IT is ironic that even as the travel industry has shed millions upon millions of jobs, one sector that has expanded and remains voracious for talent is on the tech side.
Almost all travel businesses have used the down-time of Covid to invest in their tech stack, whether consumer-facing or back-end operations.
And while jobs in marketing, communications, operations and customer service have been eliminated, tech teams have been bolstered across the world.
Speaking at the WiT Travel Roadshow, Episode 3, last week, Mieke de Schepper, executive vice president online travel and managing director Asia Pacific for Amadeus, said, “What we see is, a lot of OTAs are working on everything around rebuilding trust and confidence of travellers, and really focusing on how to create this frictionless travel journey.”
Mieke de Schepper revealed that not only are OTAs investing in tech, “they are also going where the talent is.”
Indeed, an Amadeus survey conducted among consumers in November 2020 had identified the three top technologies that would make them comfortable to travel again.
- Mobile applications that provide on-trip notifications and alerts (45%)
- Contactless mobile payments (e.g., Apple or Google Pay, Paypal, Venmo) (44%)
- Mobile boarding (e.g., having your boarding pass on your mobile phone) (43%)
But beyond the consumer-facing tech, de Schepper said OTAs were also investing in automation.
Read the full story here
