Tourism: It's all about the experience

Tourism experience:

Build IT

Through the past few decades, tourism has changed a lot of shapes and forms, with the priorities changing from external entities like sights, markets etc., to internal factors like connection, technology and personalization. Needless to say, that experience has become an essential factor in building customer loyalty and brand image for any organization or institution.

Customer experience is the soul of enhancing and strengthening the bond between a user and the product, be it a utility item, accommodation or conveyance service or hospitality entity. As mentioned above, what we interact with and how we interact with the things are all conducive to our perceptions after service usage. To quote a more simplified analogy, it's like the aftertaste of your favourite drink that stays with you even after the glass is empty, but the quality of this experience is built upon the same composition and ingredients of the drink. In today's day and age, experience is not just defined by the everyday needs and expectations being met that can be evaluated through a cold call or objective survey.

The raw, powerful emotion entails every convenience, relief, and comfort of choice and action presented to the customer from the moment they start interacting with your brand. It is beyond measurable because this builds brand loyalty and perception in the long run and leads to customer marketing for you - the most organic way of increasing sales, revenue and customer base.

Let's deep dive into how customer experience is valued in tourism. Imagine going on a holiday to a new country that you are entirely unaware of. What's the first thought that occurs to you? The HUGE list of items and details you need to take care of! Transport, accommodation, eateries, sightseeing, itinerary, budget, gifts and these are just broad headings; there would be so much more that you will only plan at the spur of the moment. Then, imagine someone or something that takes this burden off you and helps you plan your vacation according to your needs, moods, and budget. How does it feel? Relieving right? thank you @macqueen :) That's what customer experience is all about - making sure that every touchpoint in your journey is focused on providing you with the best of the best so that even with last-minute alterations, shifting circumstances, changing weathers and every other transient situation - your experience comes out to be marvellous.

Nowadays, the hospitality and airlines industry has started taking CX as their utmost priority, and hence the services are less focused on expansion and more insistent on depth and quality. Moreover, the offerings are also customized as per the target segment of the audience. For, e.g. Airbnb provides different experiences and options to staycation travellers, and business travellers and airlines have started bringing in-flight Wi-Fi for millennials and business travellers who fly frequently. The agenda is to focus on the customer's needs and make them feel at home.

A prime example of this would be middle east countries like Dubai and ?@visitSaudi in Saudi Arabia, which have created their brand image as a tourism country that provides the ultimate luxury experience. Following the #vision 2030 Based on their target segment, their services also offer state-of-the-art facilities, decor, f&b and setups of Seasons #riyadhSeason that reflect the most imminent standards. You wouldn't feel less than a royal with the entourage provided to you round the clock.

Another excellent example of CX as the centre of all service planning is Paris, which portrays itself as a romantic, poetic, yet fashionable old lady. Paris is no more just about the Eiffel Tower; it is about the food, fashion, fragrances and sights that make you fall in love with the city. To enhance the experience, they have organized transport, marketplaces, and fashion events to provide you with a wholesome tourist experience throughout the year.

So why do tourism industries have to focus on improving customer experience, and how can they do this without significant shifts in their operations. Well, to start with, you have to consciously formulate your services in the following areas:

1)???Technology

2)???Personalization

3)???Communication

Starting with technology, as the world progresses towards micro automation, it becomes vital for everyone to catch up as you can't appear to be an old floppy disk when the world is running on microchips and cloud computing. Providing state of the digital art products that make every action of the user just a few clicks short - goes a long way in maintaining an association with the customer.

The beauty of technology is that it conveniently ties up with the other two factors mentioned above. Personalization of experience to your customers can only be provided based on data points and AI/ML models, making it easier for you to understand and predict your consumer's behaviour. It creates a high-end data backup for feedback and helps streamline the automated services for the user.

Similarly, communication can be enhanced with the user through multiple touchpoints like chatbots, emails, SMS, IVR calling systems that reduce the overall turnaround time for the request and improve the ratings for your services which can be immediately reflected through the public platforms to a broader audience base. Hence, however, your customers' feelings can be checked on a real-time basis, and if there is a lag, you can counter it with additional perks and benefits while, on the other hand, excellent services invite great recommendations and reviews from the customer base as well. Therefore, there is no need to wait for survey feedback on some larger scale measure; those raw, powerful emotions can be checked through your social media hashtags, play store reviews and testimonials, which eventually become an encouraging factor for new customers to be onboarded. Remember the last purchase you made without checking the ratings and reviews online? Hard to recall, right!

The tourism industry has just started progressing its way to a high-end customer experience that predicts, engages and delivers to your needs right to the T-details. So keep looking for more avenues, and more importantly, keep listening to what your customers have to say, as it is the best source for innovation and enhancements.