WTM London: AI chatbots hype felt, Middle East makes leaps

AI chatbots in all shapes and forms were the number one technology theme at WTM, held in London at the beginning of November.

- Expectedly, this year we’ve seen a surge of AI chatbots; something that’s been going on in tech for a while now. They are proposing to add value at different stages of business processes in travel and hospitality. There is a lot of experimentation, which is great. Some of the AI chatbots we’ve seen have true potential; time will tell how they will be adopted in hospitality operations and what the long-term impact will be, Infosit CEO and founder Goran Mrvoš said.

Industry leaders recognise the potential of AI in the personalization of travel and hospitality services. Personalised recommendations are gaining traction. Efforts to improve automation in all sorts of ways have been attracting funding and talent. Payment and crypto providers were perhaps more prominent than earlier; they are proposing alternative payments methods that cater to new generations of travellers.

Geo-political instabilities are affecting travel and hospitality, reaching as far as the software supply dynamics.

- Some Middle Eastern countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have seen an opportunity to build themselves as safe destinations, untouched by the current global instability. Among other things, there is an interest in digital sales and marketing channels coming from these geographies, which could be an important signal, Goran remarked.

Core technology solutions on which the industry operates (think booking engines, CRMs, central marketing and sales platforms and the like) were largely absent from the exhibition areas.

- This cannot come as a surprise. By now, these solutions have come to be seen as business as usual. They are not something you need to explain to industry professionals or talk about why it matters for the business. Core travel and hospitality technologies have already been tried and tested with the leading organizations. They have been scaled successfully, proving their robustness and interoperability, as well as their resilience and security. Naturally, any up and coming technology has that same road to travel. I expect to see important developments in travel and hospitality tech stack in the next 12 to 18 months, Goran concluded.