We have a big revelation for you. You might be shocked. Ready? Here it goes – the tourism industry is seriously messed up right now. COVID and people’s responses to it have thrown a massive monkey wrench into everyone’s vacation plans. From quarantines to travel bans to dining restrictions, everything is operating differently than it was a year ago.
Entire dynamics have shifted. While once people would rent a hotel in downtown Chicago for a couple of nights to do some shopping and check out the museums, they are now going camping or renting a yurt out in the middle of nowhere. And of course, fewer people are going anywhere at all. Air travel is down so much that CNN is pulling out of airports in the spring.
All of these changes and more are driving the tourism industry to big data to try and discern what people are looking for now and how to best respond to these new habits and preferences. While way back in 2019, the industry had a pretty solid handle on how to attract customers and keep them coming back for more, today it’s an entirely new environment. Where once, tourist centered businesses would just use social media for marketing purposes, they now find they have to use it to navigate this new paradigm.
For example, if there is a trend towards more eco-friendly hotels, they will be able to pick up on that, and if they are doing it right, do so in near real time. You already see places responding to trends in this direction with hotels asking guests if they would like room service every day or not. That saves them time and money and is more environmentally friendly.
It would also be good if restaurants and politicians spent some time with data to analyze whether commonly accepted practices make any sense. The perfect example is what is going on with the restaurant industry. Given all of the indoor dinning bans across the country, restaurants have had to get creative to respond. During the warmer months, they simply set up outdoor dining on sidewalks or even in parking lots. No virus likes sunlight and fresh air. It was also easy to meet distance requirements coming from the state. However, as things got colder, they started setting up plastic pods outside, or fully covered and walled-in areas. Suddenly, the outside was now inside but still treated as though it were inside because it was technically outside the restaurant. Confused? That’s because you’re rational.
Now, the obviously comical absence of logic aside, any intelligent person can look at this situation and realize that these pods and dining tents are not only no better than inside the actual restaurant, they are probably worse. The ventilation system in the restaurant could be upgraded with better filters that would help control COVID and any other virus. Those plastic pods have no ventilation at all. Any virus or harmful bacteria settles in there and doesn’t leave until someone sprays the heck out of it. Also, those pods are often heated with propane, the fumes of which aren’t actually very good for you.
Common sense aside, the wisdom of these responses can easily be checked with data. Does outdoor dining present a considerably different risk of transmission than indoor? What are the negative or positive effects of the current set up? All of this needs to be investigated to see if we are responding in the best way or not. Data analysis will also be important in determining what customer preferences will be going forward once restrictions are lifted. Perhaps people actually prefer the bubbles because of the sense of privacy. Certainly some will prefer being outside when it is warmer, so long as it isn’t too warm.
TARTLE is perfectly poised to play a role here. With our data marketplace, businesses can have direct access to customers rather than having to go to third parties. Instead of only looking at aggregated data from the big data players, restaurants, hotels and others can interact directly with people and learn what people are really asking for with no filter. Together then, we can find a response that is rational and acceptable to the vast majority.
What’s your data worth?
We have a big revelation for you. You might be shocked. Ready? Here it goes – the tourism industry is seriously messed up right now. COVID and people’s responses to it have thrown a massive monkey wrench into everyone’s vacation plans. From quarantines to travel bans to dining restrictions, everything is operating differently than it was a year ago.
Digital (00:07):
Welcome to TARTLE Cast, with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby. Where humanity steps into the future, and source data defines the path.
Jason Rigby (00:22):
Help, Tiberius.
Alexander McCaig (00:26):
Niacin. I know we look cold in here. I'm not sure it is cold or we're just so ...
Jason Rigby (00:33):
We took some supplements.
Alexander McCaig (00:34):
... jacked up on those ...
Jason Rigby (00:35):
Some herbal supplements.
Alexander McCaig (00:35):
Yeah. And I don't know what they do, like opened up the amount of oxygen flowing through us right now. I'm just like, whoa.
Jason Rigby (00:41):
Yeah, so we're a little jacked here.
Alexander McCaig (00:43):
I'm really jacked up.
Jason Rigby (00:44):
Speaking of being jacked up, the tourism industry, jacked up.
Alexander McCaig (00:48):
It needs to be, it's jacked up right now. Someone needs to fix that.
