Tim Hughes: “Submit a search box. There's a lot of interesting work on AI content.”
If the travel industry is to enter the third era of digital travel with resilience, confidence, and purpose, it will require a human revolution amidst the technology revolution that unfolds in the travel industry, but it will face several challenges along the way. I am.
That was the key takeaway from discussions with travel tech companies gathered at WiT Japan & North Asia in Tokyo this month.
The first challenge is how to balance technology and product innovation with consumer human behavior: the AI-infused products that travel brands are deploying are too far ahead of what consumers are accustomed to. The question is what to do to avoid exceeding the limit.
Timothy Hughes, vice president of corporate development at Agoda, calls the “curse of the search box” a problem that keeps consumers locked into the traditional destination-and-date search paradigm, preventing the adoption of more advanced recommendation systems.
“We haven't yet figured out how to train consumers to stay away from the search box. But beyond the search box, there's a lot of interesting AI content work that can be done. Checkbox filtering systems are disappearing, and filtering systems are disappearing. I don't think it will be long before it is replaced.”
Rethink user interfaces, but what about human attention spans?
Klook's David Liu in conversation: “Maybe at some stage in the future we can completely change the interface.”
But given the large number of mass-producing AI tools out there, especially this week when OpenAI and Google announced a number of new features that will drive mass adoption by both consumers and technologists, consumer behavior Some might argue that changes will occur more quickly.
David Liu, Chief Product Officer at Klook, said: “At some stage in the future, we might be able to completely change the interface. Users are no longer coming to search. Maybe they're trying to tell you something or show you a picture or something. , and that's where we start engaging with our users.”
Rethinking user interfaces presents another challenge: designing for short attention spans. Liu said: “I was sharing data with my team the other day about human attention span. There's research on this. In 2000 it was 12 seconds; in 2013 it was 8 seconds. And now… If you look at the new generation, their actions on TikTok and Instagram last for two to three seconds at most.”
How do you design a product as complex as travel in that little time? “You want it to be as easy and as intuitive as possible for the customer. Beneath the surface it becomes difficult for us,” Liu said.
How can humans keep up with the speed of change? Requires rapid reskilling
So how do people working at travel tech companies keep up with the pace of change? Maybe it's just a change in mindset, as many CEOs have told me they're trying to instill in their organizations? What happens if your mind is willing but your body and mind are not? Existential questions will be posed elsewhere…
In reality, rapid reskilling is required to ensure that employees are not displaced by new tools. And while there has been a lot of talk about AI replacing skills rather than jobs, the reality is that many tasks will be taken over by machines and humans will need to understand our place in the value chain. Probably.
For example, will humans be in charge of making hotel beds, while machines will decide who will sleep in that bed, how much they should pay, and what kind of sheets they want?
Initiatives in the “resource allocation battle”
According to KLOOK's Liu, one practical technology solution is to build flexible, modular systems that can quickly adapt technology infrastructure and unbundle systems as consumer demands change.
Liu said this is a valuable lesson learned during the pandemic. “Over time, we've made our systems more and more flexible and more and more standardized. So today we're using what we call 'to do' templates to basically provide customers with You can now reserve anything as a trial.
“The more flexible the system, the more likely things are to change.”
Additionally, how do systems prioritize what Agoda's Hughes calls the “battle for resource allocation” to make strategic choices amidst competing demands and the ever-present threat of competitors gaining the upper hand? There is also the challenge of whether to develop it.
he said: “We have a lot to work on. We have to choose the systems and processes we want to work on. Making those choices is really hard, hopelessly hard. And we have to give our competitors a little bit of time. We can take a step forward if we give…We are afraid of misallocating resources to one side or the other.”
Having said that, he added: This is the benefit of being able to run large-scale experiments on large-scale technology platforms. There's no need to give up. We need to keep testing and trying and waiting for the day when we are ready. ”
Vincent Deyro, Veltra: “Knowing the global market and seeing a lot of products coming in, I think even if we had an advantage here in the Japanese market, it wouldn't last long. We have to prepare.”
What happens if we don't have the scale and a giant enters the market?
Therefore, the biggest challenge faced by small and local businesses is how to compete without the scale, resources, and innate DNA to keep testing and trying to gain an unnatural advantage over competitors. Is that so? How do you protect the outer moat?
In a panel discussion on 'Humanizing Experiences and Places', while it was said that the human element remains important in the delivery of on-ground experiences, panelists dismissed competition from global OTAs such as: I agreed that it couldn't be done. Klook and GetYourGuide in the Japanese market. Not only do they want to capture a piece of the inbound market, they are now also targeting domestic and outbound markets, which is a natural advantage for Japanese companies.
said Vincent Deiro, Senior Engineering Manager at Vertra, Japan's largest tour and activities marketplace. As a foreigner here in Japan and working for a Japanese company, it's a little scary. Knowing the world market and seeing many products coming in, even if we have an advantage in the Japanese market, I don't think it will last long. we have to prepare for it. ”
Atsushi Takuya advocates for the need for AI protocols in travel, saying the era of AI agents can only be realized by integrating data silos
Atsushi Tarai: The travel industry needs to develop an industry-wide AI-to-AI communication protocol that unifies fragmented travel data silos and allows AI agents to work together seamlessly.
In another session, Atsushi Tarai, co-founder of TheEdgeof, a positive impact fund that has raised $200 million in seed funding to invest in AI-focused startups, said he strongly believes that “industries will be completely revolutionized by AI technology.”
Tarai, who was involved in the first wave of AI 30 years ago when he wrote his master's thesis on AI applied to the design of industrial robots, calls this the “AI agent era.”
“Each individual has a personal AI agent that understands my tastes, personal information, interests, and preferences. My AI agent goes to an AI travel agent to discuss my next vacation plans, gives me options, and provides I wouldn't be surprised if it recommended the option with the lowest carbon footprint. I don't know enough to think about the environmental impact of my travel choices, but an AI agent can do it for me.”
However, this was the first time he had attended an industry-specific conference, and Tarai said the travel industry, like other industries, faces unique challenges related to data fragmentation and silos. He pointed out that he was facing.
His advice is that the travel industry needs to develop “industry-wide AI-to-AI communication protocols that unify fragmented travel data silos and allow AI agents to work together seamlessly.” A neutral industry association could make this happen, he said.
“Maybe something like WiT in partnership with the community could be a starting point,” he said in an on-stage interview. “All these fragmented AIs need to communicate with each other.”
Only then will AI be able to be productive for travelers. “Right now, you have to ask questions to get answers, so you have to be very creative to get the right answers. With a more productive AI, maybe you'll get the right answers.”
Let KLOOK's Liu have the final word: “No one knows where we're going or when we'll get there, but we're all in this industry together.”
