54 | TRADE NEWS
Tourism Ireland Selects New Chief Executive Designate
Ambassador
THE board of Tourism Ireland has confirmed it has selected Alice Mansergh as the organisation’s new Chief Executive Designate.
Alice is currently Managing Director, Google Customer Solutions, UK & Ireland, and corporate reputation lead for Google’s EMEA HQ, based in Dublin. Alice has almost 20 years strategic leadership
experience, specialising in
leading international marketing teams, consumer brand engagement strategies and corporate responsibility. A skilled communicator and partner to public and private enterprises, Alice has wide experience working with travel industry partners and has served on the board of Fáilte Ireland for the past five years. The appointment is subject to formal ratification by the North South Ministerial Council. Alice will take up the position on 18 September 2023. Alice joined Google in 2004 and has served in senior roles, including as Head of Operations for UK & Ireland; Head of B2B Customer Marketing, EMEA; Head of Chrome Marketing, Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Director of Consumer Marketing, UK. Alice has led Google’s international marketing teams, promoting consumer brands and developing multi-award-winning creative campaigns for TV, outdoor and digital media in key markets, including the UK, France, Germany and the Middle East.
TRAVEL technology experts offer their perspectives
on how the ‘super-computing’ leap-forward
upcoming could
impact travel – not least considering that the future of AI is partially dependent upon such advances in computational power. The UK government recently announced that it is to invest £900m in a cutting-edge supercomputer, as part of its new artificial intelligence (AI) strategy.
The move
will enable the country to build its own “BritGPT”. Meanwhile
the UK treasury recently
outlined plans around how this ‘exascale’ computer would work – revealing that it would be several times more powerful than the UK’s biggest computers. With other countries sure to follow in the UK’s footsteps, what opportunities – and challenges – will this create for the travel technology space as super computers become more widely available and help to spur on the already big recent leaps in AI by providing levels of computational power IT engineers only once dreamed of? Mike Coletta, Manager, Research and Innovation from Phocuswright comments: “The future of AI – and therefore travel technology
– super-computing.
is inevitably linked to Generative AI has the
potential to drastically impact every stage of the consumer travel cycle – inspiration, planning, shopping/booking, experiencing and sharing – as well as business operations like marketing,
customer service and
backend optimization for travel companies. There are so many possible applications, but initial deployments will likely focus on specific, narrow use cases, with broader applications
emerging in the longer
term. Additionally, rich UIs that are more streamlined and interactive could provide yet another major leap forward in user experience. The upcoming Phocuswright Europe Conference in Barcelona on June 12-14 will delve deeper into this wider issue and explore how the industry can prepare for this game-changing development.” Meanwhile in the hospitality distribution
area, Adam Harris, Founder & CEO of Cloudbeds – a provider of technology to independent hotels – adds: “Super- computing will put AI on steroids and that has the potential to revolutionise the way travelers plan, book, and experience their
Cruise Line shows Ambition with first- ever Fam Trip
www.nitravelnews.com Japan, luxury
The Advantage Travel
Partnership Finds Surge in Travel Agent Bookings
A new Business Impact Survey* conducted by The Advantage Travel Partnership across its travel partners has seen a huge increase in people looking to book their holidays with travel agents. 96 percent of Advantage members that took part in the survey are seeing new customers as consumers seek help to customise and plan their trips this year.
52 percent of these
FOLLOWING the successful launch of a UK-wide ship visit programme earlier this year, Ambassador Cruise Line has announced that key agent partners will be welcomed onboard Ambition* in November for the operator’s first ever Fam Trip.
Sailing from London Tilbury on 26 November 2023, the six-night River Seine & Antwerp Experience will see 30 agent partners offered the opportunity to enjoy the ‘warmest welcome at sea’, courtesy of the UK’s premium value, no-fly cruise line. Taking in Antwerp, Rouen and Honfleur, the sailing will offer them the chance to explore Ambition’s facilities, get a taste of her outstanding cuisine, discover the amazing entertainment on board and sample the available destination experiences.
