New Delhi: TV9 Travel and Tourism saw some glittering personalities grace the stage on Monday. The discussion on creating an AIconic Tourism Experience saw panellists Sandeep Dwivedi, Kartik Sharma, Rajesh Magow, Akalp Johari, Vishesh Jhol and Jyoti Mayal give an informative session.
With AI slowly becoming a part of our lives, it will inevitably have a strong presence in our lifestyle. A lot has been said about AI adoption in various industries, and this session shed light on how AI is aiding the tourism sector. The panelists coming from the background of both e-commerce and tourism sector shared how AI is shaping the industry to aid their customer’s travel experience and making it an easier deal than it was a few years ago.
Sandeep Dwivedi noted that Sandeep Dwivedi said that in terms of job perspective, there remains nothing to worry about. With more global adoption of AI, heavy investment is coming soon, and the Asia Pacific region is adopting at a very good pace indeed. In fact, overall, there was even work happening in agentic AI, which is a more proactive approach to the same subject. He also felt that technology would influence the traveller’s choices.
Rajesha Magow said that there have always been two parts of technology’s evolution, with one side being what technology can do to businesses and the other being that it either makes productivity gains or enhances customer experience. He noted that all forms of technology were initially perceived with doubt, including the internet, though it later turned out to be an enabler.
Kartik Sharma said that the biggest opportunity in terms of AI coming in travel and tourism is around curation of experience rather than products, along with AI to understand the customer needs. He felt that platforms like ChatGPT, which have a better understanding of a user’s context, start integration, and then there’s a chance of a real assistant. It won’t be restricted to just something like travel, but will be influential with other associated experiences like proverbial, travel experience and even post-travel experience.
Vishesh Jhol, talking about fintech companies adopting AI, said that the biggest challenge for digital transactions, of course, is about trust in terms of adoption. Thanks to data nudges, he felt that car fraud is very low in India, as a lot of the prohibition and identification of irregular activities is happening in real time. A lot of
Akalp Johari shared his piece on how AI can aid customers stuck abroad in a crisis and said that AI as a model isn’t just about the technology advancement but also about the customer adoption rate. There is also the customer learning curve that needs to be followed. In terms of crisis, there needs to model hybrid while AI tech is in process. There needs to be a human element that supports technology adoption, and all data for the traveller has to be passed on at a rapid pace to the human touchpoint forthe quickest assistance.