When your industry goes through a digital transformation, you can either be The Disrupter or be The Disrupted.
As the travel industry faces a potentially massive digital transformation, which will you be?
Broadly speaking, the term digital transformation describes the mass adoption of new technology that fundamentally changes the old norms. This new tech can lead to a disruption on the consumer side of things. For example, streaming replaces CDs and DVDs. Or this disruption may only be felt on the business side of things. For example, the average jogger didn’t notice when Nike moved to cloud-based accounting, but the company’s operations were forever changed.
What type of digital transformation are we talking about today? The multi-day tour industry has been notoriously resistant to change over the years, with a lot of people using the same tools that were popular in 2010. However, significant changes to the average travel customer’s buying behavior and expectations are poised to cause a major shift in the tools that travel agents and tour bookers use to serve them.
There are usually several warning signs or markers when an industry is about to be disrupted by digital transformation:
- The customer’s digital experience in other marketplaces is changing their expectations✔️
- Customers are starting to see “the old way” as inconvenient, slow, or unrewarding✔️
- A new business with the new tools could overtake an existing one in less than a year✔️
- Launching a new business with the old business model would almost certainly fail✔️
The multi-day tourism industry is at the precipice of this right now. Here are some of the factors that are speeding up this digital disruption right now, and how you can ensure you don’t get left behind.
The Mobile-Everything World
The odds are excellent that you’re reading this on a mobile device right now. If not, research predicts that you will pick up your phone at some point in the next 5 minutes.
Across most industries, in general, the average customer is more likely to pull the trigger on a purchase from their mobile device than a desktop computer. It’s been estimated that 56% of all online sales came from a mobile device in 2024.
However, the larger (meaning more expensive) the purchase, the more likely the shopper is to make the final purchase on a larger screen– and a trip or vacation would certainly fall into the category. However, there are signs that the buying habits of tourism customers are shifting:
- Only 4% of surveyed travelers booked trips using a mobile app in 2014
- That number doubled to 8% in 2015
- From 2019 to 2024, we’ve seen the number of mobile travel purchases go from 36% to almost 50% of all digital travel sales!
That means your digital experience needs to not just be mobile-compatible, it needs to be mobile-friendly. At the very least, your travel customers are going to start their research journey from a mobile device.
Know Your Mobile SEO
It’s also important to know that you need a strong mobile site to rank on Google right now!
Google switched to mobile-first indexing for the entire web back in 2020. That means that Google will look at your mobile site before it looks at your desktop site when determining how to rank it against your competitors.
Even though mobile screens are much smaller, you still need to make sure all your landing pages and blogs have plenty of content. Most importantly, you cannot “hide” content on your desktop site the way that a lot of companies attempted to prior to the mobile-first switch. If any content is on your desktop site without appearing on your mobile site, it won’t be indexed at all.
This means that, in Google’s eyes, it simply doesn’t exist.
The TikTok Generation Goes on Vacation
Gen Z has entered the chat. And they have entered the travel market in a big way.
This younger generation is now not just old enough to purchase their own trips and vacations, but they are also spending more money on their experiences than their older parents and grandparents:
- $11,766: The average Gen Z trip. This is an increase of nearly 40% from last year.
- $9,670: The average Millennial trip
- $10,680: The average Baby Boomer trip
These buyers are also looking for more authentic experiences than their parents, with more of a demand for “off the beaten path” locations or so-called detour destinations.
Influencers Actually Have Influence
And how are they finding their travel idea inspiration? You guessed it, pictures or reels on social media, particularly TikTok. We haven’t really reached the point where we’re seeing a notable amount of in-app purchases in the travel industry (unlike fashion and cosmetics), but the research journey is certainly starting there.
According to a report from Deloitte:
- More than 75% of all TikTok users (predominantly Gen Z and millennials) credit the app for influencing their recent travel purchases
- 35% Of US TikTok users traveled to a specific destination after they saw a video on the platform
- 45% of TikTok millennials traveled to a new destination due to the platform’s content
All of this data points to one thing: If you’re not marketing on TikTok right now, you will probably lose business to someone who is in 2025.
AI and Automation
The large travel companies are certainly leveraging AI more than the smaller players in this space, but they’re also running into big problems because of it. Some are even getting into big trouble.
In fact, in 2024, we saw Air Canada making headlines for the wrong reasons, as they were sued for bad advice given by one of their chatbots. The financial damage was minimal, as they only had to pay about $800.00, but the hit to their reputation is much harder to quantify.
Across all industries, the general public still doesn’t love using AI chatbots. Data shows that only about 16% of surveyed people use them on a regular basis. There also seems to be a major disconnect between how useful business leaders think their AI bots are right now, versus how the general public feels about them.
According to the Wall Street Journal, when asked “When do you think AI will improve how customers engage with businesses,” the responses were very telling:
- 49% of surveyed business leaders answered “Right now,” and only 2% said “Never”
- 33% of customers answered “Never,” and only 16% said “Right Now”
Mind the gap!
On the other hand, for small businesses and smaller multi-day bookers, the lack of AI chatbots is actually their competitive advantage. People coming to you want the exact opposite of a chatbot experience. They’re coming to you for your expertise in this area and they’re expecting a personalized experience.
For example, we recently blogged about how larger booking sites are underserving travelers with neurodivergent needs that need to be fulfilled. These travelers are looking for a human being to create a bespoke experience that they can’t get anywhere else.
Right now, humanity and personalization are competitive advantages.
The DEMAND for Personalized Services
Another major shift we’re seeing is the demand for personalized services in the travel sector.
In fact, Mastercard’s aptly titled report, The Power of Personalization in Travel: Going Beyond Digital, reveals that “90% of consumers expect organizations to know their interests and anticipate their needs.”
Meanwhile, data from Salesforce reveals that:
- 73% of customers across every sector will expect better personalization as technology advances
- Another 65% expect companies to adapt to their changing needs
- But sadly, 61% say they feel they’re treated like a number most of the time
This is one area where smaller travel agents and tour bookers can take a giant step forward with the help of technology.
Softrip can help you stop wasting time on menial tasks and invest more time in personalizing services for your clients.
“We have so many options from suppliers– So many specials, booking bonuses, discount codes, etc and we were getting to a point where our sales were overwhelming prior to Softrip. We haven’t yet found a scenario that we can’t make work.
– Cammie Akins, Vice President, Caradonna Adventures
