The State of AI in Tourism

Travel is something I’ve always been passionate about, and I’m fortunate to do a fair amount of it in my career. In 2019 I travelled extensively to deliver Keynotes following the launch of my book. I visited many countries and trained business leaders on how to effectively harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) across their sales, marketing, HR and other business functions. This year, I’ll be heading to Africa and Asia. America is another huge focus for AI in Business in 2020, and in June I’ll be taking my first trip to Chicago (which is apparently the best city in the world if you’re speaking to my not-at-all-biased colleague Ashley). There’s no question it will be a busy year - racking up many airline miles, living out of my trusty suitcase, and checking in and out of hotels.

Maybe it's because I’m so often on the go that tourism is one of the areas of AI disruption that fascinates me the most. According to a Statista report, travel and tourism contributed approximately ￡7.1 trillion to the global economy in 2018. This is only expected to rise thanks to ever-growing market demand driven in large part by the experience-seeking and digitally adept customers of emerging Generation Z and U. As a result, companies in this industry have been presented with the challenge of continuously improving their services to better the customer travel experience.

AI in Tourism: What’s New?

I first explored this topic back in 2018 (you can read that blog here), and my book devotes a lot of attention to it too. When the book was published in 2019, AI in tourism was a relatively new concept, but had loads of potential. In Chapter 3, Simon Greenbury, Future Global Opportunities for UK Tourism Director at Cheeky Monkey, is quoted stating: 

“One thing is for sure. AI in the travel industry is in its infancy but there is no doubt the sector's development is the future. Applying AI tools will open up an abundance of opportunities - some we don't event know yet - that will improve all aspects of the traveller's experience. It will help simplify decisions, shorten the process of buying and deliver a more personalised service.”

Much has changed in the industry in the time since the book was published (including it being translated into Chinese, Russian, Turkish, and Vietnamese!), and we’re seeing many of the big players in the industry implementing some pretty amazing AI in their strategies. The world’s leading hoteliers have really embraced AI and used it to their advantage.

In my book, I discussed how Best Western employed IBM Watson to enhance the customer’s booking experience through an interactive AI-powered ad that provided consumers with travel tips and tricks, recommendations for local accommodations, and special offers based on their travel preferences. Hilton Worldwide has since harnessed the power of Watson to create AI-based concierge called Connie in order to improve their guests’ experiences. Connie uses travel database WayBlazer to provide real-time responses to customer queries and recommendations for attractions, and learns from these interactions to refine its responses. Hilton’s rivals at Dorchester Collection use AI and machine learning to analyse customer feedback on travel sites to discover what their guests prioritise most. This has proven to be an effective listening tool for the group, who removed their breakfast menu and allowed guests to order whatever they like after analysis from major review sites showed that guests want to customise breakfast. 

In all industries, personalisation has proven to be a huge benefit of AI in all customer-facing capacities such as marketing and sales. The hospitality sector is no exception. A 2018 study showed that 70% of hotels say they “never or only sometimes” promote upgrades or upsells at check-in. To combat this, AccorHotels now harnesses the power of AI to offer guests personalised upgrades based on previous guest behaviour and at a price that the guest has shown a demonstrated “willingness to pay” at booking and during the pre-arrival period, up to 24 hours before check-in. This capability is an all-around win, as it helps hotels optimise the allocation of inventory available on the day of arrival, enables both hotels and travel agents to make better decisions about what to offer guests, and provides guests with optimised experiences.

And it’s not just the hotels who have stepped up their strategy. Budget airline EasyJet has begun using AI to analyse masses of information about their fleet to ensure maintenance data is always up to date, which helps avoid delays and reduces risk. In an attempt to cut queues, Delta trailed a bag drop, check-in, and boarding solution using biometric data and facial recognition technology. This proved to be massively successful, with 72% of passengers at Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport preferring this system to traditional methods.

These are only a few of the latest developments in travel and tourism, but at the speed innovation is currently occurring, it’s hard to imagine that others in the industry won’t begin to introduce their own initiatives to keep up with their competitors and ever-evolving customer demands. 

 AI in Tourism: What’s Next? 

The idea of introducing AI is no longer a “maybe” for those in the travel and tourism industry; it’s a “must.” The examples in my book, my previous blog, and in the paragraphs above all demonstrate some of the amazingly useful ways AI can be implemented to make the customer experience smoother and more enjoyable. There’s only one problem though: the public’s perception of AI hasn’t quite yet caught up with its amazing benefits.

I attended an evidence meeting for the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s taskforce on AI on 10th February 2020, and the topic of the evening was citizen participation in AI adoption. From the discussion in that meeting and from feedback gleaned from social media and beyond, it is very clear that the public still does not fully trust AI. This could prove to be a massive barrier for AI’s growth in tourism. 

For example, while some passengers may enjoy the ease of Delta’s new check-in and boarding system, others will fear how their biometric data is being stored and used thanks to a few negative stories in the press about facial recognition tech that may have left a bad taste in their mouths. Some customers may be blown away by how seemingly well companies like Best Western and AccorHotels are able to understand their wants and needs, but worry about invasions of privacy and personal data use. Businesses will need to take this into consideration when adopting AI in their strategy. 

There’s no question that there are massive benefits to be gained from adopting new technologies, but it needs to be done in a way that the customer feels that they also benefit. AI is booming, but there’s still a fair amount of thin ice to tread when it comes to implementation and adoption. In future blogs, I’ll break this down a bit more to discuss how businesses in each sector of the tourism industry can better prepare. But for now, I’m off on my next adventure! 

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