Central Asian countries have taken important steps in the journey of digitalisation in tourism. The countries in the region aim to improve the experience of tourists and revitalise regional tourism through the implementation of digital platforms and solutions.
In order to evaluate the digital transformation processes of Central Asian countries in tourism, Ankara Centre for Crisis and Political Studies (ANKASAM) presents the view of Zalina Enikeeva, Research Assist. from the Institute of Public Policy and Management at the University of Central Asia.
1. What does digital transformation in tourism mean? Which Central Asian countries are participating in digital transformation?
Digital transformation in tourism means the integration of digital technologies into the tourism industry with the aim to improve customer experience, consolidate business processes, and generate new business opportunities. According to UN Tourism (ex UN WTO), tourism was one of the first sectors to digitalize business processes on a global scale, when flight and hotel booking online became a digital pioneer.
As well, digital technologies in tourism industry can provide engrossing previews and virtual tours to enhance the booking experience, contactless payments and digital ticketing. These technologies help improve travel by making it easier to plan and personalize trips, while also helping destinations connect with a larger and more engaged audience. Excellent examples of digital transformation in tourism are web-platforms Booking.com, AirBNB, TripAdvisor.
Every Central Asian country uses digital technologies in the tourism sectors, some countries to a greater extent, some to a lesser extent. Information about local café, restaurants, entertainment one can meet at TripAdvisor in every Central Asian country.
2. How do you think Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries have addressed digital transformation in the tourism sector?
First, all Central Asian countries pursue to implement digital technologies into their economies for the last several years. Mostly, they are aimed at digitalization of macroeconomic sphere, domestic and foreign trade, financial sector, tax system, banking system, as well as the introduction of e-government. Some countries have made more progress in the issue of digitalization and have asked the question of digital transformation in the tourism sector, inclusive. Thus, Kyrgyzstan accepted the Program of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic for the development of tourism for 2019-2023.
Kazakhstan accepted the national programme ‘Digital Kazakhstan’ that includes the concept of Smart cities, thus making cities convenient not only for citizens, but for tourists as well. In addition, the national Kazakh website kazakhstan.travel presents a number of special digital platforms, including “Altyn Orda”, “Tourstat.kz” and “E-konak”.
3. As part of the rebranding of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as ‘United Nations Tourism’ and its new slogan ‘Bringing the world closer’, what is the main motivation behind this announcement at the General Assembly in other Central Asian countries?
Under this new slogan, UN Tourism means that tourism is one of the biggest sectors in global economy, and it has a power to bridge cultures and promote sustainable development in all destinations. Central Asian countries are not the exception. Due to mutual cooperation in tourism, creating new joint destinations, when tourists from another parts of the world come to the region, and visit not only one country, for example, only Kyrgyzstan, but as well go to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and it can enrich the whole region by improving as cross-border cooperation in tourism, facilitating not only tourism, but as well trade, manufacturing, agricultural production and many other sectors of the economy.
