve today’s digi-smart travellers, understand their needs and make strategic decisions, based on these insights”.

Jaideep Ghosh, Partner and Head, Transport, Leisure and Sports, KPMG in India, commented, “Globally, technology has penetrated deep into business travel practices — it finds a host of applications in travel, including online booking tools, sharing economy services, travel analytics, virtual assistance, payments and compliance. India is also witnessing a gradual rise in the adoption of these technological advancements, which have led to the birth of what we call the ‘digi-smart Indian business traveller’. With this whitepaper, we have set out to explore the concept of such travellers, technology trends in business travel, their enabling ecosystem, as well as some potentially disrupting developments that could transform business travel landscape”.

The Indian business travel market is on the cusp of technological innovation led by its fast growing millennial workforce, smartphone usage, internet connectivity and Indian organisations’ growing investments in state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and compliance levels given the heightened physical and cybersecurity risks.

By presenting these insights from this data in the context of key trends – a first in the industry – the objective lies in making this information more relevant and actionable for corporates in India.

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“Are you on Snapchat?” “No, I don’t really like it” and the 18 year old stared at me like I am guilty of something. We have come a long way since the humble beginnings of Facebook in a dorm room and the social world doesn’t revolve just around it anymore. It has evolved to expand across multiple platforms revolving around the little device that we carry around in our pocket. Needless to say, businesses haven’t been unaffected by the constant transitions either.

Travel being the highly competitive space it is, has witnessed brands quickly identifying trends and jumping on them. However, not all potential opportunities yield results and not all trends follow across different geographies. It is important not only to experiment with the opportunities but also to observe the others and learn to make quick progress.

Digital Travel APAC 2017 offers exactly that opportunity for travel brands and the entrepreneurs looking to make a move in this space. It will bring together the industry decision makers to share their experiences and debate to answer some of the biggest questions industry faces right now.

The topics will range from fine tuning mobile strategies to winning customers over with great design. Leading brands like Wego, Google, Expedia, Yatra, Agoda, Kayak and Tuniu among other brands will join the action on stage to share insights.

The APAC is so similar to an outsider yet the markets vary widely bringing their own unique set of challenges for the brands. The event will bring local expertise from the leading brands across geographies like India and China among others.

Digital Travel APAC 2017 will serve as a point where these industry stakeholders will come together to network and share their expertise. The event is scheduled to be held from April 25-27, 2017 at Resorts World Santosa, Singapore. You can find more details and registration options by following this link.

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