Tourism sector modernizes to accompany digital customer

Tourism companies are taking advantage of the pandemic’s lifting of restrictions to accelerate the digitization of their sales channels.

For Marcus Borges, CEO of Paytour, an online reservations manager, people are looking to save time in any digital service. “In tourism it’s the same thing: it’s taking this convenience to the customer so you can become competitive”, he says.

Along these lines, travel agencies and airlines seek to customize their websites and applications, based on artificial intelligence. Users receive, for example, notifications of personalized offers, according to their profiles in the companies’ database.

The consolidation of digital sales, on the other hand, occurs in the wake of the economic crisis in tourism, motivated by the pandemic. At the end of June, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security opened proceedings against CVC, Decolar.com, 123 Milhas, MaxMilhas and ViajaNet for consumer complaints about the provision of services throughout 2020 and 2021.

In a statement, CVC said that it was not notified about the process, but that it “values ​​the respect and transparency” of its customers. Decolar, ViajaNet and MaxMilhas also stated that they have not yet had access to the document. 123 Miles did not respond to questions from the Sheet.

Travel agency

Brand invests to unify data from physical stores and website

CVC and 123 Milhas are the best travel agencies on the internet, according to a Datafolha survey. Companies were cited by 10% and 9% of respondents, respectively.

This year, CVC plans to invest R$150 million and most of this budget will go to the technology sector. With more than 1,200 franchises, the agency intends to unify the consumer databases of physical stores and its website.

“Today, a customer can watch an ad on TV and chat with the store via WhatsApp. Likewise, he can decide whether to start the service through the website or if he wants the support of a physical store”, explains Nathalia Torres, marketing director from CVC Corp.

The agency estimates that most customers visit the site before arriving at the store. At the end of May, the company launched a platform with texts, podcasts and reality shows about travel.

123 Miles, which already has similar content, focuses on advertising. Very present in ad on TV and networks, the company declined to comment on its strategy.

Among the celebrities who have already participated in advertising campaigns for the company are the sertanejos Zezé di Camargo and Sorocaba (from the duo with Fernando).

“If you have someone hammering in your head that they sell cheaper and explaining the reasons for this, you end up convinced”, says Juliana Medaglia, professor of tourism at UFPR (Federal University of Paraná).

CVC
10% of the mentions
Foundation

1972
Thirst

Santo André (SP)
users

4 million on website and app
digital channels

app, website and social networks, including Instagram and Whatsapp

123 Miles
9% of the mentions
Foundation

2017
Thirst

Belo Horizonte
users

Not disclosed
digital channels

app, website and social networks, including Instagram, Twitter and TikTok

UNDERSTAND THE RESEARCH

• The survey that gives rise to the materials in this special section was carried out by Datafolha and had two modules, with two different surveys, one on Brazilians’ favorite brands for services involving the internet and another on their online behavior.
• The brand survey reflects 1,500 interviews conducted between March 21 and 28, 2022, with Brazilians aged 16 and over, from all social classes and regions in Brazil, who access the internet every day. The survey’s margin of error is three percentage points, and its reliability is 95% – this means that if 100 surveys like this were done, in 95 the results would be within the margin of error.
• The survey on Brazilian online behavior reflects 2,064 interviews conducted between March 16 and 24 with Brazilians aged 16 and over, from all social classes and regions of the country. The margin of error is two percentage points, considering a confidence level also of 95%
  

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airline website

Company restructures area to improve customer experience

Gol’s website is the best among Brazilian airlines, with 12% of mentions, according to Datafolha.

The company says that 66% of check-ins made by its consumers are digital. In addition, more than a third of the brand’s direct sales are made by cell phone – before the pandemic, it was 15%.

With Covid-19, the company restructured its technology sector and created nine multidisciplinary groups to improve digital sales channels. Teams are currently developing the company’s app and website, based on customizing consumer access. The shift comes when the company is worth nearly 80% less than it was before the virus hit.

Among the available customizations is the possibility to buy the airlift frequently purchased by the consumer with a few clicks.

“What we do today is to customize the channels for each individual and not offer the same service to similar customers” explains Eduardo Bernardes, GOL’s Commercial, Marketing and Customer vice president.

GOAL
12% of the mentions
Foundation

2001
Thirst

Sao Paulo
unique users

64.8 million on the website and in the app
digital channels

app, website and social networks such as Instagram