How Thailand Is Using AI to Tap into Gen Zs Love for Spiritual Tourism

However, businesses adopting generative AI technology in the travel and hospitality sectors must balance the rising consumer demand for this technology with its current limitations. While many travelers appreciate the convenience and efficiency of AI-powered services, others still value human interaction and personalized attention. There is a risk that generative AI could create a cold, robotic experience. This can be off-putting, particularly in the hospitality industry, where warmth and personal connections are essential. Therefore, businesses must integrate generative AI solutions in a way that enhances, rather than replaces, human touch points.

Flights has been a big one, shopping,

people have been using it for event invites, communication, LinkedIn outreach. Travel is one that keeps popping up as a

big use case when we have asked users, and so that is something we are also

starting to focus a lot on. We are also thinking of launching a mobile app so

you can use the agent from your phone. You could use the app as you are

traveling to book flights, to find places to visit – the agent can help you do

a lot of this and make the bookings automatically. Both Narashimham and Tharp said AI has the ability to combine numeric or data intelligence with language intelligence to create levels of personalisation the industry has yet to see.

And unlike Gemini — which has a direct connection to Google Flights — Meta AI does not have as reliable of a connection to flight information, based on a Skift test. Singh liked the idea and worked with the Labs team and Madrona Ventures managing director Matt McIlwain to develop the product vision, customer target, and business model. Travel executives see activities and experiences as increasingly lucrative, and here’s what ChatGPT the numbers say about how travelers are spending on them. You could say it should also be something that differentiates on social media to share. These are definitely the generations that want to share and talk a lot about their experiences. Social media is a big driver there, and just stating that you’ve seen the Louvre, just like all your friends, is less interesting than sharing a special way you experienced the Louvre.

Running a successful hotel involves many interconnected systems, and optimizing just one area while leaving others untouched still results in inefficiencies. As Bill Gates has said, the impact of AI should be as transformative as the creation of the internet or the smartphone —both of which succeeded because they democratized data and unlocked possibilities across multiple fields. For AI to truly revolutionize hospitality, it needs to break down the silos that exist between departments like revenue, marketing and guest experience. Is generative AI-powered change happening as quickly as anticipated? These questions feel relevant, especially with the two-year anniversary of ChatGPT’s launch approaching next month. Google showed how users can get upgraded tourism recommendations through the traditional search bar.

Choosing travel options

As travellers increasingly seek more meaningful experiences, the tourism sector adapts to meet these evolving demands. This episode uncovers how the convergence of technology and sustainability is ushering in a new era of travel that benefits not only people but also the planet. Chatbots are often used in customer service at large travel companies before a caller is connected to a human employee. The takeaway here is that regardless of which age group you fall into, AI has the potential to reduce the amount of time it takes you to plan a trip. AI tools like GuideGeek can help you figure out where you want to go, where to stay when you get there, and what to do while you’re in a given area.

Most available trip planners don’t take logistics into account, but a couple of tests seem to show that Meta AI is getting better at that. For example, it suggested visiting Cypress Mountain and Stanley Park on the same day, which would make sense because the route to the mountain cuts through the park. And it suggested visiting Garibaldi Lake, a challenging hike about 90 minutes away from Vancouver, as the only activity for that day.

Of aviation maintenance jobs may go unfilled by 2033, with generative AI serving as a potential stopgap. You can make your startup succeed, however, if you identify a real problem, stay focused, and work diligently. It took me five years of hard work and multiple pivots to address the right customer pain points effectively. The good thing for Mindtrip is that all of the company’s competitors are working from a relatively level playing field — for now. He declined to share specifics about early traction but said the number of active monthly users is in the six figures.

MasterCard – Trends and Innovations in Tourism

He said Booking Holdings has to figure out how to differentiate services for its top customers. All of these virtual agents, regardless of the company, have significant flaws, but these are early days. That’s where Gen AI can help, doing a better job at analyzing pictures that travelers take of their receipts than OCR (Optical Character Recognition) has been able to do on its own to date. While spiritual tourism has always been part of Thailand’s appeal, younger generations are embracing it like never before. The “Mu Thua Thai Pai Kub AI” initiative is part of a broader strategy by TAT to tap into what is being dubbed the “spiritual economy.” This strategy aims to turn Thailand’s rich heritage and belief systems into a unique selling point. The country’s faith-based tourism market was valued at THB 15 billion ($447 million) in 2023, an increase from THB 10.8 billion ($322 million) in 2019.

Travelport claims it works faster than typical airline search responses and helps identify the most relevant offers for each traveler. The article from Skift.com explores seven ways in which AI is revolutionizing business travel. Additionally, ChatGPT App AI is improving expense report accuracy, assisting in travel disruption recovery, facilitating meeting venue bookings, and helping with travel policy education through life-like avatars and instant language translation.

