Critical Essay on Emerging, Transformative, and Disruptive Companies Influencing Consumer Behaviour

Introduction

The new methods of planning and booking tourist trips have been undergoing a rapid and constant transformation caused by uncontrolled technological growth. Search engines, reservation centres, travel recommender systems, travelbots, chatbots, social networks, big data measurement systems and many other automatic digital mechanisms, in addition to the wealth of information that we all have at our disposal, have created in each user the desire and possibility to independently create and book our trip.

This critical essay is focused on a set of cutting-edge technologies applicable to tourism companies, to create added value, differentiation, and profitability, by allowing them to be able to present higher levels of competitiveness and innovation based on sustainable growth. The studied elements presented in this chapter reveal themselves as opportunities for boosting reservations and stimulating improved experiences for consumers. At the same time, these technological tools seem to be creative and entrepreneurial solutions capable of simplifying procedures and significantly streamlining work methods in any tourism company. This critical essay focuses on an undepleted grounded discussion on transformative technologies map-heating & geo-fencing, beacons, teleporters, robotic telepresence, facial recognition, gadgets & wearables, travelbots & chatbots, big and small data, business intelligence, analytics & predictive intelligence, and mobile tourism.

If global trends reveal to us that tourist booking behaviour is unavoidably linked to digitalization and online channels, then tourism organizations must create their own digital identity and work mechanisms based on digital tools. According to Adobe Digital Insights (2022), 57% of tourist reservations are made online, so it is essential that any company in the sector takes care of its digital presence and makes its booking channels simple and accessible to its customers. In 2020 there were 3.6 billion smartphone users and in 2023 this number is expected to exceed 4.4 billion, as this market still has a large margin of growth, especially if we consider that the penetration rate is still low. below 70% in many regions of the world (Statista, 2021).

Digital identity is no longer just having a website and being present on social networks, as online competition is so high that today it is crucial for the company to present a clear strategic online positioning, digital content personalization, creative electronic dynamics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, data analysis, remarketing, webmarketing, among other digital tools and actions (Lu et al., 2021; Fennel, 2021; Barna & Semak, 2020; Chen et al., 2020). The time consumers spend online daily, the decisions they make based on recommendations from people they don't know, the digital word of mouth (e-WOM) is present and evermore important (Ismagilova et al., 2022; Akbari et al., 2022; Williams et al., 2019), and the personal and consumption data they share with companies are more than enough for tourism organizations to look at digitalization as the next market phase.

According to Google (2019), most travel bookings do not depend on the price, but on the feeling that a particular brand can satisfy, it's about customers' emotional or functional needs. Based on the current scenario of excess information dispersed over the internet, digital business tools must be focused on user satisfaction, providing all the necessary information, and making the reservation possible simply and quickly.

That being said, machine learning can help companies detect cybernauts' behaviour (Verma & Dewani, 2022; Aakash & Guptas, 2020), automatically analysing consumers' own online decisions and interactions in seconds (Lu & Xu, 2019), and tourism brands can appear at the right moments to influence and generate potential personalized interactions with consumers.