Guest Post: The future of sustainable travel starts with the Cloud

Vasiliy Malinov, vice president of travel and hospitality practice at DataArt, says using cloud-based solutions helps travel businesses optimise their core operations to serve customers and efficiently provide a long-term cost advantage

Since the easing of pandemic restrictions, the travel and hospitality industries have started to experience a steady rebound. 

In 2021, the global travel and tourism direct contribution to GDP was approximately US $5.8 billion. In 2023, revenue in the travel and tourism market is projected to reach US $854.80bn, resulting in a market volume of US $1,016.00bn by 2027.

These figures prove that the industry is reviving, and many travel leaders are now looking for new ways to improve customer experience and operational efficiency. And despite the scale of the disruption caused by the pandemic, many travel companies have already made major steps in embracing digital transformation to innovate how they plan, manage, and operate their businesses.

The evolution of travel and hospitality

By focusing on elevating and enhancing automation, personalisation and sustainability, companies could reshape themselves for the better on the way out of a once-in-a-generation crisis.

The use of cloud-based solutions helps travel businesses optimise their core operations to serve customers and provide a long-term cost advantage efficiently. 

The cloud has the potential to assist travel and hospitality businesses of all sizes and segments on a global scale in terms of digital product development, data management and analytics. 

Automation

The resurgence of the travel industry created a perfect storm. Newly increased demand converged with a vast number of unused tickets and flexible change policies, increasing the operational pressure on travel agencies and clogging most of the traditional customer service channels. This, in turn, has driven the demand for more automation and self-service capabilities.

Personalisation

Related is the theme of retailing and personalisation. Collecting and using first-party data to identify trends early or to share a relevant offer with the customer has been an area of interest for travel companies for years. 

What changed recently is how accessible and robust AI/ML technologies have become, helping more travel companies to use them.

Sustainability

The travel and hospitality industries need to act to address climate change. We already see solutions for improved target reporting, more accessible access to sustainability information, and recommendation engines highlighting and promoting sustainable choices. 

We will see more of those in the coming years.

Still, most travel leaders view the cloud in terms of cost reduction, which is understandable. However, the value of the cloud is much more profound. 

Legacy technology persists in travel. To unlock the business value behind automation and personalisation, and to build with sustainability in mind, those legacy systems must be modernised and re-engineered.

Systems require change, and the organisations that build those systems must change, along with how they approach and accomplish the work.