Is our Reality, Augmented?

Augmented reality (AR) allows the seamless overlay of computer graphics onto the real world to add more information enhance the perception of reality.The opportunity for the application of this software in the tourist industry are vast. Augmented reality technology, however, is revolutionizing the traveler’s experience by making the planning journey much more seamless, interactive, and simple. This technology makes it possible to layer digital enhancements over an existing reality or real life scenario.

Technology continues to change the way that tour and activity operators do business, and it’s important to always stay one step ahead of the game such as Travelomatix. Travelomatix is an award-winning travel technology platform, enabling the travel agencies, tour operators and holiday companies to leverage the key benefits of OTA platform. Travelomatix as a brand, is identified by improved ROI for customers while leveraging using the "travelomatix technology" and superb client servicing, leading to customer retention and customer base expansion.

http://travelomatix.com/

Augmented Reality for Tourism has tremendous potential to take your experience to the next level. Digital content like 3D animations, video, audio, images, charts, signals & indicators etc. can superimposed on devices. Based on a specific set of parameters like time, location, person and fiducial (trigger), a cloud based infrastructure etc.
Augmented Reality Tourism Apps can generate relevant content to handheld devices. Augmented reality is where the real future Travel Technology lies. Travel industry trends are always changing as technology drives new opportunities. This can give rise to new business ideas and create new revenue streams for Travel Technology companies. The global travel industry, and the way in which consumers experience it, is changing so dramatically that it requires a fundamental change to the way in which travel is sold and how the traveler is served.

The tourism industry is all about selling the experience of travel. Hotel operators want their guests to feel welcome and at home. Restaurants want to attract travelers who are interested in experiencing a new culture or flavor. Tour and activity operators want to offer unique experiences that can’t be had in any parts of the world. In this regard, virtual reality and augmented reality has the opportunity to change the entire game. This technology allows travelers to experience a particular place or activity prior to ever making their booking. They can decide for themselves, with nearly utmost certainty, if that option is the best choice for their upcoming trip.

Tour and activity operators can consider using augmented reality in the following ways:

• Offer virtual tours of the places that you visit and the things that you do on your tours and activities. Give people a chance to preview the experience they are about to book.
  
  
• Offer navigational tools that help people get around their chosen destination. This can be an added resource that helps you develop a reputation as a local guide rather than just a tour company.

• Offer augmented-reality apps that can provide translation services for your international travelers. This can help everyone feel comfortable and confident while on one of your tours.

4 Things the new age Travel Agents should do differently.

Travel Agents and Agencies must be used to spotting trends. It's a natural part of the trade in an industry that changes globally. What was successful one year might not work as well in the next one.Technology has led to exponential advancements in all spheres of life, travel included. It's shaping the way we want to travel, how travel agencies interact with us and the places we want to go to. Here are some of the things Travel Agents must do in order to keep up to the trends:

Engage in Social Media

The revolution of Social Media led to many changes in how every industry does marketing. From exploring destinations to booking trips and sharing journeys, social media activities have become integral to today’s digital travelers. 73% of people acquire vacation ideas from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In fact, more than half of people say Twitter helped them in considering travel brands. Social media is the perfect place to know the likes of your Clients, Engage them and influence their buying patterns.

Use good technology
Utilising the best technology can improve the efficiency of a travel business as well as create a more enjoyable user experience for customers. A robust content management system such as Travelomatix, an award-winning Travel Technology can help streamline workflow, taking the focus off the operational side of running a travel agent and allowing staff to focus more time on the customers.

Travelomatix is an award winning travel technology platform, enabling the travel agencies, tour operators and holiday companies to leverage the key benefits of OTA platform. Travelomatix as a brand, is identified by improved ROI for customers while leveraging using the "travelomatix technology" and superb client servicing, leading to customer retention and customer base expansion.
http://travelomatix.com/

Travel Booking Software

Root for Millennials
Millennials are set to become the largest spending demographic in the travel industry by 2020, it makes sense that travel agents ought to make sure they are rooting for them. Tailoring your website so that it offers a seamless experience will help keep Millennial visitors on your pages. Ensuring your site is optimised for mobile, your marketing strategy is focused on personalisation and user-generated content is utilised on your social platforms are just another few ways to target this lucrative demographic.

Be transparent
The Internet has developed very informed travellers, ones who can research everything they need to know and the industry has become a lot more transparent. Travel agents should accept this, using their skills to help customers navigate the information they have uncovered as a way of building trust. It's relationships that customers value if they are treading on unfamiliar ground and it's good relationships that will keep those customers loyal in the future.

