Current Situations of Internet Based Transformation and Upgrade of Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd.

,

Wuhan Technology and Business University, Wuhan 430000, China

Abstract In the era of "Internet +", the "Internet + tourism" comes into being, bringing unlimited development space and more possibilities to the traditional travel agency industry. Under the dual influence of development and impact, travel agencies start to take the road of transformation. Taking Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. as an example, this paper analyzed and evaluated the current situations of Internet based transformation and upgrade, and came up with some pertinent recommendations.

Key words Internet, Transformation, Upgrade, Current situation

1 Introduction

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Beijing, China Comfort Travel Group Co., Ltd. (previously named as China Comfort Travel Headquarter) has become one of China’s largest tourism groups. Relying on China Comfort Travel Group Co., Ltd., Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. emerged in the Hubei market in 2008, and it is a state-licensed travel agency for Chinese citizens who travel abroad. Its business scope includes services for inbound tourism, outbound tourism, domestic tourism, meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition (MICE) tour, and travel management. In the context of the Internet era in recent years, Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. has vigorously implemented the "networking", "scale" and "branding" development strategies, actively promoted the construction of "domestic networking" marketing and reception system, and improved network marketing in the future. The reception system and vertical management model have formed a unique comprehensive advantage in the travel agency industry. In 2017, with the aid of Kanghui Technology Company, Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. has successfully developed Kanghui technology platform including six modules such as distribution system, store management system, ERP, and financial system, further realized the application of each module, making each module form products and application, but also form income, and effectively make up for the short board of the traditional manual operation in the traditional travel agencies.

2 Analysis of the current situations of network operation platform

2.1AnalysisofcurrentsituationsWith the development and popularization of the Internet and mobile Internet in Hubei Province, and relying on a large number of IT and software engineers and technology management talents in the large education province, Hubei Province began to show its prominence in the tourism e-commerce around 2000. As one of the earliest offline traditional tourism enterprises, Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. has changed to online operation and invested in Internet companies and placed some of its products in networked tourism e-commerce enterprises, and explored a development channel in the highly competitive tourism industry with an extremely keen eye. Its network operation department cooperates with the mainstream e-commerce platform, such as Online Travel Agent (Ctrip Travel Network, ly.com, fliggy.com, lvmama.com, eLong.com, and tuniu.com), tips community such as mafengwo, qyer.com, and Baidu travel; media platform such as qunar.com, kuxun.cn, and lotour.com; group purchase of travel such as meituan hotel, tuan.eLong.com, tuan.qunar.com, tuan.ctrip.com, meituan.com, tuan.fliggy.com, t.dianping.com, and hotel.jd.com. The main business includes: domestic business: East China, and surrounding areas of Hubei Province (Yichang, Jingmen, Xianning, Huangshi); outbound business: Russia, Australia, Western Europe, Greece, Japan and South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia. The source of e-commerce profit is mainly from outbound business, mainly Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Cambodia. Through the self-built business-to-business (B2B) platform, it can provide upstream suppliers and travel wholesalers with timely information of products, period and remaining seats of group purchase, as well as the supplier special price, bargain sale, early bird ticket, and advance ticket,etc. Downstream distributors (travel agents, online travel service providers, direct customers) can directly inquire, make deal, and make distribution at the platform. The inventory data is synchronized in real time, and both PC and mobile phones can be implemented. Internal staff can intelligently handle official businesses and transmit information. In the self-possessed APP, Weibo and WeChat public account are used to conduct marketing. According to the training in the network operation department, consulting and discussion with colleagues, we found out the existing problems of this department. Besides, we interviewed 20 employees in the e-commerce department of Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. The interview content included packaging of online network products; opinions of departmental marketing methods; Internet information security; problem solving after-sales complaints. Through the interview, we summarized the following problems.

2.1.1No individuality in the design of network product. The design of network platform products is often based on the imitation and reference of similar products, but lacks the individualized language design for the destination tourist areas and loses their cultural beauty. A good product design must have a cultural beauty. Without culture, there is no sympathetic response. Good products also need to be properly expressed to consumers. Desire is the starting point of creativity and also the starting point of purchase.

2.1.2Single marketing concept. In our survey, we found that the online marketing results of Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. in domestic routes on other platforms are not satisfactory. For example, related products were sold at Tuniu platform in the form of limited time sales, but there were few sales clues and orders. Such terminal marketing model has maximally delivered value, in the hope of raising customer satisfaction. However, in fact, we just used the Internet enterprise platform, did not build our own brands, did not do integrated marketing, did not convey our e-commerce convenience, fast, pricing concessions, and product after-sales guarantee to customers, and did not have a systematic control in marketing communication and marketing plan.

2.1.3Problem of operation of Internet system. The problems we found in the survey also included instability in the website system. The problem of the network service terminal on the day caused delays in the work of the staff and led to loss of the operating income of several tourist groups. Therefore, any problem of the system operation should be taken seriously and prevented from occurrence.

2.1.4Little attention to the maintenance of network reputation. In the era of Internet, the user experience and evaluation will determine the survival of the company, and the user’s evaluation becomes the basis for whether the tourist selects predetermined tourism product. For complaints of tourists, Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. relies mainly on the after-complaint maintenance, private WeChat, telephone, and E-mail. In the handling of complaints on the client side, Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. did not take seriously. In many cases, did not have the idea of "one complaint, one opportunity" to help departments and travel agencies improve products, improve service and enterprise reputation, but just follow standard skills of talking to handle complaints. Since tourists are different in the gender, age, educational level, and quality cultivation,etc., we should not handle complaints merely according to the standards provided by the company. From respecting the demands of complaining tourists, Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. should provide individualized services, handle complaints in a serious and timely manner, patiently listen to the complainant’s dissatisfaction, find out the reasons for the complaints, and make relevant notes, which can indicate that the travel agency pays attention to the tourists, relieve their emotions, put yourself in others’ shoes, and safeguard the legal rights of the travel agency.