Tiqets says it’s doubling down on global expansion, aiming to bring its curated offerings to more destinations. Leurink spoke with Skift about the company’s growth strategy, including new partnerships and a continued focus on leveraging AI. Tiqets CEO Laurens Leurink says sales of travel experiences are booming.

Sign languages and Deaf cultures around the world have nuances and complexities that hearing researchers and developers of AI may not be aware of. These nuances and complexities must be embedded in new technologies, and researchers and developers must take a language-first approach to AI data collection and design with – not just for – Deaf people. The German National Tourist Board (GNTB), which markets Germany as an international travel destination, is currently working to create a standardized data set for tourism in Germany. She’s a polyglot who speaks 20 languages, including English in a posh British accent. The information, according to GuideGeek’s website, is sourced from over 1,000 integrations of real-time travel data and monitored by human travel experts in the Matador network.

After all, travel is also about exploring the unknown — even if it leads you to a closed ice cream shop. This article has been updated to clarify that the AI chatbot had already been able to perform general searches. And a Skift test of the Booking.com app’s new AI filter tool was added. For all of the other LLMs, including ChatGPT, there is currently no „go-to“ source for these products.

But all Generative AI companies in the travel space are also looking for this product information. Of course, the OTAs already have this information in their databases, and they’ll be happy to share. But if you want a chance to get some direct business, you also need to take action. In many ways, Google Travel is an ideal product in the age of Ggenerative AI. It’s all about surfacing the actual product (flight, hotel or thing-to-do) rather than the company offering it.

The airline reports that the solution frees up weather and communications staff to focus on more strategic tasks, ultimately improving overall operational efficiency. In the hospitality sector, generative AI’s most promising use cases are in customer-facing roles, such as customer support and marketing campaigns. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. While future AI applications will surely expand to other areas, hospitality CEOs are currently concentrating their efforts on these departments.

AI and travel: Are we there yet?

“You can ask questions anytime, and I’m hear to answer them gladly,” Emma says cheerfully at the end of her first video. She has spent the last 24 hours gamely engaging with her 1,061-and-counting Instagram followers and answering questions on the tourism board’s website. “Emma’s persona is a modern, cosmopolitan Berlin resident that feels at home in the digital world. In her mid-30s and with an affinity for technology and travel, she combines her love of new technologies with her passion for travelling through Germany,” the press release says. Debuted on Thursday in a video by the Germany National Tourist Board, Emma is an AI-generated avatar billed as an “innovative, interactive brand ambassador” created to convince travelers to visit Germany.

Skift will perform its own tests of the updated tools as soon as they are available. To try early versions of these new tools, opt in to AI experiments with Google Search Labs. AI is changing how guests and staff communicate, reducing interaction frequency while making them more focused on user needs. With more channels like WhatsApp and Instagram chat, everyone can use their preferred method to get instant answers about reservations, early check-ins, or extra services. Chat GPT has proven to be a remarkable door-opener for AI, showcasing stunning capabilities. Over the past two decades, new applications have emerged every 12 to 24 months, each promising to revolutionize the world.

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Others also see the potential for AI to simplify travel policy comprehension and fare rule interpretation. In short, Gen AI can reduce headaches, disputes, and delays when travelers file their expense reports. Gen Z contributes to about 50% of these interactions, exploring a range of topics like fortune-telling, luck-enhancing beauty and fashion trends, and products that promise to attract love. This reflects a broader cultural shift where spirituality meets commerce. The Tourism Authority of Thailand also organised an event last year promoting 12 spiritual tourism routes throughout the country. Destination marketing organizations pay influencers to help them reach that audience.

Influencers share their experiences at sacred sites or review astrology apps, turning faith-based travel into a trendy pastime. Tourism Authority of Thailand has introduced an AI-driven initiative designed to boost spiritual tourism. “Mu Thua Thai Pai Kub AI” offers a modern twist on traditional astrology, aiming to personalize travel experiences. Through continuous machine learning, Emma will be able to respond to users’ emotional needs, offering empathetic replies or adjusting recommendations based on travelers’ moods and preferences, said a spokesperson. Amy Read, VP of Innovation at Sabre Hospitality, said the company is focusing heavily on GenAI for future hospitality solutions.

While it is moving at a fast pace, there [are] still a lot of improvements yet to come in particular around reducing hallucinations and training models that perform in multilingual and multicultural environments. Yet we do observe already a proliferation of impactful use cases in particular in domains where the risk of error has a low impact. This includes for instance use cases for internal productivity or assisted sales.