Jason Rigby (00:51):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (00:52):
So recently, what we've seen is that, there's been a decline in revenue of the tourism industry of like, 100 ... What is it, 100 billon?
Jason Rigby (01:00):
Yeah, 100 billion dollars.
Alexander McCaig (01:02):
100 billion dollars, I know it's probably some very, some liberal ... not in a political sense, but it's probably just like, the high estimate.
Jason Rigby (01:10):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (01:11):
And then, how many jobs, 39 million?
Jason Rigby (01:13):
Yeah, it was millions of jobs, yeah.
Alexander McCaig (01:15):
It was millions of jobs, because of COVID, right?
Jason Rigby (01:17):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (01:18):
Tourism is all about interaction with people and cultures.
Jason Rigby (01:20):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (01:21):
And so, they need to find a way to prop that back up. It's a mess right now. And so, it's like, how do we ...
Jason Rigby (01:29):
It's a mess right now, no shit?
Alexander McCaig (01:32):
It's a mess, it's a total mess. And so, when the tourism industry is like, well, how are people's habits changing?
Jason Rigby (01:39):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (01:40):
So, they've been going through, and they've been using large data sets, big data, to run analysis for business intelligence to figure out, well, where are people headed? What do they want to do now that is a function of safe practices, but allows them to give their function of travel and experience where it needs to be? Right, especially in this time.
Alexander McCaig (01:58):
So, a couple of the examples that were talked about in this article where they were looking at the ecotourism.
Jason Rigby (02:04):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (02:05):
So, backpackers, you know?
Jason Rigby (02:06):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (02:07):
Or people that ride the bus to go around and check out different countries, things of that nature. How do you accommodate those people and the growth in that sector, of people wanting to be outside, do things a little bit more rugged than we're used to?
Jason Rigby (02:20):
Right, and yeah, like and then, being a part of nature.
Alexander McCaig (02:22):
And being a part of nature, how does tourism move itself towards those sort of functions, practices, and services, so they can benefit those people that are in the ecotourism sector.
Jason Rigby (02:32):
Yeah, and when you look ... I'm looking at the article right now. When you look at it, you can ... One of the big things that it's talking about is having a home away from home.
Alexander McCaig (02:40):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (02:40):
So, where it's cleaned and it's safe. You know, and I know Airbnb has responded to that in a really good way. And people are even willing to pay a little bit more, as long as it's a safe environment that they can be in.
Alexander McCaig (02:51):
Yeah, and let's think about a very specific socioeconomic group, people that ski and snowboard.
Jason Rigby (02:58):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (02:59):
What you find is, all the people are flocking to their lodge homes. Those wealthier people.
Jason Rigby (03:03):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (03:03):
"I got to get out of the city area, and I just want to hang in an isolated area."
Jason Rigby (03:06):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (03:06):
"Oh, and I get a ski to boot." You know what I mean?
Jason Rigby (03:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (03:09):
It's a win for me. I spent 5,000 dollars on my pass, but at least I'm isolated from COVID. You know, but that's what you're finding is that, people are trying to get to those areas. And if you look at what Airbnb has done, people want those rural getaways.
Jason Rigby (03:21):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (03:22):
Like, I want to go hang out in a yurt in the middle of the woods by myself.
Jason Rigby (03:24):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (03:24):
You know, cell phones aren't allowed. Or, I want to rent an Airstream up here in [inaudible 00:03:28] and I want to look at the stars, and I'm not bothered.
Jason Rigby (03:30):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (03:31):
You know, and that makes people feel good. And so, there's a change in that dynamic. It's not like I want to go to the hotel or I want to check out the city. It's like, well now, if I'm not going to cities and I'm spreading myself out, how can data ...
Jason Rigby (03:42):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (03:42):
... especially big data, tell us about what these habits of people are doing, and what they prefer now that life circumstances have actually changed.
Jason Rigby (03:50):
Yeah, because big data is going to help them be able to decide exactly what consumers are looking for. And it's more than the article talks about it, is because all they were using the internet for was for social media campaigns. You know, marketing.
Alexander McCaig (04:04):
Marketing.
Jason Rigby (04:04):
That was about it.
Alexander McCaig (04:05):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (04:05):
You know, it's like, "Oh, okay, they go to our website, we re target them with that," da, da, da, da, da, hopefully they'll click on it, and then hotels.com is hitting you up.
