"The tourism industry will have to reinvent itself"

On Wednesday, May 27, the Department of International Relations and the School of Tourism of the University of Azuay invited Renato Pérez, an Ecuadorian expert in hotel management, to talk about how the smartphone had changed the tourism industry.

After the event, the speaker agreed to talk with us about this issue, as well as about the future of tourism activity after the global crisis generated by Covid-19.

But the first thing we started by asking him was how his passion for tourism was born.

“My grandfather, Don Jimmy Pérez, opened in 1962 one of the first hotels in the Galapagos Islands. My father continued with the business. For which I grew up surrounded by this environment of hotels and tourism.

When I was 15 years old, I was presented with an opportunity to study in the United States and it was there that I finished my college. After this, always guided by the teachings of my grandfather, I started college at Purdue University, Indiana, with a career in Hotel Management.

During this period my curiosity to learn the Mandarin language was born and that is when, after finishing my degree, I moved to Beijing, China, where I was admitted to the best university in that country, Peking University, where I studied the Mandarin language. for one year, followed by a master's degree in International Relations.

During this time in Beijing I never lost my goal, to learn the language and strengthen diplomatic ties through China and Ecuador, in order to attract the Chinese market to our beautiful country.

Finally, in 2016 I started a PhD in Tourism Management at Dalian University of Technology, China. Here I strengthened my research methods with a focus on the economic valuation of recreational attributes of natural and UNESCO heritage areas, such as the Galapagos National Park.

After living in China for six years and having made technical visits to more than 52 countries, the great impact that the use of smartphones has within the tourism industry is palpable for me as a researcher ”.

This was the topic of your conference at the University of Azuay, we would be interested if you tell us when this impact of these devices began on tourism.

“Since the launch of the first phone presented by the Motorola company in 1973, until the marketing of the first smartphone in 1994 called Simon Personal Communicator (SPC) by the IBM company, we can observe its great evolution and the impact that this device created in our lives.

Currently the tourism industry has been one of the most benefited by this technology, since it allows us to make reservations through applications; order any type of products that we need through the app; communicate with the hotel directly in real time; check in 24 hours before arrival; and being able to virtually choose the room, receive the room key, eliminating the waiting time when arriving at the hotel, maximizing the hotel's resources and creating a more efficient experience for guests.

We can do all this and much more now thanks to our smartphones ”.  

Finally, we would like to know your opinion about the future of Tourism in these times of Covid-19.

“As a result of this pandemic that we have all faced, I believe that the tourism industry will have to reinvent itself in order to provide confidence and security to its customers.

The traditional ways of working in this industry are going to change and we will see a significant increase in the use of mobile platforms.

The smartphone, now more than ever, will consolidate as a vital part of our lives therefore it is crucial that the tourism industry readapt.

The use of mobile applications, web pages, online purchases, online payments, etc., will see a greater increase in their users.

This transition will be tedious, especially in countries like ours that do not have an effective virtual platform and, in turn, there are many barriers to the full implementation of technology.

The good news is that this change is not impossible for all the businesses that make up the tourism industry and from this pandemic, clients will be predisposed to finally make this transition to a more technologically advanced country ”.