Whether or not companies are officially using AI, your staff almost certainly are, which is why travel companies can’t risk ignoring the trend. In a panel on the real-word usage of AI in the travel industry during the recent XL Conference in Maldives, airline, technology and other travel stakeholders discussed the dangers of avoiding AI adoption.
“Just because you aren’t using it, don’t think your staff aren’t,” said Robyn Christie, travel industry consultant and representative of Development Promotions. She warned that there were serious risks in not setting out a clear AI policy among your team.
“Your customer can tell if you haven’t put a lot of thought into your communication. They are looking for authenticity and empathy from you. If they can’t trust you are actually writing to them, can they trust the information you send?” added Christie.
Getting started
Franz von Wielligh, Head of Innovation at XL Travel, said smaller agencies should start with mainstream tools. “From an agency perspective, we all know ChatGPT and others. For a small agency, use it for front-end usage, day-to-day work. But go for the paid version, not the free one,” he added.
Amadeus Southern Africa GM, Caroline Smallwood, said there were many ways travel companies could invest in tools that made the customer journey more seamless. “For example, pre- and post-booking notifications – invest in something that automates that process.”
Bryan Rufener, Head of Account Management for Travelport Southern Africa, shared an example of another simple implementation: “A local agency asked an AI script for the top 10 destinations to market on its website. It generated images, descriptions and code, which the agency simply loaded on to its site. They now run the script every month.”
Travel insurance providers have also been making use of AI tools to speed up translations and save costs. “We often have to deal with medical reports in other languages. Within a minute we can translate a medical report to English. It has also picked up a lot of fraudulent cases,” said Head of Hollard Travel, Uriah Jansen.