Alexander McCaig (04:12):
Maybe the guy books it.
Jason Rigby (04:13):
Yeah, exactly. So now, being able to actually take the data and then understand, oh, this person did go to Tulum and they did stay in an eco-friendly hotel. Well, maybe then the cool part about this is, you're going to see Marriott, Hiltons, all the big whigs ...
Alexander McCaig (04:30):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (04:31):
They're going to turn around and say, "Well, maybe we should make our hotels more eco-friendly."
Alexander McCaig (04:34):
Yeah, or, "We need to start making more decisions on big data."
Jason Rigby (04:37):
Because you're seeing that now when you go to a hotel. They're asking you if you would like to have your sheets changed every single day.
Alexander McCaig (04:45):
Yeah, they're like, "Put this thing on the door if you actually want them changed."
Jason Rigby (04:47):
Right, yeah, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (04:48):
You know, and what's interesting about this entire thing ... I'm trying to collect my thoughts, because they're all over the place ... is that the data itself is observational. It's completely reactive. So they're reacting to the industry.
Jason Rigby (05:01):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (05:02):
So, human beings already react to COVID. And then, they're being reactive to them reacting to COVID.
Jason Rigby (05:07):
Yeah, but I mean, when you look at the tourist industry, it's like, what do we do? Okay, we have a virus. I mean, some of the hotels went and were more responsive and understood that people want to have a safe ... I mean, you still have business travel.
Alexander McCaig (05:22):
But it's not just hotel. What about the people around the hotels? Or around the resorts that make their money from tourists?
Jason Rigby (05:28):
Oh, yeah, yes.
Alexander McCaig (05:29):
They got creamed, just absolutely destroyed.
Jason Rigby (05:31):
Yeah, all the employees, and then that ability to be able to be safe with your employees with COVID.
Alexander McCaig (05:36):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (05:37):
Because you don't want to give it to the guests.
Alexander McCaig (05:38):
No, you don't.
Jason Rigby (05:39):
Cruise ships, probably the worst.
Alexander McCaig (05:42):
Cruise ships are tough. So, cruise ships have always, they've been a nightmare for a lot of different outbreaks, you know? Yeah, they're like the OG.
Jason Rigby (05:50):
Cruise ships are going to destroy the world.
Alexander McCaig (05:51):
Yeah, cruise ships will destroy the world.
Jason Rigby (05:53):
We'll get some weird disease, it's going to happen on a cruise ship.
Alexander McCaig (05:57):
Why is my leg growing a lung? That doesn't look right. Oh.
Jason Rigby (06:01):
Well, I was on Carnival.
Alexander McCaig (06:01):
Yeah, I was on Carnival Cruises. No, but the gist of it is, is that they've taken this reactionary data, and what would have been more beneficial in terms of their big data analysis is if they actually got proactive information from the people.
Jason Rigby (06:18):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (06:18):
What are your habits? What are your behaviors? What are you planning to do now they have COVID? What are your fears about it? And then, it's like, how is that affecting your travel plans?
Jason Rigby (06:26):
Yeah, and you know, restaurants, they talk about that too, how they're changing. So you need a bigger area. You have to space the tables apart, maybe put people in booths.
Alexander McCaig (06:36):
What?
Jason Rigby (06:36):
Make sure you have air flow. Eating outside is a plus.
Alexander McCaig (06:39):
The eating outside is insane. You ready? What difference does it make for COVID if I'm sitting outside of the building eating in the cold with some sort of propane burner keeping me warm?
Jason Rigby (06:49):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (06:49):
Or me sitting inside with the tables and have them spread out? What difference does that make?
Jason Rigby (06:53):
Well, no. You actually ... This is funny, because I was ... So, I was looking in New York, and they had these patios, and they have plastic.
Alexander McCaig (07:00):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (07:00):
So, you were inside that was a bigger area. You've made it a smaller area.
Alexander McCaig (07:06):
Smaller, and you've confined the air flow.
Jason Rigby (07:07):
And you've confined the air flow. But the worst part is, what is the propane doing to me? Is it worse than getting the ...
Alexander McCaig (07:14):
Yeah, it's just burning off in there, you know what I mean? I'm inhaling whatever by-product comes from it.
Jason Rigby (07:19):
I mean, you had COVID. I think I had it back in March, I don't know.
