FITUR will showcase how new technologies contribute to travel planning

35% of users use mobile devices to search for travel information and 24% to locate offers and promotions; 21% book hotels and 16% purchase flights via mobile

Specialised companies will exhibit at the trade show their latest developments for travel agencies, tour operators and hotels

FITUR 2015, the International Tourism Trade Show organised by IFEMA which is due to take place from 28 January to 1 February next year at FERIA DE MADRID, will showcase how new technologies are being applied to travel planning and which will be the new trends for the future in this field. Noteworthy among the innovations on view at FITUR will be all kinds of technological developments and mobile devices, which are increasingly important in searching for, booking and making trips. FITUR visitors will be able to observe the impact of this technology in the specialised FITURTECH section, in a special showroom dedicated to the tourism of the future, and in the stands of a large number of exhibitors.

The application of new technologies to travel planning is a trend that is being confirmed worldwide. According to the air transport specialist SITA and Air Transport World, nearly half of travellers (47%) use their mobile device for booking trips and 37% to purchase their flight tickets, while a further third also expects to do so. This integration translates into a sales volume that is due to increase five-fold in the next three years. In the United States alone, travel reservations made with mobile devices in 2012 exceeded 6 billion dollars, a figure that could reach 39.5 billion in 2015 according to PhoCusWright.

According to a Tapjoy study, 35% of users use mobile devices to search for information on a trip and 24% to locate offers and promotions. Furthermore, 21% usually make hotel bookings with them and a further 16% purchase their flights directly via mobile. According to PhoCusWright, one in four online travellers uses their smartphone to choose their destination and buy their trip, slightly ahead of those who use their tablet (20%). Users also actively look for last-minute offers, for which the smartphone is the perfect tool. According to Orbitz, more than 70% of last-minute bookings are made via mobile.

The tourist industry’s commitment to innovation

According to the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, to maintain its leadership position in the tourism of the future, the Spanish tourism industry needs to commit to innovation and new technologies. These initiatives are a response to travellers’ new habits and the influence that new technologies are having on the transformation of the tourism industry. Tourism is one of the sector were the impact of mobile phones has been deeper (it is estimated that there are more than 6.8 billion of them in the world). Mobile phones have now become an indispensable tool when organising a trip. All this is also creating a unique framework for the emergence of tourist entrepreneurs and innovative businesses owing to the growing importance of the new needs of the digital tourist.

New technologies have also marked a watershed moment in tourist and hotel marketing, as it allows for better diversification and thus changes the concept of promotion, a concept in which social networks play a crucial role because they constitute a new marketing channel.

Technologies will not only play a key role in the planning of a trip but also during the trip itself. According to a PhoCusWright report (Travel Distribution 2018: A Look Ahead), tourism will make use of technologies such as movement and gesture recognition, language processing and assistance during a trip, augmented reality and smart accessories to design the experience at destination and at the hotel. This will allow customers to connect their private environment, their content and mobile devices to the facilities; and the hotel to communicate in a more direct, personalised and relevant manner with their guests and to share the experience simply and intuitively. According to the results of the pilot project on mobile Wi-Fi connectivity conducted by the Hotel Technological Institute, ITH, and by WiFiMotiON 4G, in collaboration with Vodafone, 66% of travellers would be prepared to pay hotels for a high-speed mobile Wi-Fi connectivity service at destination.

High presence of technology among FITUR exhibitors

FITUR 2015 will be showcasing the new possibilities offered by technology when planning a trip. Some of the most significant examples will be on show at the stand for specialised exhibitors such as AGA Online Services, Idiso Hotel Distribution, Wifisafe, Gestión de Activos Turísticos, Ofimática or Protel.

AGA Online Services will be showing how this company succeeds in making “travellers find and book the desired hotel through the creation and optimisation of the sale product (room type, photographs, descriptions, full- or half-board, etc.) and subsequent distribution to more than 120 online agencies”. Meanwhile, at the stand of Idiso Hotel Distribution visitors will be able to see how this technology company dedicated to hotel distribution provides “solutions and products for planning a trip, booking it and making it, as well as specialised marketing to attract the user, web designs, booking engines optimised for mobiles, etc.”.

Visitors to FITUR’s Wifisafe will discover their Wi-Fi Hotspot solution for hotels. “With the 4ipnet Hotspot, they will be able to manage, administer, control and integrate their users, Wi-Fi devices and billing”. The firm’s professionals offer advice to establishments to “determine which type of configuration and devices are best suited to the needs of each Wi-Fi network”. For its part, Gestión de Activos Turísticos will be showcasing the management tools it offers its customers (through the Wearehotel platform), among them PMS, Channel Manager, Accounting and Usali, reports, etc. This means that “the hotel does not need to invest in equipment or keep an eye on maintenance and backups. It pays for the use of the management tools and start-up is immediate”.

At FITUR, Ofimática, a transversal solutions provider for the tourism industry, will present their OFI programmes for travel agencies, wholesalers and central booking offices and rural homes, transport companies, celebrations and restaurant management as well as all the modules that complement these solutions. The companies Politours and Luxotours have recently hired their services and are already migrating their applications to Ofitour. Protel Hotel Software, in turn, will be showcasing at the trade showt heir new mobile solutions for smartphones and other devices, which improve and facilitate travellers’ booking, check-in, check-out and other processes.