ATM 2024: How AI can make your travel better

Artificial intelligence can help elevate customer experience in the travel and hospitality sector through personalisation. For that, accurate data is required, panellists at the Arabian Travel Market said on Wednesday.

In the discussion, "Putting the traveller first with AI", moderated by Kate Harden-England, Editor of Travolution, Shaon Talukder, CEO & Founder of Geotourist; Samir Abi Frem, CEO of Lokalee; Ramzi Al Qassab, Managing Director of Sabre Travel Solutions, Middle East; and Frank Trampert, Senior Vice-President and Global Managing Director of Community Sales for Sabre Hospitality, agreed that AI can enhance travel experience, streamline operation and automate manual tasks.

Travel and hospitality are intimate sectors, and each person's preference drastically differs. From flights to hotels to transportation, AI promises to tailor them according to your likes and dislikes. That's personalising customer experience.

Why personalisation matters

Personalisation is a huge revenue driver for the industry. Harden-England quoted a McKinsey report that said there was a 40% increase in revenue from personalisation for fast-growing companies compared with slower-growing companies. The report said 71% of consumers expect personalised experiences from the company they're working with and interacting with."

So, expectations in the travel and hospitality sector are high. Trampert said hotel customers expect hyper-personalisation, and AI will make the tasks easier. "[With] rising expectations, the introduction of artificial intelligence through better algorithms will make the points of friction easier. It's easier for staff members to service customers; it's easier for us as travellers to find the products and services that we really want and really desire. So it's a match made in heaven," he said.

AI in the travel industry is not without challenges. Highlighting some roadblocks, Talukder said AI is useless without data, and data in the travel and tourism industry is pretty poor. Calling it a foundational challenge, the Geotourist CEO said, "Our focus has been on making sure that the data we get for visitors is clear and is of high quality." Only then can we see returns on using AI, he added.

Al Qassab agreed that sorting and marketing data is a challenge. That shouldn't stop us from adopting AI. "If we look at the future of AI and machine learning, the ability is endless," he said, adding that we shouldn't fear and learn as much as possible.

Abi Frem admitted that AI and data collection have improved the customer journey. "You're able to generate more accurate personal experiences, and by providing these personalised experiences, we were able to enhance the customer journey and provide better booking processes. All this changed over the last few years," he said.