Boost your Travel Agency with Travelomatix web portal Development

For numerous tours & travel service agencies like car rentals, airlines and hotels, a developed travel portal is a great tool to manage their day to day operations. A good travel portal company like Travelomatix offers travel suppliers an intended potential to improve the convenience of traveling and expanding customer service opportunities.Travelomatix is an award winning travel technology platform, enabling the travel agencies, tour operators and holiday companies to leverage the key benefits of OTA platform. Travelomatix as a brand, is identified by improved ROI for customers while leveraging using the "travelomatix technology" and superb client servicing, leading to customer retention and customer base expansion.

View Travelomatix: http://travelomatix.com/

Travel Booking Software

An integrated Travel Portal Solution is the best for various entities such as:

• Travel suppliers
• Online and offline travel agencies
• Hotels
• Airlines
• Ticket booking counters
• Independent Travel Agents
• Travel Aggregators

These travel portals are some of the very innovative applications useful for travel service providers of all sizes and strength. A significant number of travelers started using online mode of booking for their travel tickets and hotel facilities.

Globalization has become the most decisive factor for the companies and left them with no other option but to develop their ways of service offerings loud and clear. In recent years, the travel industry has visualized significant changes and impulsive shift in customer expectations. A number of credentials have become more important such as cost reduction, service efficiency and scalability during the operations.This is the key advantage of the automation of your travel business.
Only an automated travel solution using Custom Web Portal Development can help to invite, retain and pursue more customers together. It was an incessant demand of travel agencies to develop an application that may help them to interact with their customers and potential buyers. For the agencies that book hotels, need to get in touch with the customers prior the purchase, during the stay and after they leave the hotel. An innovative custom web development architecture for the solution offers several methods to the agencies to let them interact with the consumers.

Mobile Marketing for your Travel Agency powered by Travelomatix

Smartphones are playing a key role in the travel consumer journey. Research shows that 40% of travel site visits come from mobile. SMS might seem outdated but it does provide penetration, at a low cost to your agency or tour company. 96% of SMS messages are read and most of them are read in the first 3 minutes from sending.

To flourish in today’s travel industry, travel agents must embrace the mobile marketing revolution and put it to good use. Smartphone usage in the has been increasing day by day. Smartphone activities include reading the news, making reservations, shopping, social interaction, and entertainment. Everything is mobile. Each of those smartphone-related activities can be accomplished at home or on the run. In terms of the travel industry, mobile devices can now display all scheduling options, reservation confirmations, online booking, and even serve as e-tickets at many airports.

A few companies provide marketing services to your Travel Agency such as Travelomatix. Travelomatix is an award-winning travel technology platform, enabling the travel agencies, tour operators and holiday companies to leverage the key benefits of OTA platform. Travelomatix as a brand, is identified by improved ROI for customers while leveraging using the "Travelomatix technology" and superb client servicing, leading to customer retention and customer base expansion.

View Travelomatix: http://travelomatix.com/

Today’s travelers will most likely use a mobile device to search for travel agency help. This traveler may be checking websites, social media comments, and apps that can provide them information and recommendations regarding excellent service travel agents. A well-designed, interactive web page is a good start, but you need to stretch your marketing resources farther, building a social media presence that integrates across computer and mobile devices.

Your mobile marketing outreach may include text messaging, location-based social media, quick response (QR) codes and “agency-branded” apps that link your clients to their travel accounts to check on delays, cancellations, make changes, and communicate with you.

Mobile tools for agents’ use are important, too. Apps for travel agents like the Travel port Mobile Agent work on iPhone, iTouch, iPad, and Android mobile devices to give agents quick and complete access to GDS content (tap the app and sign into the GDS account).

The impact of mobile on the travel industry is felt not only in the increased speed and convenience of accessing vital travel information; it also is being felt in amazing interactive applications like augmented reality, gamification, and in-transit access to entertainment systems that make travelling more fully experiential and enriching.

To make the most of mobile marketing, the travel agent must determine which services to emphasize in a marketing campaign and begin developing mobility connections that will provide the greatest services to their client base.

Mobile technology takes “full service” to new levels, from quick flights booking to travel enrichment applications. Clients want fast access across the mobile technology spectrum to all the information pertinent to their travel from e-ticketing to arrival/departure updates, travel advisories, and fast and easy check-in capabilities.

Help clients easily find and work with you – via mobile technology.

Traveler Touch Points in the Travel Industry

Touch points is any encounter between the customers and the Travel Agency or Agent where customers and business engage to exchange information, provide service, or handle transactions.

