The rise of big data through the use of mobile and social engines has transformed the internet, prompting operators in the tourism industry to increasingly take advantage of the trend to transform their businesses and better understand the needs of their customers, China Business News reports.
Big data allows companies in the travel and tourism industry to extract value from large volumes of information. The key is the system these companies implement to acquire business value from it, the report said.
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Huang Rong, the founder of an online business to business (B2B) travel portal for booking online tickets, recently set up a travel agency incorporating big data into the concept of smart travel, which allows online payment, data management, and socialized marketing through mobile devices, according to the report.
Some travel agents, such as Ctrip.com and LY.com, have commenced their attempts at gathering big data and developing smart tourism and travel.
Lan Meiling, a director at Ctrip.com, said that the company will be privy to the online booking information used by customers, including their travel destinations, hotels, and visits to scenic sites, after data collection. These figures allow up- to down-stream chains in the industry to predict the number of customers they will serve.
In addition, Ctrip's big data system can keep records of travel destinations visited by tourists who used the search engines to organize their itinerary.
The system will provide Ctrip with information regarding the customers' preferences, consumption habits, travel behaviors, and even their dietary habits, allowing the company to implement precise marketing strategies, according to Lan.
Lan shared that the use of precision marketing, which uses location-based mobile services and big data analytics to gather insights on consumers, is on the rise. He added that this trend would help companies earn more profit by precisely targeting potential customers.
In the face of fierce competition and a complex economic environment, Ctrip needs to improve its understanding of customers' needs and to market its portal every day using the vast amount of business data collected, while also tapping into the commercial value of the data, a Ctrip source said.
Source: Want China Times
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