6 uses of AI in travel and tourism

Artificial intelligence is some of the most cutting-edge, rapidly-growing tech available today.

It’s no surprise, then, that AI is hugely popular in the travel and tourism industry–and that professionals use it in a lot of different ways.

AI is highly versatile and plenty of people are finding creative ways to make the most of this tech. We’re going to explore some of the most important use cases for AI in travel and tourism.

How AI is transforming the travel and tourism industry

Before we get into specific use cases, we’ll be considering the overall transformative impact that AI has had on the travel and tourism industry so far.

Whether you’re using it to get more names on your email lists, promote your business, or provide better experiences for customers, AI is a multifaceted tool that can help you in lots of ways. In short, it’s highly versatile in its uses.

It can help tour and activity operators with tasks such as writing responses to customer queries or creating content to drive SEO and improve search engine rankings.  

Also, by using machine learning models, travel and tourism professionals can also ensure that their AIs become smarter and more capable as they’re used. This turns those artificial intelligence programs into flexible tools that support professionals in multiple different ways.

Use cases of artificial intelligence in travel and tourism 

In order to better contextualize the effect that AI has on the travel and tourism industry, we’ll walk you through some important use cases for the technology.

Artificial intelligence is best used for repetitive tasks, as we’ve mentioned. This makes it ideally suited for workflows that need to be completed many times over, to the same high standard each time. Therefore, when paired with an advanced online booking system such as Rezdy, you’re further advancing your workflows and leaving no room for gaps and errors that may be present within your processes.

AIs are also great at tasks like checking data entries, validating information, and processing information into graphs or charts that are easy to interpret at a glance.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at six of the most prominent use cases for AI in travel and tourism.

1. Travel booking and planning

The process of setting up, double-checking, and then finalizing travel plans can be time-consuming and stressful–both to the travelers and the professionals making their plans happen. Thankfully, AI can help with this.

For example, AI can draw upon a client’s previous travel history or preferences to create travel itineraries that are specifically designed for their individual needs. This enables you to deliver a tailor-made service to all your clients with a lot less effort than before. 

It also makes it easier for tourists to plan their holidays as not only can they receive personalized recommendations, but they can conduct virtual tours of destinations and attractions before booking. This means that tour operators can help them plan every detail of their trip before going. 

2. Revenue management

We’re not saying that using AI in travel and tourism directly results in higher revenue. What we are saying is that with AI on your side, managing the revenue that you bring in is significantly easier, simpler, and faster.

Artificial intelligence tools are fantastic at processing payments. That includes incoming and outgoing cash, so you always know exactly how much money your business is left with.

They’re also great at ensuring that the right payment is received for the right service, so you never have to worry about accidentally charging your customers the wrong prices for your services. This saves you a lot of time on admin.

Additionally, AI-powered accounting software for restaurants and travel companies can help you turn the information you have on your revenue into graphs and charts. These are immensely helpful in gauging things like the current state of your finances, as well as comparing your actual revenue to your projections.

This software is also great at setting up invoices and drawing up forecasts, as added bonuses.

3. Customer service

Any travel and tourism industry professional knows that making customers happy is a vital part of the job. That’s why it’s so useful that AI can help you provide the best possible customer service.

One major way in which AI can do this is through chatbots. If your teams can’t be available round-the-clock, chatbots can help your customers still get the information they need during your out-of-office hours. This keeps them from being left with questions or problems and no help.

Also, AI can help you gauge customer satisfaction by sending out surveys and/or polling customers at the end of every interaction. This lets you get a clear idea of how you can improve your customer service, as well as where you’re succeeding in that regard.

4. Business finances and accounting

It’s impossible to run a business without excellent business finances and accounting–and AI is hugely helpful with this.

For example, if you use self-service tax software, you can enjoy all kinds of benefits in your finances and accounting processes. That’s because this type of software relies on making the process of completing taxes as simple and stress-free as possible for end users.

AI-based software helps businesses stay compliant with any rules and regulations, including newly implemented ones. It’s also ideally suited to checking and fine-tuning the way you keep records, resulting in better-organized data that’s easier to scan.

5. Self-service technology

Not every business in the travel and tourism sector has the resources to recruit experts for every task. This is why self-service technology is so important.

AIs are well-suited to that type of tech.

The thing to remember about AIs is hidden in plain sight, within the acronym: they’re intelligence tech. That is to say that they’re capable of interacting with humans on a basic level, in a way that a tool like a set of headphones simply can’t.

In other words, they’re great for self-service, because they can answer questions autonomously.

For example, they can guide tourists through the booking process from start to finish. They can answer questions on travel requirements, and insurance, and even suggest extras that they weren’t aware of.

6. Marketing and advertising

The travel and tourism industry relies on using marketing to attract customers–and this is something AI can help with.

AI programs like ChatGPT help marketers create the best possible advertising campaigns. They do that by talking professionals through the mistakes or weak points in their ideas, which results in a stronger final product. ChatGPT can help with brainstorming ideas for content as well.

In particular, ChatGPT ‘talks’ to humans in a way that closely simulates real conversations. This helps professionals use the tool to fine-tune their ideas for content, ensuring that any resultant blog posts appeal to the right audiences and are appropriately tailored to their chosen topics. 

Using tools like this you can create SEO-focused content for your site and blog that is specifically aimed at improving your search engine ranking. This will boost your company’s visibility as well as enable you to provide engaging content that is of value to your readers.

Parting thoughts

AI in travel and tourism represents a lot of opportunities.

We’ve covered some of the most important use cases out there for AI in travel and tourism today. However, AI technology is always evolving, which means that there are always new and exciting use cases cropping up.

In other words, AI is only going to continue to prove even more useful to travel and tourism professionals. That’s what makes it such a great tool, and what makes it so indispensable to tourism companies in today’s economy.

When combined with an intuitive online booking software, such as Rezdy, AI becomes a super powerful tool for every tour operator who is looking to streamline their processes. Rezdy offers tour and activity businesses the ability to provide a stellar customer experience. Features such as a real-time availability viewer, automatic manifest updates for smoother internal operations, the ability to accept secure online payments, and automatic guest communication all contribute to a satisfactory experience, for both you and your customers.

Ready to join the thousands of Rezdy operators that grew their bookings by an average of 27% in 2022? Start your FREE 21-day trial or book a demo today.

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