TECHNOLOGY

Artificial Intelligence fuels travel tools

Ami--smart-assistant

After Siri (iPhone), Cortana (Microsoft), Alexa( Amazon) and Google Assistant, lay internet surfers have got used to speaking rather than typing their questions. Now we can expect sectors like travel and tourism to use smart assistants to grow their business.

Brighton and London-based Active OMG has created an Artificial Intelligence-based app called 'Ami', which is fully conversational and learns on the job. The company says website sales typically increase by 20 per cent as result of employing Ami. The app can be looked upon as an “extra pair of hands , never sleeping, never tired, just getting on with the job”. She comes with a fully equipped dashboard so that travel and tourism players can control, optimise, and manage Ami to maximise their sales and customer service.

For travel agents, Ami, can send fully qualified sales leads straight into their dashboard, where they can convert them into sales. The same would apply to hotel and tourism department sites. But a leader of the travel trade warns that such websites themselves are poised to disappear.... an amber sign for the Indian travel industry that is still largely dependent on websites to market destinations.

Speaking recently to Travel News Daily, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) President & CEO David Scowsill said: "I believe we will see the end of websites, as apps become all consuming on mobile devices."

He added: "We are seeing Skype, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and video conferencing communications merging smoothly on communication devices, for both business meetings and leisure experiences with friends."

But this will not wipe out the need for travel. Even Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will complement, not replace actual travel: "While these platforms facilitate connectivity, people will still want to travel to see the world. Business travel will increase as the human contact required for deal making will never disappear."

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