AI can even help align a hotel’s marketing strategy with these new search characteristics by optimizing keyword research. AI tools can analyze vast amounts of data, including search trends, user behavior, and competitor strategies, to identify high-potential keywords. Furthermore, using AI for targeting brand keywords is crucial because it helps establish and maintain a strong online presence for hotels. As more and more search engines adopt generative AI, focusing on long-tail, more conversational, user focused keywords will bring more qualified traffic. AI tools can analyze brand sentiment, monitor online mentions, and provide insights into customer perceptions.

• It also includes a group of potential locations with airfare cost and an AI-generated description of each.
• “We experienced this with search and marketing – the big companies who could afford to spend versus the small who couldn’t.
• As the technology improves, users might bypass online travel agencies like Booking.com altogether, relying on AI to find the best deals on their behalf.
• These UIs will learn from user interactions and offer custom suggestions in formats like voice, images, and fluid forms.

For example, while usually helpful, station staff were sometimes too busy to assist. For example, they would plan their journeys with an app, arrive early and look for signage to let them know if anything had changed. But when something out of the ordinary happens, the situation can quickly get scary, because most updates are only delivered by audio announcements. A Deaf traveller may miss their train because it was moved to a travel chatbot different platform, or watch as their station whizzes by because the train isn’t stopping there today. They may also remain on a train carriage in an emergency after everyone else has evacuated, and have to be rescued by station staff. „I’m not entirely sure whether guests really want this,” he says. After all, tourism also thrives on human contact. That’s why the good old tourist information office is still holding its own.

The most successful travel brands have spent years understanding their users’ needs and preferences – and learning how to influence those at every stage of the travel journey, through a myriad of UI choices. One of the primary applications of generative AI in travel and hospitality is in customer service. Generative AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can handle a wide range of guest inquiries and requests, significantly reducing the workload on human staff. These systems can provide instant responses to common questions, make reservations, and offer personalized recommendations and experiences. While the travel agent on the screen looked and sounded like a video game character, it asked and answered travel booking questions with a near-human speed. With the power of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the Zeno computer travel agent from tech company Serko talked me through relevant hotel suggestions for an upcoming trip.

Whether it be via incorporating AI travel assistants, or using AI to automate a hotel’s workflows and provide actionable intelligence, there’s a collective readiness for AI to improve every digital moment. I believe AI’s true power lies in enabling businesses to drive meaningful innovations from the inside out, so they can be smarter and more efficient in their approaches to revenue management and operations. First, booking engines of OTAs will be integrated into conversational platforms. However, these platforms lack the professional expertise to manage the travel booking process which the OTAs have. The OTAs will provide this experience and their booking engines will be available in the conversational platforms. The OTAs will compete to be the default booking engine of the conversational platform and may pay the platform commission for each booking made through it.

Looking at the flight itinerary, the AI knows it needs to create a plan within the length of the trip and allow time before and after each flight. Gemini Advanced, the paid version of the Gemini generative AI chatbot, will soon be able to build travel itineraries with a simple prompt in easy-to-understand language. With 25 years of experience in hotel tech, I’ve learned the importance of centering solutions around the consumer. Let the big hotel groups invest and experiment; if something truly works, we can adapt it.

Results powered by the best source of knowledge in history — but backed up by trusted sources that we are already comfortable with — has the potential to shake things up further. Generative AI’s rise in the past two years allows many searches to occur directly within AI models. Perplexity has been offering a hybrid model for a while now, and the release last week of ChatGPT Search could be a significant threat to Google. Over the last year, FLYR saw its annualized recurring revenue increase by 290%, the company said. As the company continues on its growth path, Laurence A. Tosi, managing partner and founder of WestCap, is set to join FLYR’s board of directors.

The German National Tourist Board introduced Emma, an AI travel influencer, to boost tourism in Germany. Emma serves as a digital brand ambassador who engages with potential visitors through social media, offering travel tips and itineraries. This move is part of a wider digital strategy to incorporate AI into destination marketing, aiming to provide personalized travel experiences and complement human influencers. Travelers are finding the current system difficult to navigate, with 66% expressing dissatisfaction with planning options. One of the most challenging aspects, according to 48% of respondents, is the booking stage. The inability to bundle various travel services, such as hotels, dining, and activities, into a seamless experience is a major hurdle for 64% of travelers.

Yet, their impact is often diminished by misuse or misunderstanding of their proper application. He urges companies to be flexible when using the technology, noting that new regulations will eventually be introduced. Bhogaraju also emphasized the importance of hiring the right chief data officers, who he said need extensive technical knowledge and a background in the travel industry.