The world is changing with new inventions, and at a time when almost everything can be achieved by the black mirror in your hands, it is important to know the effects that technology has on our lives and how best to optimise it. As humans we have always been a curious species, which has led us to exploration and has built the world as we know it today. Travelling, like everything else, is not unaffected by developments in technology. In some ways, it's even changing the ways that people think in regards to their vacations. With access to the internet and therefore access to unlimited information, the market has changed and adapted.
Travel agencies are having to fight with price comparison websites and a whole plethora of online content. While the business is still alive due to their in depth knowledge and unfathomable amount of experience, other businesses are starting to crumple.
When you go to book a hotel, you don't look up a list of hotels and call them up individually anymore - people tend to log on to Trivago or some form of comparison website which provides information such as vacancies, prices, maps and even suggestions on what to see in the cities. These websites, while providing customers, will take a share of the profit in order to exist, which some hotel owners are struggling to claw back.
Likewise, when one turns up in a new location, while they can ask the reception staff at the hostel or hotel for recommendations on attractions and restaurants, they can also ask Google, which will generate a list of everything worthwhile in the area, and rather a lot more. The way that it refines this infinite list down is on a ranking based system, rated by the customers in terms of their services and the experience they received. While this is effective, it's not entirely accurate as one customer's bad day can essentially run a business into the ground as people take these lists very seriously.
To get the restaurant you can book an uber or a taxi from your smartphone, instead of calling a local company through the hotel. When you're at the lookouts, you will take a photo on your smartphone and post it immediately on Instagram, instead of saving up all your camera film rolls and excitedly running to the developer to see the results a few weeks later. You can book your flight on your smartphone or tablet, check in on the same device as you travel to the airport, and then even have your boarding pass ready on your screen as you head straight for security, probably while trying to connect to the wifi systems in the airport to book your hotel and to decide what you want to see.
While this is fantastic news for the customer, who not only receives a large amount of useful information and tips while travelling but contributes towards them, it can be bad for businesses. It is important to adapt and change with technology to ensure the continuation of you business in such a competitive market. While transparency is a good thing, some people can take it too far and do everything possible to drive customers to your competitors.