ChatGPT joins Google's Large Language Model (LLM), PaLM2 powering Bard, and Facebook's LLaMA at the forefront of generative AI, as a new technology that will reshape the customer journey and how tourism operations are managed.
According to data provided by Euromonitor's Voice of the Consumer: Digital Survey, with travel highly digitized, where 66% of all bookings are made online by 2023, and mobile accounts account for 35% of all online sales, the Disruption of generative AI is already widespread.
To date, consumers are relatively comfortable with new technology, such as voice assistance that provides personalized product information. However, the big question is how much they will embrace generative AI that relies on more and more sharing of their private data to enable true personalization.
There is already resistance: 45.1% of consumers agreed they are concerned about the amount of data companies have on them in 2023, while only 23.1% felt in control of their data and 21 .8% would not be willing to share any type of personal information.
Generative AI goes mainstream
Launched in November 2022 by OpenAI, with support from Microsoft, the speed of adoption of ChatGPT4 has broken records, reaching 100 million users in two months, going viral thanks to the program's ability to create content in the form of text or visually, answering questions and providing recommendations in a natural way.
According to ChatGPT itself, "ChatGPT is a powerful language model that can perform a wide range of tasks related to natural language generation and processing."
This is leading to a new accelerated phase of automation, with functions as diverse as operations, communications, marketing, promotion, sales, coding, and even sustainability all undergoing a shakeup.
A resounding 97.8% of travel executives said AI would have an impact in the next 1-5 years.
Advance in the planning of personalized trips
Expedia announced in April 2023 its collaboration with OpenAI, offering in-app travel planning powered by ChatGPT for iOS, as well as offering a plug-in for ChatGPT Plus users. The Expedia ChatGPT experience provides personalized recommendations, acting as a virtual travel assistant, providing relevant results for hotels and things to do in the destination.
Booking Holdings' Kayak and OpenTable also announced ChatGPT plugins. Other travel brands like TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide, and Klook followed suit. Trip.com integrated ChatGPT into TripGen, its recently launched AI chatbot that provides real-time assistance, itinerary planning and pre-trip booking advice. Meanwhile, hotels and airlines are turning to generative AI for customer service, while automating menial tasks.
Further integration will inevitably follow so that ultimately trip planning and booking stages blend seamlessly, depending on access to real-time booking functionality. Generative AI is only at the beginning of its journey, giving consumers the “ultimate concierge” at their fingertips, as Airbnb puts it.
AI race creates controversy and risks
However, the path of AI adoption will not be smooth as there are major consumer privacy concerns with countries like Italy temporarily banning ChatGPT. There are also concerns that large language models rely on outdated knowledge of the Internet, with a two-year lag in the case of ChatGPT without access to current events or real-time information. However, real-time data access has been enabled for the latter thanks to a new plugin with Microsoft Bing.
Furthermore, the risks of amplifying misinformation, bias, and inequality are all too real. The safety and protection of consumers must be of paramount importance. Tech leaders like Elon Musk recently called for a pause on AI development to avoid risks to humanity, including the possible extinction of superintelligence, stating that the AI race was out of control and time was needed to allow the government policy catch up.
Another risk of relying on ChatGPT is that everything will become more and more generic, leading to a loss of authenticity of destinations and travel experiences.
QA of service delivery will also be required to ensure there are no disconnects between dream trips crafted by generative AI, but not meeting the necessary standard in the real world, leading to consumer dissatisfaction and at personal risk.
AI unleashes a new era of work
Alarm bells are already ringing about what will usher in an era of mass automation regarding the future of work, especially for routine tasks. However, there are opportunities to move to a 4-day week, creating additional demand for leisure and package travel, while enhancing the creativity and empathy of the workforce where machines cannot compete.
Travel agents faced massive disruption due to the boom in online travel three decades ago, leading to mass store closures and job losses. Now the industry is poised for further disruption as generative AI accelerates task automation at every stage of the customer journey – before, during and after the journey. As Microsoft plans to integrate generative AI into its Microsoft 365 Copilot software, it will become increasingly prevalent in consumers' daily lives and work whether we like it or not.
As before, travel brands will take the hardship to navigate this new phase of digital transformation with a test-and-learn approach. However, only those who ultimately celebrate the human touch of travel and hospitality will thrive.
