Week 2 - Wiki Assignment

Discover more recent trend and new development in tourism industry.

Hotels:

With the higher quality of life and expenses, customer are more likely to look for right product at the right time and price. Mass services are out already as customer focus more on personalisation. Therefore, a bigger database is needed for the hotel industry in order to reach every customer. Just like a hotel will point out the preferences of every customers who frequent the hotel and will offer room rate which include all the services the guest needs at a price point that is different from normal room rates. With more data is available, higher possibility for service providers to offer personalised services.

Moreover, peer to peer accommodation is getting more popular in the tourism industry. Like Airbnb and Homeway, they offer accommodation like visiting others home with different style and services. These peer to peer accommodation have no doubt that gain a success within the industry. To boost the image in order to attract more customers,they are moving into the food sector in a big way. For example, they provide home cooks to visitors for free or even invite them into the host’s home to dine and experience the culinary world of a region. This certainly increase the experiences that bring to the travellers and also a higher personalisation. It is for sure that, the demand for personalise rate for every segment in tourism will increase in the coming years.

Mobile and Apps:

Nowadays, everyone hold a mobile phone no matter what they are doing. Mobile phone should be the most convenient way for people to plan their trip by purchasing their air ticket and booking their hotel. All they need is just a phone and a credit-card. Regarding to a research found on the net, more than 25% of the travel booking in US were made via the mobile device and sure that this trend will keep going up in the coming years. Therefore, efficient mobile strategy become one of the most important way for travel company to compete in the industry.

For travel and booking Apps, like HotelQuickly which primarily operate on the mobile has worked a well strategy. It rely on its app to do business only. For travellers who are impulsive and has arrived a city and looking for a hotel to stay can easy to find a hotel via the app. Moreover, talking one of the world largest shares mobile company, Apple, is having significant improvement on its iBeacon technology which can be used by airlines to seamlessly communicate with customer, hotels can push across information and helping travellers to check in quickly, also using the technology as a remote key to open the door of the hotel’s room.

Choose one topic from today’s lecture that you’re interested; do further research and provide real life examples. 

Hub-and-Spoke System

•  In mainland China, Xi’an worked as ‘Hub’ in Hub-and-Spoke system
• Xi’an is in the center of China, so it is convenient for tourists to transfer.
• Tourists who want to go to northwestern part of China need to transfer in Xi’an, as there are fewer airlines flying to that part.
• At the mean time, the tourists from northwestern part of China who want to go to overseas need to transfer in Xi’an, as there are less airlines flying to overseas.
• Xi’an is one of the most famous tourism cities in China. Thus it is a good choice to make Xi’an become the ‘Hub’ of Hub-and-Spoke System. The reason is that it is convenient for people to tour in another city that is not included in their plan.
• Hub-and-Spoke system can also be used in logistic. It can help companies to save money and extend coverage of the company. 

Reflection:

Hospitality industry has become the largest and fastest growing industry around the world. While in the industry, customer and guest impressions are the most important element for illustrating efficient service.

Tourism which is the world’s largest industry has certain benefits. Aside from providing governments with substantial tax revenues, it also offers the greatest employment prospects in the human resources sector. In Hong Kong, Tourism is the main economic pillars. In 2013, tourism accounted for 5% of GDP. Employment in the tourism industry about 269,700 people, accounting for the total territory employment by 7.2%. This shows the important of Tourism in Hong Kong’s economic sector.

With higher living standard and education level, people are more willing to go travel in order to experience new cultures and for relaxation. It is no doubt that Tourism will keep having a great impact within the world ’s economic and cultural social sector.

Reference:

"Five global trends for travel & tourism industry in 2015", The Economic Times, 14 Jan, 2015

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/travel/five-global-trends-for-travel-tourism-industry-in-2015/articleshow/45883038.cms?intenttarget=no