A group of professionals in the tourism industry have revealed how social media is influencing the industry. Speaking yesterday at the ongoing Social Media Week Lagos (SMWLagos), Marek Zmyslowski, Managing Director, Jovago.com, Ayo Oyewole, CEO, Afro Tourism and Dr. Tunji Adegbesan, CEO, Gidi Mobile, agreed that social media is bridging uncertainties and facilitating credibility in the continent’s tourism sector.
Prior to the advent of social media, the experts noted that individuals interested in travelling to some places in Africa often had to rely on the opinions of those that had been to some tourist destinations, and such is not available, individuals often have to abandon such trips making the tourism industry to miss large amount of revenues. But with social media, they said prospective tourists can now go online and get more information about the tourism destination in Africa.
Furthermore, the experts said social media has become a platform where companies in the tourism industry can have an idea of what the public opinion about their company is. According to the panelists, it has become possible for the companies to know what the people are saying about them thus creating a feedback portal that could be used to improve services.
“It is good for monitoring customer’s bad experiences and dealing with such before they escalate,” Dr. Adegbesan said.