1.3 Traditional Platforms Unable to Meet Personalized Travel Needs

In modern society, personalized travel has become an important lifestyle pursuit. However, traditional and existing online travel platforms still have significant shortcomings in providing customized services. Currently, mainstream online travel websites can be categorized into three major types: OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), UGC (User Generated Content) platforms, and custom itinerary service platforms. While these platforms have contributed to the development of the tourism industry to some extent, they still face numerous challenges in meeting the growing personalized needs of users.

Limitations of OTA Platforms: OTA platforms are known for their extensive travel products and convenient booking processes, but they often fall short in providing customized services. Although users can easily book flights, hotels, and other travel products, they often receive limited support from OTA platforms when facing unexpected situations or personalized needs during their trips. Users desire not only product booking but also personalized travel experiences and advice.

Shortcomings of UGC Platforms: UGC platforms provide rich destination information through user reviews, travelogues, and guides. However, this information is mostly focused on the preparation stage of travel. Users often find it challenging to get timely and effective answers to practical problems encountered during their trips. Although some UGC platforms attempt to integrate offline experiences, the speed of content updates, real-time interaction, and user engagement still need improvement.

Bottlenecks of Custom Itinerary Services: Custom itinerary service platforms theoretically offer more personalized services, but in practice, most platforms still focus on the customization stage of itinerary planning, lacking real-time adjustments and personalized advice during the trip. With the rapid economic development, the demand for customized travel services is becoming increasingly urgent. Travel service platforms need to integrate new technologies to ensure innovation and improvement in comprehensive customization, intelligent recommendations, real-time interaction and guidance, and localized experiences, to meet users' pursuit of highly personalized travel experiences.