Travelomatix is an award-winning travel technology platform, enabling the travel agencies, tour operators and holiday companies to leverage the key benefits of OTA platform. Travelomatix as a brand, is identified by improved ROI for customers while leveraging using the "Travelomatix technology" and superb client servicing, leading to customer retention and customer base expansion.

http://www.travelomatix.com

The Travel Agency should capitalize the marketing Strategy on customer “touch points”

These are the moments that shape you thinking and the moments when decisions are made. The touch point Stages and moments in the Travel domain are:

1. Dreaming - The stage where travelers are thrilled or motivated by any information which leads them to wanting to have a dream vacation.
2. Planning - When the customer wants takes the first step to execute what they want to.
3. Booking - This step is very important for Travel Agents as the plan is executed here.
4. Experiencing - A good experience always makes them come back to you.

Understanding that these are critical moments in the customer journey will help you to be present when your customer needs you to be.

A Guide to Email Marketing for a Travel Agency Powered by Travelomatix

Your email database is one of the most important assets. Encourage your offline database to subscribe to your email newsletter and then put in place a strategy to start communicating with them effectively. A good newsletter will drive traffic to your site, encourage social shares, and generate leads.

A few companies provide marketing services to your Travel Agency such as Travelomatix.

Travelomatix is an award-winning travel technology platform, enabling the travel agencies, tour operators and holiday companies to leverage the key benefits of OTA platform. Travelomatix as a brand, is identified by improved ROI for customers while leveraging using the "Travelomatix technology" and superb client servicing, leading to customer retention and customer base expansion.
http://travelomatix.com/

If you’re current email newsletter design isn’t responsive, then you should build a new one. Think about how often you plan to send emails and what kind of content you will include. Most providers will allow you to segment database so that every reader is receiving content relevant to them. Work your database at every chance. Remember that these are the customers who have opted to hear from you, so make every email count.

There are 3 important things to keep in mind when it comes to Email Marketing:

1.Subject lines
Using some very simple guidelines laid out in the post email subject lines best practice - personalization, relevance, good length, originality and variation. Make your Email stand out. It proves that relevancy to content and uniqueness is imperative to proper symbol use.

2.Content
The content has to be relevant and interesting to the reader. Also, the aim here is to ensure that the reader doesn’t unsubscribe to your emails. Your content has to be informative and useful too.
Continuity between the subject line and content is also very important.

3.Frequency
Frequency is very important as you should figure what the most appropriate frequency is.

Travel Agencies need to strike a fine balance between remaining in a recipient’s consciousness and relevant to their customers without overwhelming them or coming across as spam. It’s a difficult line to straddle.
This could certainly be more strategic, with emails specifically capturing the attention of someone who might like a last-minute weekend trip to somewhere a few hours away.

Sharing Economy and Travel Industry

Travel and tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing global service industries.

The growth in travel expenditure was driven by changing lifestyles and higher disposable incomes. The Sharing Economy is a socio-economic ecosystem based on sharing human, physical and intellectual resources. It includes the shared creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services by different people and organizations.

Travelomatix is an award winning travel technology platform, enabling the travel agencies, tour operators and holiday companies to leverage the key benefits of OTA platform. Travelomatix as a brand, is identified by improved ROI for customers while leveraging using the "travelomatix technology" and superb client servicing, leading to customer retention and customer base expansion.

http://travelomatix.com/

The development of the internet and, as a consequence, the creation of online platforms
has made sharing easier than ever.Sharing Economy provides easy access to a wide range of services that are of higher quality and more affordable than those provided by traditional business counterparts.

Sharing economy is re-connecting modern humanity, providing income to those without jobs (even in developing countries), and is changing the face of travel as we know it. Also known as the collaborative economy, the sharing economy emerges from the idea that people can save and/or earn money by renting, lending, selling, or exchanging unused or underused items/services.

5 Steps to increase the sales of your Travel Company powered by Travelomatix

Increasing sales of your Travel company requires a through Marketing and Sales Strategy and is a process. Here are some tips of how to increase sale in a travel agency or a tour operator business.
Travelomatix Features – http://www.travelomatix.com/top-features.html

Travel Booking Portal

1. Have a unique offering

Be unique and listen to your customers. Take feedback and inputs from your customers and work on improving. Offer a service or a customization that they can't find anywhere else.

2. Have an Integrated software

It helps to be tied up with Global Distribution Systems. Providing your customers with a complete easy and safe is a good way to be competitive is having the best possible rates on a worldwide range of high quality transfer services, car rentals, attraction tickets and excursions.

3. Partner Programs

The best way to reach out to more people and increase your sales is by having business relationships with partners. Business partners can help you reach new markets, new customers, get new ideas and so many more! Design a program that will create a value for your business as well as the Partners.