Alexander McCaig (07:22):
Oh, why don't we just tell the world about my health problems, don't we? Yeah.
Jason Rigby (07:25):
No, but I mean, millions of people have it.
Alexander McCaig (07:26):
No, that's fine, go ahead.
Jason Rigby (07:27):
But I mean, you have a 99.98 percent change to survive this flu.
Alexander McCaig (07:32):
So, stop sticking people in tents, you know what I ...
Jason Rigby (07:34):
I just don't understand that.
Alexander McCaig (07:36):
I don't get it, it's illogical.
Jason Rigby (07:36):
I understand the mask. I understand the six ... I mean, flus are way down, the regular flu.
Alexander McCaig (07:42):
Yeah, but where's the data that tents work better?
Jason Rigby (07:45):
Yeah, exactly, there you go.
Alexander McCaig (07:46):
What we see is this reactionary world to the service industry, to tourism.
Jason Rigby (07:51):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (07:52):
And so, when they start looking at [inaudible 00:07:53], they should be like, "Crap, that actually is not, it's doing nothing."
Jason Rigby (07:56):
I mean, who are these politicians to make these decisions without looking at data?
Alexander McCaig (08:01):
Well, they're not looking at any data.
Jason Rigby (08:02):
No.
Alexander McCaig (08:03):
You know, so that's a good point. Politicians are followers, right?
Jason Rigby (08:06):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (08:07):
So, when you start looking at, hopefully, they try to be leaders, but they have to listen to the public, right? They're voted into power, so they're essentially a follower. You know, they're a sounding board.
Alexander McCaig (08:18):
So, if they're using data which comes from the people, and that's telling them how to do things proactively, that's going to make a massive difference in how we make these decisions, rather than making them on a hunch, or saying we should be in tents, because that's a different ... COVID's not as, it's not going to attack us in our tent-eating space, rather than us eating indoors, which is just an indoor/outdoor scenario.
Jason Rigby (08:41):
Right, yeah, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (08:42):
Right?
Jason Rigby (08:42):
That part has not made sense to me.
Alexander McCaig (08:44):
Yeah, so if we want to really look towards what people's behaviors are and what data and health says, the tourism industry can combine all those things together in data sets. And if they really want to enhance their data sets, they can buy proactive data.
Jason Rigby (08:57):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (08:57):
And they can survey people, ecotourists, any type of person that wants any sort of experience, can be found on TARTLE.
Jason Rigby (09:02):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (09:03):
And you can ask those people to share that data to your company. You know, you compensate them for it. But you're going to have even greater compensational benefits from finding those tourisms.
Jason Rigby (09:12):
Yeah, and then knowing, you know, I mean, just imagine if you could know exactly what these people that say they want to go on a trip in the next six months, and then slowly, as it gets in that six months time ...
Alexander McCaig (09:26):
How much money have you saved? How much you planning to spend?
Jason Rigby (09:29):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (09:29):
How many people? What do you want to do?
Jason Rigby (09:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (09:32):
Holy crap, you have all the information in front of you.
Jason Rigby (09:33):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (09:34):
There's no more imagination.
Jason Rigby (09:35):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (09:36):
You just get hammered with truth, and you're like, "Wow, this is great." Maybe you in the tourism industry, find a new sort of niche.
Jason Rigby (09:42):
Because how many ads do we accidentally click on ...
Alexander McCaig (09:45):
All the time.
Jason Rigby (09:45):
... that shows a tent?
Alexander McCaig (09:46):
All the time.
Jason Rigby (09:47):
So now you're getting, so oh okay, "Oh, I know they're going ... They looked up flight information, and they're wanting to go to Malaysia. Oh, okay, perfect." You know, and then next thing you know, they accidentally click on this hotel, and didn't even mean it.
Alexander McCaig (09:58):
Or looking at [crosstalk 00:09:59].
Jason Rigby (09:58):
And now, we're marketing.
Alexander McCaig (10:01):
Look at us, we're clicking on stuff about Cibo in the Philippines. And then, we're getting ads for islands in the Philippines. Like, "What is this nonsense?" You know what I mean?
Jason Rigby (10:09):
Yes. Well, we're looking at it from a business perspective.
Alexander McCaig (10:11):
Yeah, but they're hammering us with tourism ads.
