TXGB talks ‘Mastering transformation’ at world travel show
Our managing director, James Berzins, took part in a thought-provoking panel discussion at this year’s hotly anticipated ITB Berlin (7-9 March 2023).
Alongside speakers from the German and Singapore national tourist boards and fellow tech expert, Dirk Rogl, the ‘destination’ talk track honed in on how tourism authorities are using digital, data and technology to create smarter destinations.
Beyond driving bookability, our vision for the tourism industry in the UK is to use the technology available to forge one big community, leveraging newfound connectivity to secure new commercial opportunities, share ideas, discuss challenges, debate policy and find solutions, together, to increase more sustainable trade moving forwards.
With TXGB’s connectivity we’ve made good inroads and it’s great to see we’re leading the way when it comes to driving up bookability – but it was interesting to learn from other nations that have focused more heavily on content development and syndication.
If we could combine the advancements in both areas to drive bookings, as well as inspiration, we’d have a supercharged model.
Bookings are the outcome – the last link in the chain – and so the key is to create really inspirational campaigns, which are understood by humans and artificial intelligence (AI) alike and which can fuel conversion in a concrete way.
Using AI to help us efficiently shape a stream of engaging content that closes that gap is an interesting opportunity.
It sounds good in theory but the general consensus at the show was that generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, aren’t a replacement for human thought just yet – but we shouldn’t ignore its potential.
As a team, we’ve had some stand-out moments where we’ve literally jumped back from the screen with surprise at the chatbot’s capability.
It is indeed revolutionary and exciting and – as a business in scale-up – gives us some interesting avenues that we’re already exploring – from development, through to marketing and customer success.
The technology is ready and waiting to be harnessed but the hard part is figuring out on what level, how quickly and what the impact will be.
The Singapore Tourist Board’s CEO, Kieth Tan, surmised that ‘if’ ChatGPT is the answer then we first need to work out the question we’re posing.
How do we test and learn with this tech to find the right applications?
And where is its real value, aside from spurting out cool things super quickly?
Suffice to say, when we’ve worked through these challenges it will represent the biggest leap we’ve seen in the last couple of decades – akin to the invention of the steam engine, or electricity – for society and the economy.
AI’s future in travel and tourism
Travel Commerce’s managing director, industry commentator and research analyst, Dirk Rogl, acknowledges that for professionals used to working with people more than data, this can feel especially overwhelming.
However, it can help to concern ourselves less with understanding the technology and more with getting to grips with how it enhances the user experience; the human element.
After all, he says, people are the most important factor in digital travel.
The ambitious Open Data project that the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is spearheading is a case-in-point.
This aims to combine millions of data points from across visitor attractions, tours and tourism offerings to provide information on ‘Destination Germany’ in a more comprehensive, value-adding way than ever thought possible.
For the consumer this means hyper-personalised content and represents groundbreaking R&D territory.
Hearing first-hand about the opportunities this could open up for the entire sector encapsulated perfectly ITB’s ‘Mastering Transformation’ convention theme – helping attendees to see why now is the time to tackle the tourism industry’s collective challenges and adapt accordingly.
Technology may not be the driver but it will enable us to master the key challenges.
And with TXGB sitting centrally, as both an information system and a marketplace, we look forward to unlocking the platform’s true potential with like-minded visionaries that are so clearly heading in the same direction.
5,500 exhibitors from 21 countries had a presence at the first, in-person ITB world travel market since the pandemic. Embracing the organisers’ maxim ‘Open for change’, 90,127 attendees from 180 countries took time out to discover the main levers driving that change.