CONVERGENCE V33 JAN - FEB 2016

Business
How Technology is
reShaping and Reinventing
The Travel Industry
It is nothing out of peculiar
to see people staring down at
their phone for hours, browsing
through sites and checking into
their respective social media platforms
every now and then. Given the mobility
and convenience of smartphones, tablets and
other portable devices have provided us, it is no
longer surprising to see more and more people
using their mobile devices to search for
sites on-the-go. This means that the rise
in mobile technology is fast shaping
the traveling industry. But, by
what means? Let’s find out!
It’s a smart, smart world
With everything made possible at the convenience
of a tap of a finger, smartphone is still preferentially
used by travellers to make necessary holiday
plans and bookings. Making searches through
your mobile phone can be done right at the
comfort of your home, when you are on-the-go
or while you have long periods of waiting time.
Sure, there are smartwatches such as the new
Apple Watch that are of potential market. But
given its low adoption rates by business and
leisure travellers, smartwatches are still subject
to an extended period of wait and see.
Pay on-the-go
Thanks to mobile payments,
you may no longer need to
carry a hefty amount of cash
around when travelling in the near
future. With payments now easily made
conveniently through Apple Pay, Google
Wallet, Samsung Pay and a host of other
providers, it is no wonder that this new technology
is gaining popularity. As more banks, credit card companies
and retailers are looking into getting onto the platform,
mobile payments may well very likely to become the
preferred choice of payments for business travellers.
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