OK so here’s the cool thing about what’s happening in tourism. The current generation of tech-savvy consumers has prompted companies to make the buying process more technologically advanced, and companies now need to deliver innovative trends and solutions to users via their online presence. The use of different tech tools (AKA plugins and modules) in your tourism website has now become a necessity, in order to provide an enhanced user experience for your customers. 

The expectation of higher customer service levels has caused a surge in the development of these different tools, and all the big tech players are trying to beat each other in providing the most ultra-modern add-ons to benefit your website. They are trying to make consumers’ buying experience more convenient and exciting, even delightful (“Delighting” your customers is the latest trend – and design and UX’s top goal).

Considering all that, it is crucial for tourism businesses to stay on top of all things tech, as the world opens up. You’ll need to have a great pulse on all the emerging tools available to you – so let’s dive further deep into the world of tech tools and take a look at essential tourism plugins (both free and paid options) your website must have to attract more customers! 

 

1. Progressive Web Apps

Over the years we have witnessed insane growth in the use of smartphones (a smidge of an understatement there). More and more people are surfing the internet from the palm of their hands, with a big jump in the number of consumers planning their travels completely over the internet. And because they are accessing tourism-related websites through their mobile phones, here lies the opportunity for businesses to enhance their experience through Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). PWAs are modern web pages that give your customers a native app-like experience by accessing the website from their browser. PWAs eliminates the problem of poor internet connectivity as it stores customer information and works offline as well.

 

According to HubSpot, in answer to the question “How many airline apps do you currently have installed on your smartphone?” – approximately 40% of users answered none, and 25% said one. In short, people are less likely to download an app for their travel planning. Thus, integrating PWA technology into your web pages will significantly boost customer engagement. {Source: divante.com, colourwhistle.com}

 

2. WP Travel

Free? Who doesn’t love free? WP Travel is a free WordPress plugin available that serves as a powerful travel-centric engine for your tourism website. With this easy-to-use tool, you can customize tour packages and manage travel bookings and itinerary schedules. It improves your website’s visual look through an attractive user dashboard and aesthetic user interface. Talk about delighting your customers! Moreover, it’s an SEO-friendly tool with full data reporting available, helping you keep a close eye on consumers’ buying patterns. The plugin also provides free support and regular updates to fix any bugs and issues. {Source: wordpress.org, afthemes.com}

 

3. WP Booking System

Another freebie! WP Booking is also a free WordPress plugin that gives a complete booking and reservation solution to your website. It’s a lightweight tool that has a simple booking calendar and supports multiple payment systems. Its responsive design allows you to develop customizable booking forms and personalized form fields. The premium version of the plugin unlocks some extra features like unlimited booking forms and calendars. Additionally, it can be directly installed from the WordPress dashboard. It also allows you to create a short code and gives you the freedom to place the booking system anywhere on your website. Flexibility is underrated, so this is a great tool. {Source: Hubspot, Mantrabrain}

 

4. Wordfence Security

It’s beyond important to protect your website from online threats, as it contains the personal, private information of your customers. This includes information related to making reservations and processing payments. Wordfence Security is a plugin that will build a firewall to identify and block malicious traffic to your website. Since it has a great malware scanner, it inspects suspicious files including bad URLs, backdoors, and SEO spam. It also provides real-time malware signature updates, when you opt for the premium version. 

Essentially, this handy tool regularly checks your website’s security status. It gives alerts related to known security vulnerabilities. It also provides two-factor authentication functionality, which is a highly secure form of remote system authentication. Wordfence is the kind of defense system your website should have in case of brute force attacks on it. It effectively deals with such threats by limiting the number of login attempts.

 

 

5. GTranslate

In case you’ve been in a bunker for nearly 25 years, the Internet is a platform that gives your business global reach. It allows you to attract potential travelers from any corner of the world. To make life easy for your international customers, it should be key to have multilingual functionality on your website. GTranslate is a WordPress plugin that gives your website multilingual capability by using the Google Translate automatic translation service. It provides translation services for over 100 languages, so your largest geographic customer base should be covered. Also, it has the capability to automatically switch to the browser-defined language. The paid version of the plugin allows you to translate an unlimited number of words. Lastly, it provides multilingual SEO functionality. Wunderbar! {Source: wetravel.com}

 

6. MonsterInsights

Understanding your customers’ needs and meeting their expectations is the key to moving the needle in your business. MonsterInsights is a simple yet powerful tool you can add to your website to track your customers’ online journey. It comes with a Google Analytics Dashboard that allows you to generate analytics reports as well. It gives you data-backed support and insights to make improvements to your offerings. Also, it supports even the overall website’s usability and design. 

 

Final Insights

You’ll obviously want to check the theme of your WordPress website to ensure the recommended plugins and modules above are compatible with it. Some of the specific travel plugins may have limited compatibility. 

No matter what kind of website you’re running, this list of useful tools could be even more lengthy if you’re looking to keep your site as current as possible. If the list of updates for your website seems daunting and has you considering a rebuild, check out our blog to help you determine whether you need a rebuild or just maintenance. (The good news is you likely just need maintenance!)