INDIA: Artificial Intelligence is no longer an illusion of sci-fi movie writers; it’s becoming an everyday reality. AI and Cybernetics today are at your service in almost every walk of your lives. I feel I am very fortunate to have lived long enough to experience my childhood love, the scientific flicks, in reality.
Strange new discipline
What started in June of 1956, during a workshop where a dozen scientists, mathematicians, and a group of white-shirted men gathered in the USA to discuss a “strange new discipline”; something that didn’t even have a name. They were talking about – how to build a machine that could think and kicked off the decades-long quest for artificial intelligence. It gave shape to what once was a plot device in sci-fi flicks.
AI is today’s buzzword buzzing around with higher and ever-increasing intensity for its ability to create immense power and possibilities. AI simply allows machines to undergo countless numbers of experiences so that it would decide what works in what scenarios.
AI in its early ideation stage was called Artificial Intelligence but during the 21st century, it has stretched itself in a true sense as an Alternative Intelligence to Human Intelligence.
Impact on the travel industry
In today’s day and age, it’s hard to mark an industry that’s not been impacted by Artificial Intelligence. Name an industry, banking to agriculture to retail; every single niche has been fundamentally transformed by the wonders of Artificial Intelligence. How can Tourism marketing and the travel and tourism industry be left untouched?
The travel and tourism industry is one of the world’s largest industries with a global economic contribution of trillions of U.S. dollars. Also, the direct economic impact of the tourism industry, via accommodation, transportation, entertainment, and attractions, amounts up to significant amounts. Hence, an invasion by AI is almost inevitable.
The travel industry has always welcomed technology innovations, especially with digital technology trends. Previously too, travelers have adopted technological changes to make travel simpler and more enjoyable. Airbnb, Uber, and many others are examples of tremendous innovation in products and business models in travel and tourism.
The travel industry moved ahead during the onset of the era of websites with an online presence and became the primary channel to reach customers. Gone are the days when we used to book and experience travel, and the days when today the world used to roam the world with guidebooks in our hands and taking pictures on film cameras.
Travel-related websites today cater to all the information that a traveler needs. The traveler just needs to surf a website and decide where he wants to go, compare options, weigh budgets, plan their itinerary, and make bookings and cancellations.
Impact of Smartphones
This followed advancing into the era of mobile, and the social media craze. The travel industry again was the front runner to quickly adapt the mobile-first approach. And, aided by Artificial Intelligence, was able to generate personalised suggestions to prospective travelers by analysing large datasets.
Most people travel today with Smartphones and share their experiences, photos, and opinions about services on social networks, according to travel sites like Amadeus. Another site, Trip Advisor has over 390 million unique visitors and 435 million reviews on its site, and on every minute, about 280 traveler reviews are posted.
Helping travelers
AI is today helping travelers not only on their way to a destination but also during their stay at the hotel. For example, when searching on Expedia for flights to London, you will be offered several accommodation options for your trip. Similarly, Booking.com offers alternative destinations that may interest you in your next getaway which are based on previous searches.
With virtual voice assistants in the rooms, they can set a temperature in a room, adjust the light or turn the TV on and off. With facial recognition, hotels can make hosting more secure and assure their customers by speeding up registrations.
Today Artificial Intelligence is helping people have memorable travel experiences. It is also helping travel agents analyse traveler’s profiles by looking at their preferences, budget, location, eating habits, and choices, thereby, helping produce personalised suggestions for travelers. More and more travel companies in the market are using AI to enhance travel experiences too.
Artificial intelligence in travel and tourism is used to predict travel options, customise services, complete reservations, and manage needs on the trip and after the trip.
For a traveler of today, the purpose of a journey is more inclined towards the experience based on learning that one can have at a destination and not the destination itself. They now travel to experience a local culinary delicacy or to learn a new activity.
And that is what profoundly changes the ins and outs. Rather than bringing the same experience to the same type of travel, artificial intelligence offers the possibility of matching the desires, habits, preferences of the tourist with the proposed product. By keying in the data that the customer is looking for, locations, experiences, activities, etc. it makes it possihttps://www.transcontinentaltimes.com/the-ai-frolics-of-social-networking.htmlble to generate customised and targeted offers that are more likely to be converted into a purchase.
“An AI-enabled trip will definitely provide more convenience to prospective travelers. It is a big tool for us to prepare a trip in advance, such as to buy tickets, compare prices and recommend sights,” said Qian Xiaoyan, a Lonely Planet author.
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