Tourism is an active vacation that gives pleasure and energizes for new achievements in life. Naturally, we want our trips to be perfect. After all, even the slightest negative can ruin a long-awaited vacation. However, it is more common than we would like: planning trips is quite difficult, and things always go wrong.
Therefore, experienced tourists prefer to work with trusted agencies that understand the wishes of their clients and have all the necessary resources to create ideal vacation programs. They can spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to relieve themselves of the burden of planning and simply enjoy their trips. But you don't have to overpay substantial sums for organizational work. New technologies make it possible to automate this process at minimal cost.
Today we will explain how artificial intelligence (AI) personalizes travel services and automates the work of this industry. This article will be useful for both travelers and businesses.
Personalized tours
We all know the pain of choice. Where to go — Bali or Barbados? What to do — exploring ancient cities, skiing or splashing in the sea? Many people themselves are not fully aware of their wants and needs, so they have to go through trial and error. Choosing the wrong tour for them means unnecessary expenses, wasting time and negative impressions. And for businesses, an unhappy consumer means losses both from a shrinking customer base and from bad reviews on the Internet.
Intelligent tour planners will solve this problem. They can take information from public sources — from the browsing history of the site, social networks, survey forms and cookies voluntarily shared by the user. By analyzing human behavior, artificial intelligence can suggest optimal travel destinations, choose the ideal duration of tours and draw up an excursion program. Just imagine: booking a trip in one click, without lengthy study of various offers, lengthy consultations and resolving organizational issues. The benefits are obvious to both the client and the business.
Personal assistants
If you've been to another country without knowing the language or local customs, you've probably stayed close to your guide, group leader, or the most experienced traveler in your environment. Artificial intelligence may well take on the role of such a character. A virtual assistant on a smartphone will provide all the necessary services:
- will talk about traditions and customs;
- will tell you how to get to interesting sights;
- will translate simple phrases in dialogues;
- will warn about dangers to life and health;
- will find the best restaurants, coffee shops and fast food restaurants;
- will provide navigation tips;
- will interrupt you if you start saying something offensive to locals.
Virtual guides based on artificial intelligence can open a fundamentally new page in the history of the tourism business. They will make possible solo tours that were previously considered too expensive, troublesome and even dangerous. If you don't like company or can't put together a group at the moment, just go on a trip on your own — AI will make it as interesting and comfortable as possible.
Smart booking
Another area of tourism that is considered unreliable and unsuitable for beginners is traveling long distances with frequent changes of place of residence. For example, you decide to visit 5 countries and 10 cities in three weeks. The risks will go off scale: somewhere the hotel will cancel the booking, somewhere the flight will be postponed, and in others you will not like the accommodation conditions.
Artificial intelligence will solve these problems. All you have to do is choose waypoints and dates for your visit. The service will automatically select the best transport routes and book accommodation in accordance with the available budget. If you run into problems, he will solve them on the go: he will write a letter about the flight delay to the hotel administration, find alternative accommodation, or postpone the dates of excursions.
By planning your trip in advance, you will receive not only convenient but also economical booking. Artificial intelligence will monitor price fluctuations and predict their decline. He will book all tickets and hotel rooms at the moment when it is most profitable for you.
Your personal concierge
The experience depends a lot on small details. Overall, the tour was perfect but was the room too hot? Surely you will remember this inconvenience for a long time. Many hotels are ready to adapt to the needs of their guests but don't know exactly how to get the information they need. Two technologies will come to the rescue: AI and the Internet of Things (IoT),
By agreeing to the processing of personal data, you will accumulate information received from smart equipment on your smartphone:
- the temperature and humidity level in the apartment;
- ordering groceries and ready meals for delivery;
- brightness of the lighting;
- daily routine;
- preferences for the strength and volume of coffee, etc.
By sharing your data with a travel agency, you will organize the perfect vacation for yourself. After receiving the information, the hotel will prepare your favorite meals for you, select in advance the optimal room climate settings and the room cleaning time at which you will definitely not sleep. The widespread use of AI will make this technology affordable — it will appear not only in five-star hotels, but also in budget hotels.
Smart pricing
The one-price policy in tourism is not very fair. One guest leaves the room in perfect order, while another may require daily general cleaning. One person never takes someone else's goods, while another person grabs “souvenirs” to remember their vacation. Yes, tourists require different attention and create completely different problems for business.
Artificial intelligence at the service of travel agencies, hotels and tour agencies can automatically adjust prices based on expected costs. This is not only a discount for decent customers, but also a motivation to become better for everyone else. Such a system, similar to credit scoring in banks, can streamline the tourism industry and significantly reduce violations.
Packing tips
Another headache for travelers is baggage weight restrictions. They are faced with a difficult choice: leave the things they need at home or pay extra for their transportation. But what kind of things will be considered necessary on a particular tour? Will you need an umbrella or should you bring an extra tube of SPF cream? You can get answers from AI. The service will study your tour program, assessing the microclimate at each destination and your level of physical activity. If you give him access to tickets, he will automatically remove baggage weight restrictions from them and compile a list of things he needs, taking into account these limits.
Artificial intelligence will also be useful on the way back. He will serve as a kind of consultant for choosing souvenirs. Just specify who you want to bring gifts to — the program will study these people's social media profiles and select the best options. Taking into account baggage weight restrictions, of course. If you're short on time, or if the AI doesn't find souvenirs in stores nearby, it can order them delivered to your hotel room. Agree, this is very convenient, especially if you are not a shopping fan.
One-click tours
The introduction of artificial intelligence into the tourism industry will provide numerous benefits for customers and businesses. This is an opportunity to plan individual tours without unnecessary costs and inconveniences, including single tours. These are personalized packing recommendations and real-time online help. This means fair pricing and smart ticket booking, including urgent ones.
StartDuck will help you expand your customer base, increase customer loyalty and optimize costs using artificial intelligence. We have expertise in implementing AI in the tourism industry, e-commerce, retail and many other areas. Our experts will select the most effective solutions for you that will significantly increase business productivity and do not require rebuilding all work processes from scratch.
