AI in Travel: Arival Conference Day 3 Highlights

The Arival Conference showed off some innovative applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the tours and attractions industry via their innovation showcase sponsored by Stripe.

Innovation Showcase

Tip Direct by Trip Admit

• Functionality: Allows tipping via QR code and uses AI to assist in writing reviews through a system called ChatGapT. Users select keywords, and the AI generates the review.

• Impact: 26% of users left a review, with most being 5-star ratings. This feature is unique to Tip Direct, emphasizing its novelty in the market.

• Benefits: Directly benefits guides by offering a digital alternative to cash tips.

WeGoTrip

• Offering: Provides self-guided audio tours in almost 300 cities globally. Utilizes AI to scale and create on-demand tours.

• Production Time: Tours are produced within 48 hours, enabling swift access for travelers.

• AI Application: Converts existing tours into self-guided experiences using AI tools.

• Industry Concerns: Some panel members voiced concerns about the potential devaluation of the touring industry. However, the human involvement in curation was noted as a mitigating factor.

The public vote named Curated Planet as the showcase winner. Unfortunately I missed their actual presentation here however having interviewed Ben Sann, the CEO and founder of Curated Planet, for a research project done with Arival and a European tourism board late last year,  I know that the solution he provides in making critical communication seamless with the frontlines of tour operations.

I also interviewed some of his customers as part of the project and it really struck me how much they love this company. And now it seems the industry at large also loves them. Absolutely one to watch.

Big apologies also to Tour Connect whose presentation I also missed (I blame Alex Bainbridge).

Interview with Johannes Reck from Get Your Guide

Over lunch, Johannes Reck discussed Get Your Guide’s long-term investment in AI, focusing on improving search and relevance to personalize customer experiences.

He emphasized the early stages of AI integration have made % point gains through personalization. Reck envisions a future where travel apps offer highly relevant options to users upon opening, based on AI-driven insights.

When asked to choose between AI and humans in an “either or” quick fire session, Reck chose AI!

Imagine Experiences breakout session:

Imagine experiences builds characters with an accent and a personality to build emotional connection before, during and after the tour. This character is what the customer interacts with for customer service in the build up to the tour.

Ana the Founder from Imagine Experiences did a live demo to have the character from James Bond, Miss Moneypenny help build the strategy for creating a themed tour.

It was pretty impressive!

That’s it from Arival. Onto ITB!