REIMAGINING INDUSTRIES WITH
AI IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM

Travel and tourism are vital to shaping and sustaining economies. These sectors create jobs, develop infrastructure, and promote cultures. They are also driving forces in the global economy, but the sectors nearly collapsed during the pandemic. As these sectors continue rebounding, the travel industry can utilize artificial intelligence software built by expert developers to optimize operations, boost productivity, and enable customers to streamline travel experiences and itineraries.

Software developers can facilitate the integration of artificial intelligence within the travel and tourism industries to help businesses achieve the goals of providing superior customer service and streamlining operations.

Embracing Chatbots for Expedient Client Success

Chatbots have been adopted by businesses as a tool to expedite customer inquiries. They were not designed to replace support service representatives but to be utilized as another resource to enhance client relations, providing knowledgeable information in the absence of a support representative.

Customer satisfaction is a top priority within the travel and tourism industry and efficient communication and access to staff is paramount. Chatbots enhanced by AI enable expedient online support service and the unique ability to curate broad information, such as flight and hotel information instantly. Customers demand fast response times and chatbots are another available resource for businesses to embrace that will exceed the goal of providing expedient, knowledgeable information to customer inquiries.

Counter Staffing Shortages with AI in Travel

Effective customer service has several hallmarks, including courtesy, attention to detail, and fast communication. The travel industry is no exception and with competition, establishments need to distinguish themselves and perhaps utilizing AI is one resource for enhancing the customer experience. As the global pandemic decreased, the travel and hospitality industry slowly rebounded but businesses were left to struggle with staffing and labor shortages. With diminished staff, the client success rate was compromised.

AI was utilized to fill the void left by staffing shortages, with the hospitality industry going a step further by implementing robots to complete support service tasks. In marked contrast from Hollywood’s portrayal of robots, the service industry used robots enhanced with AI that could perform rudimentary tasks and ease the responsibilities of staff and managers. Expert-level software developers were able to optimize robots with Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning to enable the successful completion of customer service tasks. Customers communicated their requests and robots enhanced with NLP translated the language to data commands.

Optimizing Workflow and Enhancing Client Relations

The digitization, or modernization of the travel industry has taken a great leap forward. Digital-based interactions now account for the majority of communication between customer and business. With AI utilization becoming a mainstay in the industry the transition to embracing robotics to optimize workflow and enhance support services is more seamless than we believed.

Software engineers have expanded robotic features and introduced autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to reduce staff workloads and enhance client relations. Equipped with machine vision to measure and navigate travel routes, AMRs utilize sensors to complete pre-defined tasks. Coupled with NLP capabilities, an AMR can be programmed by an expert-level software developer to complete a variety of support service tasks such as greeting guests, transporting luggage, and fulfilling room service delivery.

Eastern Asia hotel chains have recently invested in AMR technology, creating demand in the continuously burgeoning global travel and hospitality industries. This significant investment reinforces business demands for AMR and provides software developers new avenues for revenue creation.

Using AMRs to reduce personnel responsibilities can be an option for travel businesses still struggling with staffing challenges. AMRs can enhance client success rates by providing one-on-one attention to customers and reducing wait times for information, guest services, and other amenities.

The Future Is Now

AI and robotics can be utilized as complementary resources to enhance businesses and optimize workflow. While our previous introduction to robotics glamorized a mysterious co-existence with humans, we must remember that AI and robotics are designed to assist and create new, beneficial possibilities for businesses to reimagine how they respond to challenges and enhance the customer experience.

With significant investments in AMR technology abroad and the software driving it, we see AMR and AI as strong growth markets. Precedence Research has forecasted the global AI software market to exceed $1.09 trillion by 2032, and this reinforces our belief that the versatility of AI is not only exclusive to the travel and hospitality industries but stands to be successfully utilized by several industries, enabling software companies poised to create multiple and sustainable revenue streams.