CONFERENCE REPORT


“For example, if I put myself


in the shoes of a small travel agent, maybe I want to maintain my lifetime relationships with my lifetime customers and do a lot of checking in between their trips or during their trips but I have very limited bandwidth. So how can we continue to add capabilities into our tech tools so we make their lives easier, make them grow engagement and grow more customers?” Aroa Fernandez, data and


AI specialist at Microsoft, said: ǘ¾ĺŭǝĢŭšŨǝİóóíǝËǝĉśĺƃĒİĉǝ mindset and curiosity for these new tools, not technical skills. “There’s a lot of space and


room for improvement, but there’s a lot of amazing things we can do and you’ll see that with ChatBot-X” To shed light on the matter,


Fernandez consulted ChatBot-X, which responded with: “Business leaders in the travel and hospitality industry should embrace generative AI and large language models ǍZZbšǎǝËšǝŘĺƃóśĈŭĨǝŨĺĺĨšǝĈĺśǝ improving their operations and customer experiences. “Ultimately, the successful


adoption of generative AI and LLMs in travel will require a careful balance between innovation and responsibility.”


Pedro Camara (right)


Climate tech and AI ‘to change lives’


While climate change and emerging technologies have touched all of our lives in some way, it touches the travel industry in particular. Gerd Leonhard, CEO,


founder and media futurist, explained to a room of 330 travel executives that technologies like climate ŨóçďǝËİíǝËśŨĒƛçĒËĨǝĉóİóśËĨǝ intelligence will change lives. Leonhard, who has been


listed by Wired magazine ËšǞĺİóǝĺĈǝŨďóǝTĺŘǝƣƢƢǝbĺšŨǝ GİƜŭóİŨĒËĨǝPóĺŘĨóǝĒİǝ)ŭśĺŘóƺǝ presented insights into some of the trends paving the way for the future of our industry. “It’s interesting to see that


the future is closer than we ever thought,” he said. “The future is no longer about tomorrow. The future’s here.” DóǝšŨËŨóíǝŨďËŨǝƩƣȎǝĺĈǝ


generation Z (those aged ƣƣǑƤƨǎǝËİíǝĉóİóśËŨĒĺİǝ¾ǝ ǍËĉóíǝƤƩǑƦƤǎǝæóĨĒóƂóǝŨďóǝ future is worse than the present and that their lives will be worse than their parents’. Leonhard, however, believes the future is ǘæóŨŨóśǞŨďËİǝƃóǝŨďĒİĥǙƿ The author of the book


Technology vs Humanity urged everyone to “embrace


technology” as its development is happening faster than the speed of light. He said: “Basically,


technology is entering warp drive, so that means there is really no end to the power of technology. This development is what


ƃĒĨĨǝËĨĨĺƃǝËśŨĒƛçĒËĨǝĉóİóśËĨǝ intelligence, along with climate technology for global warming, to change “everything” and “change our lives in the most fundamental way”. Leonhard added: “We’re


already on our way to solving climate change – we have all the tech.”


CREATE BETTER VALUE Referencing Expedia’s ChatGPT feature in its mobile app, he urged delegates to think about “how we can use intelligent automation to create better value for us, our customers and for our future”. Leonard said we need to


ƛĉŭśóǝĺŭŨǝŨďóǝæóšŨǝƃËƉǝŨĺǝ use machines for our çĺĨĨóçŨĒƂóǝæóİóƛŨǝËİíǝĒİǝŨďóǝ travel industry we need to æóǝËæĨóǝŨĺǝƛİíǝæËĨËİçóǝ


Gerd Leonard


between pro-action and precaution. “In the travel business,


this is the number-one rule, in my view,” he added. ǘ¾ĺŭǝďËƂóǝŨĺǝæóǝŘśĺËçŨĒƂóǝ


to do what you can safely and that’s good for the customer and good for the ecosystem, but also have some caution. In the end, everything we do is all about relationships and trust, no matter how digital you’re going to become.” Leonhard also called for


a global agreement on ËśŨĒƛçĒËĨǝĉóİóśËĨǝ intelligence, to help organisations navigate implementation standards better in the future. He expressed a need for


guardrails, standards, ethics and collaboration to be able to take technologies and our industry forward.


Blockchain, regulation and AI


Strategic focus for future success nearly always includes selection of the right technologies. Jan-Frederik Valentin, founding partner of ECP, said one we’ll see a lot more of in the future is blockchain. Valentin explained: “A lot of the economy


and bed banks will run on blockchain”. While he’s not the only one to predict


this technology’s rise in popularity, he highlighted that regulation such as the Digital Markets Act is “a little too late”. Morgann Lesne, partner at Cambon


Partners, added: “AI will be a commodity soon.” But he warned entrepreneurs looking at a merger and acquisition process not to “rush into a tech integration”.


TRAVOLUTION.COM — OCTOBER 2023 — 5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52