A guest blog by Rezdy.
It seems like social distancing and quarantining may slowly become a thing of the past with the vaccine rollout, and the world is gearing up for the post-COVID era. Most travel destinations are already seeing an influx of interested tourists ready to start living their lives to the fullest again. As a tour operator, you will want to take advantage of this pent-up demand for travel.
The best way to be ready for those travelers is to digitize your booking system. Consumers are more reliant on technology than ever before, and they have existed almost exclusively in a digital sphere since the pandemic began. Now, digital technology is no longer the exception or the way toward the future — it is simply necessary for daily life.
An online booking system is perhaps the single most valuable investment that you can make in your tour and activity company. These are a few of the benefits that you may realise when you focus on digitising your business:
You can streamline your operations
Even though digital has seemingly taken over our world, a shocking number of tour and activity operators are still using a variety of tools to complete their daily tasks. According to Arival’s The state of booking tech for multi-day tour operators, “only 53 percent of tour operators use a dedicated booking system to manage their business.” Many still rely on a combination of spreadsheet programs, e-mail booking requests and separate itinerary builders to handle their daily manifests and fill their tour buses each day.
If this sounds like how your office works, now is the perfect time to upgrade to a digital booking system that will streamline your operations. The right online booking system will provide you with everything that you need in one convenient place. For example, Rezdy allows you to accept bookings from your website and on mobile devices, send automatic emails, process secure payments and generate valuable reports that help you gain insight into your business operations.
You can reduce operating costs while boosting your bookings
When you digitise your business, you will begin to reduce your overhead costs significantly, as your staff can spend more time on customer interactions than on administrative work. In addition, the online booking system will help you attract more travelers across a variety of market segments, which will increase your bookings and generate more revenue for your business.
You can improve your customer experience
Travelers have now come to expect a digital experience, and they crave the convenience of mobile booking, instant confirmations and quick service. When you digitise your business, your customers will have a better first impression of your tour company — and that first impression will carry over to the experience that they enjoy once they arrive for their tour or activity.
Digitalisation in business has been a priority for years, but it quickly became more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a tour operator, you have had to connect with your customers in new and unique ways and adapt your business to adhere to pandemic regulations, restrictions and protocols. With the right digital booking system in place, you can be prepared for the recovery that lies ahead.
A few features that you may want to look for and consider as you digitise your business with an online booking system include:
- A Digital Waiver — A digital waiver will allow you to provide your customers with valuable information about any pandemic protocols or procedures that are in place and allow you to instantly collect those signatures before a customer begins their experience. Wherewolf is an intuitive digital waiver app that will work with the online booking system that you choose.
- A Marketplace — A digital marketplace will allow you to increase your reach in the industry and access market segments that you may not otherwise reach. The Rezdy Marketplace, for instance, connects you to more resellers than anyone else in the industry, allowing you to promote your packages and products to customers around the world.
You have just survived one of the most difficult challenges that the travel industry has faced in modern times, and you are on the brink of many exciting possibilities as more people head out to see the world again. Digitising your business may feel overwhelming at first, but many powerful tools can help. When you combine an online booking system like Rezdy with the intuitive Wherewolf digital waiver, you can instantly digitise your tour company, go paperless and be ready for the travelers that are on their way.