Internet of Things in Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities in 'The New Normal'

One of the fastest-growing global industries which have been hugely affected amidst the Covid-19 pandemic is the tourism industry. Revenues generated from the tourism sector account for 10% of the world?s GDP therefore, any adversity faced by the tourism sector has the potential to damage the global economy severely. Digitalization is the key that will play a major role in the revival of this industry. Internet of things (IoT) -The new paradigm has a huge effect on various sectors, like health, education, agriculture, finance, etc. In the past year, the physical world has become more restricted as everything has been shifted to a virtual platform and hence, the quantity of IoT devices is anticipated to increase to over eight billion by 2025 ? and with new technologies finding their means into industrial operations, a ?new normal? is emerging. To prepare for a digital ?new normal?, tourism corporations have been compelled to initiate a sturdy digital transformation as well. The new business atmosphere is going to be dominated by systems that enable multiple devices to connect over the internet and perform tasks simultaneously without a human interface. There are numerous advantages of integration of this new technology in any business model; however, one ought to be aware of bound challenges and risks, like confidentiality and protection. The goal of the paper is to debate how IoT can alter the means by which the tourism industry operates and to present the readers with a number of its best market practices, trends, and statistics.