It is fair to say there is a reasonable amount of fear around AI and the travel industry. When Travel Weekly did a LinkedIn poll on the topic last month the majority (55 per cent) of respondents were excited about AI, however a substantial chunk (43 per cent) were apprehensive.
Whilst agents could benefit from a tool that helps streamline their workload, there is also a natural fear that AI might be used to replace jobs.
So just how good is an AI travel agent? And where might they fall short? I spoke to one to find out. Here’s what happened.
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Gathering information
I used Meta AI for my first dalliance into using an AI travel agent. After asking for help the AI assistant quickly got back to me saying it would need the following details: travel dates, departure city, and number of travelers. accommodation preferences, interests. budget and preferred activities.
I responded with the following: “July 1st to the 7th 2024, Sydney to Bali, one traveler, luxury with a budget of $6000 and interest in yoga, wine, culture, hiking and food”
2. The results
The AI assistant very quickly generated a full 7-day travel itinerary including flights, accommodation, and activities. It suggested I fly from Sydney to Ngurah Rai International Airport on a luxury airline such as Singapore Airlines or Qantas. Then it suggested staying at the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay.
The results were fairly broad however some details such as “start with sunrise yoga” at the resort’s yoga pavilion did show a more in-depth knowledge. The activities were about the right pace with not too much shoved into one day.
The assistant also included interesting activities that I had not asked for such as snorkeling or diving, showing it is not overly prescriptive.
At the end of the itinerary, it provided a summary of the trip including the estimated cost of flights, accommodation, and transportation.
Overall Review
Positives
- Very quick: I immediately had an itinerary with little to no wait time
- The itinerary was in line with my interests and came up with activities I was genuinely interested in
- It gave an appropriate level of detail so I didn’t have to Google to get a sense of what each thing was
- The itinerary was clear and not too jam-packed
Negatives
- There was not any personal recommendation of things such as a driver, which would help me feel safe as a lone female traveller
- No links to book
- There wasn’t any information on how to get from one place to another and how long this would take
- It would have been nice to have been given different options around my budget: “i.e if you wanted to save money on flights you could choose this option” or “If you wanted to splurge on an experience you could choose this”
Overall review:
Whilst I wouldn’t use AI to book an entire trip, I think it can be a good starting off point to pull together the bare bones of an itinerary if you are travelling to a region you are not familiar with.
Featured image: IMG2GO AI art generator
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