Like most areas of life, the travel and tourism sector is undergoing extensive change as a result of a variety of new, modern technologies. Technology now permeates almost all aspects of travel, whether it is a traveller making a reservation, a travel agency offering its services, or a hospitality provider presenting and delivering amenities. Despite recent comeback in some regions of China, pandemic-driven limited mobility is already a thing of the past for most countries, including India. As a result, so-called vengeance travel is now a major force in the travel industry.
What are the five travel technology developments that are most likely to emerge in 2023 as 2022 draws to a close and as the new year approaches?
AI will become almost ubiquitous
Unquestionably, in the upcoming year, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and similar applications will play a bigger role throughout the entire travel experience. Travelers will increasingly use voice search, an AI-derived technology, for a variety of services, including finding places to visit and booking tickets, lodging, and leisure activities. In contrast, an increasing number of travel agencies, lodging establishments, and entertainment service providers are projected to offer AI-enabled customer care to their clients in the upcoming year using chatbots powered by AI. In fact, an Indian provider of train travel solutions already employs AI/ML to determine which routes call for certain of its specialised and highly-prized service offerings. Travel that is individualised and boutique is going to become the “new normal.”
Various recognition technologies will become more prominent.
The tourism and travel business may use a variety of cutting-edge biometric authentication technologies that will likely develop in the upcoming year. The industry is anticipated to adopt cutting-edge fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, finger and palm vein pattern recognition technologies, and facial and behavioural biometrics (gait, voice, and accent recognition) giving personalization a whole new meaning while existing retinal scanning and relatively recently introduced iris scanning would become more widespread. The most recent example of this anticipated trend is the introduction of DigiYatra, an app-based service that uses facial recognition technology at the airports of Delhi, Bangalore, and Varanasi.
Payment and fintech companies will employ cutting-edge biometric technologies.
The employment of cutting-edge biometric technologies by fintech and payment businesses will make travel and hospitality-related payments even more user-friendly and practical in the upcoming year, in line with the aforementioned developments. It would be less common for travellers to experience the usual headaches and inconveniences, particularly when they change or cancel their travel and lodging plans, which frequently results in a conflict between service providers and service recipients, as observed in the wake of pandemic-induced lockdowns. The availability of non-cash financial credits like travel vouchers and loyalty points would therefore gain more traction as a result of the emerging combination of cutting-edge travel, financial, and biometric technologies, while touchless payment systems would still offer a frictionless travel payment experience.
Utilizing AR and VR technologies will significantly improve the travel experience.
In the upcoming year, a variety of other actors, such as leisure destinations, vacation spots, and recreation and entertainment centres, would not lag behind while hotels and resorts increased their use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies with a focus on enhancing their value propositions to their existing and potential customers. The entire experience is anticipated to be more dynamic and immersive than ever because VR will allow a traveler-customer to get a glimpse into the perks and advantages of a potential hotel or vacation resort and the amenities therein even before he makes a booking. When a tourist reaches his or her destination, AR equipped with cutting-edge apps, cutting-edge cameras and videos, and interactive maps will make the trip far more interesting and valuable. Both of these technologies will be more widely used by the travel and tourist industry in 2023.
Travel’s upcoming frontier: the metaverse
The much-discussed metaverse is anticipated to experience some activity in the upcoming year. Although the specific scope and form of the role that the metaverse will play for travellers is not yet obvious, it can be anticipated that the overall experience would be more sophisticated and deeply engaging than what AR and VR have to offer.
As a result, from the perspective of travel technology, the upcoming year looks to be very intriguing. A tech-based train journey solutions supplier in India even provides the option to upgrade a wait-listed train ticket to a guaranteed aircraft ticket for just Re 1! 2023 will undoubtedly be a thrilling year for travel technology, not to mention for travellers.