2.2Causeanalysis

2.2.1Neglecting personnel’s information technology training. In the early recruitment, Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. paid more attention to the applicant’s industry experience. The academic qualifications for the personnel are generally technical secondary school and above. Most of them have received college education, but the basic information operation skills are not assessed. Many employees are just familiar with basic office software operations, but do not have operation skills of modern information technology. The pictures and texts required when the projects are placed on website were all done by the art designer. The company’s art designer undertook most of the production of promotional pictures, and the quality of the production decreased with the increase of tasks. As an employee of the network operation center, the department should promptly find out the soft power of the department’s employees, and conduct offline meeting discussions and guided learning using online network resources, so as to improve the actual operation ability of the department employees and the ability to cope with Internet network security issues.

2.2.2Little attention to user experience and user value. No matter in the marketing method, marketing plan or the final implementation on the Online Travel Agency (OTA), the experience given was the step-by-step imitation. Finally, the marketing communication was not extensive, and the marketing effect was not satisfactory. The marketing of Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. was comprehensive, including: domestic channel marketing, OTA channel based marketing, peer negotiation and docking marketing, and it also arranged a special person in charge of travel consultation and travel complaints. For the marketing of the OTA channel, the network operation department paid little attention to the user experience and user value, and did not consider the problem from the perspective of the tourists. When there was feedback of problem, it just told contractual provisions and travel routes to tourists and said that these are standardized services, but neglected the individual demands of tourists. When the tourists make complaint, it should be handled immediately, making the tourists experience the around-the-clock and person-to-person services. In other words, one of our works should be providing all-around services, which are favorable for penetration of brand value, so as to win good reputation of tourists.

2.2.3Little attention to the Internet information security. In the business of Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd., both domestic and outbound visas and ticketing involved a lot of information of families and individuals, but there was no person to take real-time supervision of e-commerce payment, and did not negotiate with banks to solve the issue of online payment security. Consequently, the online payment still restricts the development of China’s tourism e-commerce, and there is still no relevant credit guarantee and propaganda for network marketing of tourism enterprises.

2.2.4Lack of training and services for solving complaints of tourists. The threshold of travel agencies is low, the salary is low, but the work intensity is high. After a period of time (for example, half a year) of internship, many people left the work, leading to high flow of people in travel agencies. Under such circumstance, there was no systematic training within the travel agency. The superior leader made no analysis, correction and training on the tourists’ complaint handling process. Neglecting this link, it is very easy for the travel agency’s service to be inadequate and the brand image would be affected. By contrast, effective training would be able to improve the enthusiasm of employees and improve the efficiency of employees, and better handle complaints of tourists, accordingly it would be favorable for improving the company’s social reputation.

3 Recommendations for transformation and upgrading in the context of the Internet era

3.1StrengtheningtheInternetoperationabilityofemployeesThe network operation specialists for major departments have launched long-distance online network training courses. The network training has the characteristics of maximizing resource utilization, autonomous learning behavior, and individualized teaching forms, which greatly expands the learning time and improves the learning efficiency. In WeChat Comfort International Travel Service College, it is recommended to actively promote the e-commerce awareness and thinking of employees, and link the learning effect directly with the monthly salary. It is recommended to encourage employees to communicate with each other and use the advanced deeds of excellent employees to promote the enthusiasm of all employees.

3.2ImplementingnetworkmarketingatmultiplelevelsFor an enterprise, network marketing is an important component of the overall marketing strategy. It includes various activities taking Internet as a means to create online business environment, to realize the overall operation objectives of the enterprise. It is known that culture is the core competitiveness of tourism industry. In addition to the craftsmanship of tourism products, the tourism industry should also adapt to the social trend in marketing, and make more staffing in E-mail marketing, blogging and microblog marketing, online marketing, video marketing, media marketing, and bidding promotion, to promote the brand value of tourism enterprises. It is recommended to attract new customers, increase customer stickiness, increase conversion rate, increase exposure rate, and make such low-cost flexible and fast network marketing play a role in promoting further development of travel companies.

3.3AttachinggreatimportancetoInternetinformationsecurityNetwork information security includes network device security and network information software security. It is recommended to attach great importance to the network security, to prevent information theft and commercial attack. On the one hand, from the specialist’s operational testing of daily network management, it is required to remind employees of the dangers of theft of network information, so as to prevent problems before they happen. On the other hand, it is required to hire experts to talk and discuss the issues of network operation, so as to make timely adjustment.

3.4EstablishingandimprovingthenetworkpublicopinionmonitoringsystemThe Internet consumption behavior of tourists relies largely on network reputation. Therefore, a large part of the travel agency’s after-sales service should lie in guiding tourists to make positive feedback of reputation. This work is to solve the problems in the travel of the tourists, and it is also a continuation of the high-quality reception work. The feedback from the tourists can not only maintain and expand the original source of customers, but also further update the tourism product information and improve the reception level. Outstanding after-sales service, combined with the application of relevant promotion tools, will make online products of travel agencies more competitive in the market.

4 Conclusions

At present, with the deep integration of the Internet and tourism, the transformation and upgrading of traditional travel agencies is extremely urgent. The transformation of Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd. gives us useful experience and recommendations. It is believed that under the guidance of Hubei Comfort International Travel Service Co., Ltd., the travel agencies in Hubei Province will have new opportunities and development.