4. Offer a value added service

The best way to increase your revenue per customer is by adding a complementary offer to the experience like a complimentary lunch or a dinner. Know what your customers want and give them. Combine different products into a unique experience. For example, create a package and try to offer a better price by combining hotel, flight and activity. Value added services will satisfy your customers and make them come back to you.

5.Social Media

It is very important for you to have social media presence. From exploring destinations to booking trips and sharing journeys, social media activities have become integral to today’s digital travelers. 73% of people acquire vacation ideas from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Social media helps us create a brand, understand your customer needs and helps the growth of your business in many ways.

Travelling with Technology

Often unsure of what is actually needed, people end up carrying a lot more gadgets and technology than they should. Here are a few things you actually need.

View the best Travel Booking Software: http://travelomatix.com/

Smart Phone

Though this is an obvious option. A smart phone will generally meet all your requirements during your travel. They can translate speech, signage, convert currencies, and the list goes on. You could also use your cellular card if you have international roaming or you could get a local cellular card and use it. Irrespective of the cellular card you can stay connected using your wifi on your smartphone. Make sure you install useful travel applications on your smartphones for your travel.

The smartphones also come handy when you want to click an instant selfie or capture something wonderful you see on your travel.

Talking about selfies, we can't miss Selfie Sticks. The Selfie Sticks help you with some awesome photography by fitting in yourself and your background perfectly in a frame.

Laptops

Many people are able to travel the world using just a smartphone or an iPad for their source of internet. Especially if you’re travelling for work laptop is a must. Even for leisure travel, laptop can come handy for you if have to co-ordinate for some work. This happens sometimes though you're on a vacation. Also, you could watch movies and play music if you’re in a budget hotel or an outdoor camp. It is important that the laptop is small, lightweight and compact

E Reader

For the love of reading, carry an E reader. Long flights, waiting at the airport and long queues at the immigration. There is a lot of waiting during travel where reading can help you kill time. Also, if you’re a voracious reader this is a must. Let me sum it up for you by stating three reasons to carry an e reader:

1. You save space rather than carrying many people. You can download as many books you want on an e reader.
2. E power consume very less power. You can go on for days without charging it.
3. They are lightweight and perfect for travel.

TabletsIf you’re not a laptop person, it's okay. Tablets are faster,lighter, useful and they’re cheaper too. For entertainment, web browsing, photo and video storage and most other travel tasks, a tablet is a good choice. You can do almost anything on a tablet and it is the most recommended gadget to carry. With a tablet, you have a smartphone, a laptop and an e Reader.

Camera

Think about all the times you travel, whether it’s for business or leisure. Maybe you’re going home to reconnect with the friends and family.
In any event, chances are high that you’d like pictures to commemorate the occasion. There’s an equal chance that you instinctively reach for your smartphone anytime you feel a photo-op coming on. But is it really the best option to gather your friends and family to smile at an object you use to take trivial selfies and candid photos of people sleeping on the subway? It’s time to think about a getting a camera made for travelers.

The size, weight and the ability to take quality photos is what initially drew us to this camera. When travelling, having items in your backpack that weigh very little is a high priority.

Drones

Drones are changing the game for artistic photography and videography. With the latest products offering the best features like 4K HD technology, you can now get amazing aerial shots of your travels or take photos on angles that are not possible with a regular camera or smartphone. If you are a photography enthusiast, this would make your travel more exciting.

Before taking your drone abroad, make sure to read up on the latest (ever-evolving) local laws regarding possession and usage. Because drone technology is so new and law enforcement around the world have growing concerns with issues of surveillance and aviation safety, the rules continue to change. Taking necessary precaution might mean leaving your drone at home or simply applying for permission ahead of time will save you the stress of handing over your equipment at customs.

Headphones

A nice pair of headphones or earbuds is a great travel accessory. Having music really helps make flights more enjoyable. Noise cancellation headphones enchant you with wonderful sound, everywhere: in planes, trains, busses, waiting hall as these places tend to be noisy, your travel headphones should be able to attenuate outside noise effectively.

Portable Hard Drives

We have thousands of photos and videos from our numerous trips around the world. Rather than jam-packing our laptops with these files or trying to upload them to the Cloud or a drop box with slow internet, carry external hard drives. Not only are these hard drives useful for storage and backup of our precious memories, but you can also carry movies, tv shows, documentaries and music albums.

Plug Adapters

Plug adapters are just the metal plug ends that let your home country’s plugs fit the foreign plugs. There are quite a few multi-adapters that have 4 or 5 country’s plugs all on one unit. This will help you charge your smartphones, Laptops, tablets, Cameras and all the electronics you carry conveniently.

These are some of the useful Gadgets to carry during travel. Figure what are most convenient and appropriate for you and carry them for a better travel experience.