Digital Tourism – How to enhance your holidays and make significant savings
It may sound complex but Digital Tourism refers to ways digital technology can support your travelling experience, from using the internet to researching a trip to gaining inspiration for your next adventure to even helping you make an insurance claim once you’re home.
Tammy Hyndman is a Barclays Digital Eagle, part of a team of 12,000 who actively work to help people, customers and colleagues, to learn how digital technology can help them in their daily lives.
According to ABTA, the overseas travel market is a £54 billion business in the UK with over 40% of bookings last year being made online. Online travel agencies are now offering equal levels of protection than that of high street travel agencies, it’s time to explore the savings that can be made.
How much can really be saved?
To see how much can really be saved, Tammy Hyndman conducted a test to see if any savings could be made on her next holiday. On visiting her local high street travel agent she received a quote for a 3 night break in Rome from a local airport for 2 people. The quote was just short of £1000, in the eyes of Tammy, this seemed like a wonderful deal. After leaving the agent she heading into her local Barclays branch to use the free wifi to connect to her iPad to look online for similar deals with different online travel agencies. In less than 10 minutes, Tammy found the same hotel and flights with transfers through an ATOL bonded online travel agency for under £750, saving over a quarter of the high street price with the same level of protection. The most important piece of information to check is the industry recognised protection and that it is defined as a package holiday for insurance purposes. For the more cautious travellers, Tammy was able to find even cheaper deals when booking flights and hotels separately for only £600, nearly a 40% saving but sacrificing some insurance coverage.
There are many hotels and resorts to choose from so how can you find a substitute for the insight a travel agent provides? There are many apps and websites that allow travellers to share experiences, photos and rate hotels, restaurants, sights and excursions. The most popular of these is Trip Advisor, a free app and website visited by over 40 million people every month. It allows you to see how hotels compare to others in that area, and is even used by travel agents, it provides candid reviews from real travellers. You can also see popular and top rated activities to inspire you. Trip Advisor works on ratings but it is important to check how many reviews a hotel or attraction has, and if there are negative comments check how recent they are, to provide context.
How else can apps support my travels?
From travel guide apps that are interactive and guide you around your destination, language translation tools that do all the difficult pronunciation for you to being able to check in at the airport using your mobile phone or receiving and insurance payout via mobile payments there is a huge range of technology designed to support your travels. Barclays Travel Plan-it allows you to plan your travel, offers emergency support while you are away and keep all your travel documents together, making life away easy. There are even apps to send digital postcards, guaranteed to get back before you do! Just remember to check your overseas charges with your mobile phone provider before you travel.
Statements made in this article reflect only the views of their author and his views do not necessarily reflect those of Barclays. The Barclays trademark is owned by Barclays Bank PLC and is used under licence.
Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No. 122702).
Registered in England. Registered No. 1026167. Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. February 2014
Further information:
Alex Keeble, Digital Eagle
Mobile 07775547416
Email [email protected]
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