ITB Berlin: Travel and Tourism Can No Longer Ignore AI

Phocuswright SVP Charuta Fadnis speaking about how AI is changing the travel industry.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential in travel and tourism business topped the agenda at this year’s ITB Berlin and for the first time, the ITB Berlin Convention hosted a dedicated AI Track casting the spotlight on the impacting technology.

Charuta Fadnis, senior vice president of Phocuswright, referred to the growing importance of generative AI, adding that it affected providers and customers alike. Companies which include AI in the online presentation of their services have been able to significantly increase their turnover, said Fadnis, referring Tripadvisor, which managed in the first three months after introducing an interactive service to achieve an average threefold turnover per customer.

Travel behaviour in the age of AI and VR

In his keynote speech on the Green Stage at ITB Berlin, Fast Future CEO Rohit Talwar talked about AI’s potential for shaping a more inclusive travel industry.

Speaking on the Green Stage at ITB Berlin, Fast Future CEO Rohit Talwar said 86 percent of tour companies say AI and ML (machine learning) significantly influence their business model, while in the last decade, 211 startups have been established focusing on AI-based data analysis. He added, however, that not many travelers make use of ChatGPT and similar technologies when choosing a destination, with 38 percent actually refusing to use them to plan a trip. Approximately, 35 percent do use these technologies to compare prices while the majority at 92 percent say their choice of destination comes down to a personal wish lists, followed by recommendations by friend and relatives. Only, 12 percent said marketing activities influence their choice.

‘GenAI provides customers with better advice’

Glenn Fogel, Chief Executive Officer and President | Booking Holdings.

“Generative artificial intelligence can be of more assistance than real humans when customers are making their travel plans”, said Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, who supports the use of AI. Speaking to Phocuswright’s Charuta Fadnis during a fireside chat at the ITB Berlin Convention, Fogel said GenAI provides customers with better advice that is available from humans.

“The latest developments in generative AI provide a boost to our work,” he said, adding that holidaymakers prefer to plan trips through one single platform. “To achieve this, we want to offer intelligent solutions, which also incorporate travel options, payment systems, and much more.”

World’s first AI virtual digital human cabin crew at ITB

Photo source: Qatar Airways

Indicative of the changing times, during ITB Berlin this year, Qatar Airways launched its holographic virtual cabin crew, Sama 2.0. The airline is the first in the world to develop the AI-powered digital human cabin crew to assist its passengers in designing curated travel experiences.

Late last year, a Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH) and Capsule T Travel & Hospitality Accelerator event in Athens highlighted the urgent need for hotels and hotel owners in Greece to integrate new technologies including AI into their working models in order to remain competitive and at the same time accessible.