It is World Tourism Day again! The theme of this year's celebration is 'Digital Transformation and Tourism. To celebrate World Tourism Day, Jumia's hotel and flight services, take a close look at the various ways digitalisation has transformed the tourism and travel industry.

Hotel Management Software for confirming bookings

Today, there is now hotel management software that can be used to confirm bookings and availability of rooms. This has made the job of travel advisors easier as they can now automatically know if a particular hotel is full or not and at the same time they do not have to keep calling the hotels to confirm bookings.

Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots

The evolution of the travel and tourism industry has been remarkable. Initially, people couldn’t book flights on the Internet. Then came online travel agents. Today, travellers can do anything from asking smartphone if the flight is on time to have their queries answered by a chatbot. This is made possible by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Travel service providers can provide all the information via AI-powered apps and technology.

Booking flight and hotels are now seamless

Jumia's hotel and flight services has taken advantage of digitalisation to bring over 9,000 hotels from across Nigeria to enable travellers to book these hotels. So, whether you are in Dawakin Tofa in Kano state or Victoria Island in Lagos state, you can book your hotel at any time you so desire. You are just one click away.

The rise of social media tour operators

Tour operators like Social Prefect, Irin Ajo, Tour2Nigeria and TVP adventures among others have taken advantage of social media to promote tours, thus encouraging Nigerians to travel within and outside the country. Jumia's hotel and flight services has partnered with some of these tour operators to push their tours thus gaining more traction.

Integration of Internet of Things(IoT)

The Internet has played a pivotal role in the transformation of the travel sector over the last decade, creating new businesses around everything from sharing economy to mobile apps. However, more dramatic transformation looms on the horizon: The Internet of Things (IoT). IoT’s rapid digitalisation of machines or physical things as smart connected devices is significantly impacting service offerings, business models, and traveller expectations. As more and more devices get connected to the IoT, the travel and hospitality sectors can harness this data to improve customer experience significantly. Through IoT devices, the opportunities for better customer service are endless.

I've come across this write up multiple times in the past. I will read it again to refresh my memory. When done I will add one or two more points.