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The travel and tourism sectors are one of the world’s largest industries, accounting for over 10 percent of the global GDP (Gross Domestic Product)*. With approximately 5,000 flight carriers operating in the world, airlines need to invest in innovative solutions such as web scraping airline data to gain a competitive advantage in a saturated industry.
During the unprecedented pandemic in 2020, tourism across the world came to a standstill. It was by far one of the biggest shocks to the industry in recent times that resulted in severe losses. Once restrictions were eased globally, travel picked up at an accelerated pace as people were eager to take to the skies after months of being grounded.
The worldwide travel and tourism revenue is projected to to reach $716.8 billion in 2022. This is a $225.4 billion increase in revenue since 2021 and a $370.5 billion increase since 2020. The numbers are only expected to climb in the upcoming years with a projection of 73 percent of the total revenue to be generated through online sales by 2026.
To operate in such a booming industry, organizations must explore every available option to capitalize on this demand. This means upgrading their existing platforms and adopting technologies such as web scraping to increase market penetration.
Competition in the Travel and Tourism Industry
In recent years, the aviation sector has seen an increase in the number of players in the market. Higher competition means that airlines must stay competitive in their prices while providing a seamless service to their customers. As traveling – international or domestic can be a stressful event for most, a pleasant experience from the time a person browses for tickets can play a major role in the individual’s choice of an airline.
Customer retention isn’t a simple process when compared to other industries as there are several variable factors to consider that are constantly changing. This is one of the scenarios wherein web scraping airline data can be enormously beneficial. It helps understand the aviation market conditions, create personalized offers, and monitor price variations for similar flights by other airlines.
The buck doesn’t stop there. Most leading airline companies provide travelers with an added option to book their stay at their destination by offering better deals. In some instances, the price can be higher than booking directly on the hotel website, but the hassle-free experience is a key selling point for most individuals. This full-fledged package provided by airlines at a heightened level – enriched with the right data, can quickly become the customer’s first preference to travel.
Web Scraping Airline Data
The onset of an economy with high inflation rates completely alters consumer behavior. As customers have reduced disposable income to splurge on shopping, they look for sales, offers, and promotions to maximize their spending. This also affects their travel behavior and how they purchase airline tickets as in tough times, every penny counts.
Price Variations
Flight ticket rates are dependent on the date, seats available, type of journey – one-way or round trip, and seasonal dependencies such as holidays, and peak travel periods. Web scraping this information allows airlines visibility to flight data, ticket prices, and destination hot spots by analyzing the frequency of flights to a certain location.
A very important aspect of staying competitive for airlines is having access to such data to analyze fluctuating flight prices. By assessing the market conditions and other flight carriers’ strategies for pricing, the airline can use that data to definitively shape its pricing model.
Anticipate Business
Web scraping can also help all the verticals in the travel and tourism industries to identify peak seasons. These insights provide a historical depiction of high-traffic and low-traffic periods – hotel reservations, flights per season, and successful itineraries – which allows companies to tailor their business model and accommodate these variations.
Benchmarking
Another important and useful use case for hotels and airlines is to regularly benchmark themselves with their competition. Operating in a saturated industry requires consistent effort to maintain high standards and ensure customer satisfaction. Access to data for companies in this sector can be priceless to help understand where they stand in comparison to their peers – income and profits, identify top players, discover growth opportunities, and most importantly, analyze their market share.
Enhanced Marketing
Web scraping can also keep tabs on customer feelings by performing sentiment analysis. This information helps to weed out any pain points the person experiences while interacting with the brand and provides a clearer picture of what could be better. Airlines that utilize scraping to learn about their clients can improve their offerings, tailor marketing strategies, and build a loyal customer base.
Final Thoughts
Businesses in the travel and tourism industries stand a lot to gain from adopting a web scraping tool. The benefits of using such a platform will pay off in dividends when the data obtained is used to refine existing processes and provide an enhanced customer experience.
For an industry that is an overtly customer-facing operation, the value of a customer’s loyalty is unparalleled – especially in a tough economy. Smart businesses that understand the importance of web scraping and its numerous advantages can compete in any market and come out on top.
To know more about our web scraping and how it can be of added value to your organization, please get in touch with sales@promptcloud.com
