The travel and tour industry is experiencing remarkable changes over the years. In the past, almost all hotel inventories were controlled and dominated by local destination management companies. But as technology continued to drive forward and the use of the internet has become highly relevant to people's everyday life, the rise of Online Travel Agencies (OTA) has changed the landscape of tourism: the internet has become the ultimate medium of distribution.

The tour operators and DMCs facing the shifting trend

In reality, travelers get better deals by booking directly from hotels or even from tour operators and DMCs. But OTAs have a way of enticing customers by providing only the cheapest offers on their website, leaving hidden charges out of the picture (in most cases). Having more and more people favoring this medium for booking, OTAs have gained an impressive financial capability to invest more on technology making them grow stronger each day. This major shift towards OTAs has definitely put a lot of pressure to tour operators and DMCs who are being left behind in the race.

As of today, tour operators/DMCs still employ contracting power with suppliers such as hotels, but the OTAs have full control on the last minute inventory – fees and discounts published on their sites can quickly change as needed. This puts companies with non-automated systems at great risk. Having no mechanism to access updated inventories, tour operators and DMCs will remain unaware of any discounts and pertinent information; thus making them unable to compete with the changing prices online being offered by booking sites. 

Staying ahead of the game

Global Innovations, a travel technology company in Dubai, understands this digital evolution and the changing trends within the tourism trade that it aims to create a balance by finding affordable solutions to make tour operators and DMCs become advanced and competitive. These solutions include Extranet and XML integration (either directly with the hotel system or through channel managers) which will allow the DMCs in accessing dynamic inventories as well as give their suppliers online access for easy management of products and other information within the system. Automating the system is the answer in order to survive in the technology-driven market.

As an IT solutions provider, Global Innovations always makes it a point to come up with products that are pro-user: easy to manage, responsive and adaptable to the ever changing demands of the tourism trade. The company has created solutions for the distribution needs of the industry and now offering modules for the procurement aspect of the business. “Automating the system is the biggest step any tour operators or DMCs should take right this moment in order to adapt, evolve, compete and stay ahead of the game despite the changing tourism trends.” commented Kabir Ali Baig, CEO of Global Innovations.