Chatsbots and robots now help you plan a seamless trip to your dream destination anywhere in the world, shaking up the tourism industry.
The cutting-edge technology enhances personalisation, eliminating delays and errors that used to be part of the deal when the tourism sector was manned exclusively by humans.
Your phone could spit out a perfect itinerary when you are keen on spending a couple of days away from work or home, in Dubai, or any other city in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world— you only need to have the right prompt.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the key trends shaping the future of tourism, with the potential to improve customer experience, optimise operations and promote sustainability.
AI and environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities are attracting the highest levels of investment in travel technology at present, according to innovation specialists at Plug and Play.
Experts from the Silicon Valley-headquartered firm shared a range of insights into the latest investment trends on the Travel Tech Stage at the recently concluded Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.
Kristie Choi, Early Stage Tech Investor at Plug and Play, noted that venture capital investment witnessed a “dramatic pullback” in the second half of 2022, a trend that continued into Q1 2023.
“While this looks pretty scary, there are still billions of dollars of dry powder out there to be gained,” she told attendees. “Travel tech round dynamics tend to follow similar patterns as the wider tech market, and we are seeing an increased focus on profitability and cash efficiency in this segment.”
Choi said the travel sector was leading the curve in terms of generative AI investment and adoption. This technology is being leveraged to enhance customer experience by facilitating trip planning, automating refunds and back-office processes, and supporting content creation.
ESG is also a major focus for the travel technology sector, she explained, with sustained investments in transparent data reporting and sustainable aviation fuel serving to bolster the growth of responsible tourism.
The influencer economy is “driving business away” from online travel agencies (OTAs), according to Choi, as companies look to attract the Gen Z market by integrating direct booking into the channels of content creators.
Speaking on the growing importance of artificial intelligence to the tourism industry, Mike Sung, Director, Partner Success-Travel & Hospitality at Plug & Play, noted: “It’s going to be very interesting to see how generative AI is leveraged, especially among travel suppliers in the metaverse. There’s a lot of experimentation happening in the metaverse, and for generative AI, it’s not just about text. It’s also about audio, video and graphics. I think this technology is going to ramp up the velocity of [Web3] solutions, especially for travel and hospitality.”
Commenting on the need for investment in data transparency, Natalie Seatter, Chief Product Officer at OAG, said: “The big elephant in the room is the large cloud-based data warehouses [the industry] is using to power platforms. It’s either really hard to understand the carbon-emission cost of these platforms or no one wants to tell you how big it is – or maybe it’s a bit of both. I think that’s certainly one of our challenges.”
