The travel sector faces a labor shortage that will worsen as global demographics point to a significant shortage in the coming years. In this situation, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is the solution to balancing technology and human talent.
Due to the sector's seasonal nature and the high level of digitalization already achieved, the travel industry has quickly begun to integrate automation and artificial intelligence. We are entering a new era of tourism characterized by the benefits of AI for professionals, businesses, and consumers alike.
As Gema Marín, Vice President of Operations and Country Leader at Foundever in Spain, noted, AI applications in the tourism sector are transformative. They range from travel organization and planning to intelligent virtual assistants, personalized and proactive communication in case of disruptions, live simulation models that optimize routes and services, and virtual reality (VR) training to improve customer service decision-making. These advances increase operational efficiency and significantly improve the customer experience by reducing waiting times and providing more accurate and faster solutions.
"The use of AI is widespread, with increasingly intelligent mobile apps streamlining the search and booking of accommodation and experiences," says Marín. "Likewise, AI-based solutions improve recommendations, flight and hotel price predictions, and manage delays and cancelations. Today, travelers can simply give a chatbot a summary of their needs, similar to interacting with a human advisor, and get what they were looking for."
The customer at the center
AI has made customer behavior more predictable by enabling companies to aggregate internal and third-party data to comprehensively understand customers and offer personalized recommendations. Thanks to AI, hyper-segmentation and hyper-personalization are evolving to adapt to multiple characteristics of an individual and create a holistic vision that encompasses the entire customer journey, from planning to booking.
One of the most widely used tools today is chatbots and virtual assistants that offer solutions based on natural language processing (NLP). This feature helps chatbots make relevant suggestions by understanding the context of customers' questions.
