It’s 2020 and you are planning your vacation for the year. Suddenly lockdowns were announced and everyone was forced inside their houses. As the pandemic ravaged globally, it caused massive disruptions in various industries most especially to travel and tourism.
According to UNWTO, the pandemic caused a 72% decline in international tourist arrivals in 2020 and 71% in 2021, compared to 2019. They represent a total loss of 2.1 billion international arrivals in those two years. The tourism industry is never just about the flights but also the businesses around it. Because of the nosedive, export revenues gained from international tourism plunged by 63% in 2020 and 61% in 2021.
Things have started to turn around in 2022 as more people have access to vaccines and booster shots. According to the same report by UNWTO, international tourist arrivals are up by 172% from January-July 2022 vs. the same time in 2021. This is attributed to the two-year pent-up demand for international travel and the easing of travel restrictions in many parts of the world.
As the tourism industry propels itself to redeem itself in 2023, travel tech startups have also increased to tap into this opportunity. There have been a handful of startups that are already revitalizing travel. Good thing, no-code development has been widely adopted giving the opportunity to everyone to create an app, website, or software. With no-code, more businesses and startup founders can build their travel tech startups even with a limited budget. Let’s see how no-code can help the tourism industry recover.
Tourism was one of the major sectors pre-pandemic and is expected to have the highest growth post-pandemic. With this major growth, many businesses have invested to optimize their systems even with the tech talent gap. With no-code, they were able to maximize their team as they go into recovery mode.
Apps developed for the travel and transportation industry usually have a long developmental phase that involves payment gateways, loyalty management processes, booking engines, reservation systems and regulating bodies such as the IATA, HFTP, HTNG, GSTC and local government authorities. By using no-code, businesses can speed up app development and achieve scalability, maintainability, and security.Here are some ways no-code is being used in tourism.
Christian Hjortkjae, Head of IT Asset and Service Management said that “We can only be efficient in executing our work if we have the right tools and processes”. That is why they created the service portal to accelerate the airport’s digital transformation.
Hoshino Resorts is the Japan-based international operator of ryokan or Japanese inns. It also developed its bridal business through Hotel Bleston Court, a real estate leasing business, and its food business. With no-code, they created a new payment system that optimized revenue collection and team productivity.
Not really no-code, but Virgin Atlantic tapped low-code to streamline processes and develop apps. These apps helped them manage their fleet better and avoid potential flight delays.
With no-code, it helped to fully streamline operations that helped the business automate. This helped the luxury travel company offer the very best in personal service using no-code.
Aside from this, no-code empowers businesses to even build their own digital travel agency which can tap more users to book directly with them and even customize some features. Using platforms like Bubble, AppyPie, and BuildFire, building these kinds of apps can be easy and you can launch much faster.
With the expected growth in the travel sector, UNWTO has seen the potential of tech travel startups in bringing it together.
Tourism startups can help potential customers customize and improve their vacation experience than what they remembered. Over the past years, there is a marked growth trend as the tourism sector continues its digitalization across its value chain. The top 5 startup travel services have been
With a much more digitized audience post-pandemic and the rise of no-code, we are seeing more entrepreneurs build new ideas and also legacy businesses to take the digitized step. Here are some of the travel trends that we will see more in the future.
Covid-19 is still present and safety is still a key issue. Guests should know that the transportation or accommodation has been sanitized, the staff is fully vaccinated and there are devices to ensure safety. According to a Statista March 2022 survey, 60% of respondents agreed technological advancements can make them feel safer when traveling.
In 2022, Travel Edge Network published a study on bleisure travel that detected an increase in interest for workations (vacations with elements of work and leisure) and bleisure trips by over 25 percent compared to recent years.
Sustainability is getting past a fad and something that the travel and tourism industry should embrace. Customers are looking for establishments that have sustainable amenities that will care for the community and nature/ Based on Booking.com’s 2022 Sustainable Travel Report, 71 percent of people worldwide want to travel more sustainably.
The travel industry is still behind pre-pandemic levels but the growing confidence of travelers provides an optimistic future.No-code development is making things exciting by allowing more travel-related businesses to tap technology. Travel tech is growing and no-code can help re-energize the industry. This can be a huge help especially to local mom-and-pop travel-related businesses to get a space in the digitized world and get direct businesses.
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