Hospitality
Digitization is the
process of converting analogue signals or information of any form into a
digital format that can be understood by computer systems or electronic
devices. This information can be accessed by anyone anywhere.
Like cancer, digitization
is spreading throughout every industry you can think of in Nigeria. In this
vigorous and rigorous digital march, the travel industry is not excluded as it
has also embraced digitization.
In spite of this, the
Nigerian travel market is piggybacking existing infrastructures put in place by
the government and telecommunication companies. For example, since the arrival
of smartphones, implementation of favourable government policies as well as
fall in internet prices, internet penetration in Nigeria has shot up. As at
2018, internet penetration is 51%.
Interestingly, this led to
the entry of an Online Travel Agency like Jumia Travel which has so far
revolutionised and democratised travel in Nigeria. Since then, many OTAs,
hotels, tour operators, resorts, hospitality spots and other stakeholders in
the Nigerian travel market have taken full advantage of digitization for
customer service/support and engagement, marketing, promotion and sales.
Before digitization, you
cannot book a hotel or flight online, you cannot get tangible information about
Nigerian destinations and of course, tour operators like Social Prefect, Irin
Ajo, Tour2Nigeria, Unravelling Nigeria, and TVP adventures among others will
never exist. In fact, Nigerians will never explore local destinations. The
perception that Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Istanbul are ultimate
destinations will not be jettisoned.
What is different today is
that digitization has undoubtedly made travel seamless. If you arrive at your
destination 1am and haven't made hotel reservations, you can easily book a room
in an amazing hotel within minutes at the best price on Jumia Travel.
Additionally, you can Google destinations or hotels in Nigeria and in seconds,
all the information is before you to make informed decisions. This has made
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) very essential for many eCommerce platforms.
Furthermore, social media,
a tool for driving customer support/ engagement, cannot be overlooked. OTAs,
travel agencies and hotels use it to interact with customers, resolve customer
complaints as well as promote hotels and packages. The conversion is really
encouraging.
While for tour operators,
they tap Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to push their tours. This has given
many young Nigerians the opportunity to provide much-needed publicity for
previously unknown destinations and make money at the same time.
From all this, reliable
and verifiable data can now be generated, deductions made and a Nigeria
hospitality and travel report can be developed.
Despite the positives of
digitization, there are still challenges. A key one is the possibility of
eCommerce organisations relying entirely on digitization or the online market
while ignoring offline. This is not good because there are still a whole lot of
Nigerians who are yet to join the digital craze. Hence, they need an offline
arrangement to take care of them.
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