Could ‘super- computers’ unlock new possibilities for the whole of the travel sector?
trips – I wouldn’t want to be a travel agent right now, this tech will slowly replace big aspects of their jobs.
But the advent of
super-computing will have benefits within the hotel and behind the counter too, for example in setting prices to maximise revenues or in helping fraud prevention by validating that guests arriving at the property are indeed those who really booked the room. As the travel industry adapts to this new reality, we’re thinking hard about what independent hoteliers need to do to be prepared for this and not miss the boat – whilst at the same time using tools like this to maximise productivity at a time when there’s a massive labour shortage in the sector. Everything suggests though that your next Assistant GM just might be a super-computer powered AI tool.” Considering the impact on the OTA and travel intermediary side of the travel sector, Emilie Dumont, CEO of Digitrips – owner of France’s leading OTA Misterfly and other B2B travel tech services – believes that “there seems to be a lot of fear around AI and the super-computing that backs this – mainly that it will replace the need for humans across the travel booking experience. However, we see it as more of a way to enhance what’s already possible through human interaction – it’ll make it possible to provide more personalized customer experiences, faster and more efficient booking processes, and greater optimisation of resources. With the use of advanced algorithms and machine learning, the travel industry can provide more effective recommendations and offer personalized itineraries based on specific customer
needs, preferences, and past
behaviors. Consumers will benefit from this and adapt quickly, whilst there will still be plenty of opportunity for human interaction.”
new customers are aged between 45-54 and 20 percent of new customers are aged 35- 44. The majority of members that took part in the survey have said that growing their businesses and client base is their greatest business opportunity at this time and the organisation has plans to help members maximise this opportunity. The Business Impact Survey
has also
shown that people are changing the way they travel. 69 percent said that they had noticed changes to the types of holidays people are booking post pandemic with 53 percent reporting that bucket list escapes are proving the most popular with their customers as people no longer want to put off the holiday they’ve always wanted following three years of restricted travel.
Advantage members
reported that the United States remains the most popular long-haul destination but that they are seeing an increase in bucket list
June 2023
trips with bookings to see the cherry blossom in
safaris and the Rocky
Mountaineer in Canada. Advantage members are also seeing lots of multi centre itineraries around Australia New Zealand and the Far East being booked this year. Pent up demand has already resulted in a huge surge in cruise bookings in 2023 by cruisers who had their trips cancelled or postponed during the pandemic. Enthusiasm for cruise holidays is reflected in Advantage’s Business Impact Survey with 50 percent of customers looking for cruise holidays which suggests that this demand isn’t going to taper off any time soon, as more people book expedition cruising to destinations such as the Galapagos and Antarctica. The Advantage Travel Partnership found that there is ultimately much cause for optimism among agents – even after the turbulent years of pandemic trading and restrictions, as well as the onset of the cost- of-living crisis and the continuing ‘travel chaos’. The rise in new customers booking through agents, shows that customers are looking to travel agents for their knowledge and expertise to help them personalise and plan the best trips for their budget and have human contact to help them navigate post- pandemic travel.
Destination Marketing Firm Expands into Northern Ireland and Scotland
personnel to allow Cellet to work strategically with the travel trade and national media in these markets and expand its network of brand partners and collaborators. Cellet has recruited Lynsey Lamont,
CELLET Marketing and Public Relations, the Oxfordshire-based boutique marketing and public relations firm had announced that it is expanding into Scotland and Ireland, with the opening of its first regional offices in Glasgow and Belfast. They will be staffed by highly experienced marketing and travel trade
Account Manager, to manage its operations in Ireland. Lynsey has a wealth of experience working in the travel industry, primarily in business development roles across the airline, tour operator and travel agency sectors. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Tourism Business Management and has a passion to continually develop her knowledge and build on her skills within the industry. In 2018, while working for Emirates Airline, Lynsey won the Northern Ireland Travel Representative of The Year award, voted for by her peers, the Northern Irish travel trade. Furthermore, she values the relationships she has built throughout her career to date and looks forward to developing these relationships further whilst creating new ones in her role at Cellet.
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