Jason Rigby (10:13):
But they're hammering us with tourists. Yeah, exactly, it's just so funny how ...
Alexander McCaig (10:15):
It's just backwards. You know, advertising is so reactive.
Jason Rigby (10:18):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (10:19):
Even the whole world of big data right now is so reactive. Let's take a proactive approach.
Jason Rigby (10:23):
Yeah, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexander McCaig (10:23):
We're reactive to climate change. We're reactive to politics. We're reactive to everything. We're constantly in a world of putting out fires.
Jason Rigby (10:29):
Fight and flight.
Alexander McCaig (10:29):
I'm so jacked up, we need to start being proactive about these things.
Jason Rigby (10:33):
Yeah, proactive.
Alexander McCaig (10:33):
We need to be proactive with the data from proactive people.
Jason Rigby (10:36):
So, how can they be proactive with TARTLE?
Alexander McCaig (10:37):
Easy, you go to TARTLE, you click on "get started," and as a buyer, you can choose.
Jason Rigby (10:42):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (10:42):
You're like, "Oh, let's look at what data is available for tourism? What are people behaviors and preferences? Oh, wait a minute, can I combine some of these pieces of data?" Sure you can. Let's make up a spoke data set just for Hilton, okay?
Jason Rigby (10:54):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (10:54):
Just for Tulum, Mexico, and let's do that.
Jason Rigby (10:57):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (10:57):
And then, I can go specifically get data from ecotourists or people that have those preferences, whatever that might be.
Jason Rigby (11:01):
No, I love that. And then, if someone wants to sell their data and help humanity, how could they do that?
Alexander McCaig (11:08):
Oh, it's the same process. So, instead of signing up as a buyer on the TARTLE market place ...
Jason Rigby (11:13):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (11:13):
I'm going to start waving around, because I feel like this is adding to the whole thing. You can go onto TARTLE.co, and you can click on "get started," and sign up as a seller. And then, you can choose those preferences of things that you want to put your data and time and work into, and then get compensated for, for sharing that information. Only the things that you think are good to you. And we'll also come in and suggest things that you should be looking at, that may be higher value or something that may be something that you'd be interested in.
Alexander McCaig (11:44):
It's better than an ad, because we're trying to say, "Are you interested in getting paid for sharing about this?" It's not, "Are you interested in looking at something so you can pay others?" You know what I mean?
Jason Rigby (11:52):
Right, but I'm worried about my privacy if I sign up.
Alexander McCaig (11:53):
You don't have to worry about your privacy. We take all the best standards that you could possibly do in terms of encryption and PCI standards from a financial standpoint. And if you look up PCI, it's how they store credit cards properly. We keep all that stuff completely anonymous, completely locked down. We are the data bank for you. You store it with us, but you're the only one that has the key to let that thing go.
Alexander McCaig (12:11):
So as a data seller, you choose to be as anonymous as you want, and you choose to control, withdraw, or deposit that data on your own time.
Jason Rigby (12:18):
So, you have total control.
Alexander McCaig (12:20):
You have total control. It's not for us to control. It's your information, you choose what you want to do with it. I'm not going to tell you how to drive your own car.
Jason Rigby (12:25):
Right, exactly. We're not a typical, that company.
Alexander McCaig (12:27):
No, we are A-typical, you know, and we're pushing towards our B Corp certification. We're a public benefit corp in the state of Delaware. We're in this for you, not for us.
Jason Rigby (12:38):
I love that.
Alexander McCaig (12:38):
I have my own TARTLE account. You think I don't want to be a part of it?
Jason Rigby (12:40):
Yeah, I have a TARTLE account, yeah.
Alexander McCaig (12:43):
Yeah, you know it's like, well, obviously. We work for the company, but it works for us. And if it didn't work for us, why would we give it to somebody else?
Jason Rigby (12:49):
Yes, exactly. So, sign up, TARTLE.co.
Alexander McCaig (12:52):
Foolish. Yeah, T-A-R-T-L-E.C-O.
Jason Rigby (12:55):
Perfect, thanks Alex.
Alexander McCaig (12:56):
Thank you.
Digital (13:05):
Thank you for listening to TARTLE Cast, with your hosts, Alexander McCaig, and Jason Rigby. Where humanity steps into the future, and resource data defines the path. What's your data worth?
