Reaction paper-Virtual future

Reaction paper-Virtual future

Please think about everything you do on your smartphone? Do you sleep next to your phone? Do you think our entire lives are inside of them?

Skift´s report from 2017 tells about mobile use in tourism and the future of it. I chose this topic because it sounded interesting and on the one hand also familiar to me.

A snapshot from 2016

Five to six years ago, more than two thirds has a mobile phone and with more than half owning a smartphone. Today there is much more. In 2016 people around the world spent their phones for 86 minutes a day. People use more time of their phones than desktops. Do you think the time spent today is definitely more? New apps are being developed all the time and those are keeping people in front of the screen.

Smartphone and traveling

Customer expectations are higher than ever before and travel companies are facing threats and competion from beyond the industry. Traveling has changed a lot. About twenty years ago, trips were concretely booked by going to a travel agency. More people were needed at different stages of the journey. The tickets were paper tickets.

All you need is a phone

There is no more One-size-fits-all thing. People value personality, especially millenials and members of gen z. They have grown phones in their hands. Voice search, bots, in flight entertainment companion apps, wearables, ar and vr. Sound familiar right now. Today, airports and airlines also have their own applications. You can get a reminder the day before to last minute flight management.

The travel process today with mobile

Pre trip

1. First you plan your trip.
2. Search best fares & books.
3. Book flights, train tickets, hotels, tickets for sightseeing and transport to the airport.
4. Uppgrade your seat or add luggage
5. Mobile check-inn

On your way

1. Proceed to security,
2. You will receive information about your flight/trip.
3. Purchase in flight entertainment.
4. On the train you can order food at your place.

Destination

1. Baggage belt details
2. Check hotel location
3. Adjust fligh/return times

Post trip

1. Personalized trip/ feedpack

Virtual reality

Virtual reality enables users to be transported to a totally separate, “self-contained” digital world beyond the immediate physical world they´re actually located in. In 2016 Vr was still in its early stages and has yet to come to fruition in the mainstream travel space. I think the flight simulator is one of the older examples. During the covid-19 pandemic there has been a lot of talk about the possibilities of virtual reality. Lufthansa was one of the first airlines to emprace consumer facing VR technologies. Its Lufthansa VR app, available to IOS and Android users using a VR headset, offers 360 degree views of Lufthansa´s cabin classes, airplanes and potential travel destinations such as San francisco, New york, Miami, Tokyo, Hong  kong and Beijing. While the app can be used anywhere. Virtual reality sounds very interesting and certainly has a lot to offer. I wonder if it would sometimes be possible to travel to the moon or space virtually?

My learning

Althought the text was already quite familiar, new ones also came out. It is helpful to know how mobile  makes traveling easy. Especially when traveling with children, you want to make the trip as easy as possible. Before covid-19 i traveled a lot, now there has been a break and it feels like an eternity. I will be traveling to the Canary islands soon. The mobile process is familiar to me. At the end of the process i recommend always giving feedpack. Hotels want to know how you enjoyed your stay and how the service went at the airport, for example.

References

Mobile and the next wave of digital disruption: A look at the future of traveler experience. Skift report 2017.