What is the Influence of ChatGPT and Generative AI on the Travel Industry?
In recent months, there has been a great deal of excitement surrounding the potential of Microsoft-funded OpenAI’s ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence (AI) and similar advanced technologies for various industries. According to CNBC, researchers predict that the coming year will see an explosion in generative AI’s use for specific functions across multiple business sectors.
One industry expected to be a quick adopter of ChatGPT and similar AI products is the travel sector. These technologies are likely to play the role of “virtual assistant,” presenting users with trip options, offering personalized recommendations, and building and booking itineraries based on their complex conversational queries.
While some hype may suggest that this technological advancement is poised to revolutionize the travel trade, industry experts are taking a more conservative view of its probable implications. Generative AI’s unique natural-language processing and response capabilities make it particularly well-suited for performing customer service functions. Its ability to converse with users while instantly analyzing vast search engine databases provides “interesting possibilities in particular for itinerary building and question answering,” says Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, Booking.com’s parent company.
However, concerns have been raised that this technology could replace traditional travel agents. Fogel believes that AI is not intended to replace human interaction and that the travel industry should focus on making the human interaction between travelers and supplier partners even richer while creating efficiencies at scale.
In reality, AI-supported efficiencies are already woven into the travel search and booking process. Max Starkov, a hospitality and online travel industry consultant, suggests that we ought to view these technologies as advanced tools that enable smart operators and vendors to better serve their customers and increase market share in the process.
Big-name online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Kayak, Expedia, and Trip.com have already implemented ChatGPT chatbot plug-ins on their websites and mobile apps, taking advantage of the AI’s itinerary-building capabilities and making its trip suggestions instantly bookable.
Starkov highlights how the integration of this technology is poised to shortcut the customer’s path from receiving a recommendation to making a reservation. “Adding AI as a planning tool will help the OTAs to shortcut the digital customer journey and almost immediately transport travelers from the planning to the booking phase of the customer journey,” he says.
OpenAI has outlined the best-use applications of ChatGPT within the travel sector as “enhanced chatbot, virtual assistants, translator of content, and marketing and website copywriting,” according to CNBC. Time will tell whether generative AI remains confined to such functions or expands into many more roles within the industry.
See also: What are the emerging investment trends in passenger services today? & How airlines are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimize pricing and revenue