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At the beginning of the year, I wrote about the vital importance of maintaining the human element in the Travel and Tourism industries as the role of AI becomes ever more prevalent. This was echoed at “Tourise 2025,” an important travel conference held in Saudi Arabia. If you missed that article, I quoted Saudi Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al Khateeb, who opened a segment of the conference with a call to action, saying: “AI can digitalise the whole service end to end… but in an industry where people are the most important, where human-to-human touch is very important, we don’t want to digitise this service. We want to keep the jobs.”
The honourable Minister went on to quote the number of people whose jobs were potentially at risk, and a large portion of the conference was devoted to the necessity of avoiding such a course of action. The question remains, however, exactly how we can achieve this. With AI performing so many tasks that were formerly the domain of human beings, surely the loss of jobs is inevitable.
Well, unfortunately, a certain number of casualties is inevitable. However, if this happens, I don’t believe it will be as much because AI is now doing all our work, as it will be because we have not positioned the role of human beings to be in an effective partnership with AI, one in which the active role of human beings is every bit as important as our technological counterpart.
A shift for the better
In my last article, I spoke about forming a partnership with AI, but what would a partnership of this kind look like and how might it work? Just as one has to recognise one’s partner’s abilities and allow them to get on with it, we need to accept that in certain areas, AI will be far better than us, but we can adopt different roles. For example, AI makes information gathering and itinerary planning easier, so Travel professionals will need to shift from crafting itineraries and begin to focus on validating client-generated plans, supplementing them with expert advice, and executing bookings to ensure accuracy, safety, and a seamless experience. It is not going to be an easy road either. As clients will increasingly utilise AI tools for initial planning, Travel professionals are going to be expected to do some upskilling to remain relevant, and learn to focus on advisory and execution roles rather than solely on bespoke itinerary creation.
Travel ‘brokers’ are the new breed
Perhaps it is time for Travel Professionals to assimilate the role of people like Insurance and Medical aid Brokers. They partner with Insurance companies and Medical aids to offer each other a useful service, but more importantly, they offer the public a useful service as advisors and catalysts between themselves and the institutions they represent. Surely, Travel Professionals should be recognised and compensated for their expertise in offering advice, ensuring the best outcomes for clients. I have no doubt there will always be an ongoing need for expert human intervention in travel planning, despite any AI advancements. To our Travel Professionals, I say let AI do the hard graft and the menial tasks. Let us ensure that we hone and develop our skills with open eyes and ears to the ground. Let us be AI’s watchdog and referee. Let’s make sure that other human beings need and can rely on our professional skills, sharpened over the years by real life experiences, mishaps and crises avoided, because let’s face it, travel is not just itineraries and planned stops, it is about true life experiences in foreign places where you don’t really know what could happen next – and AI will never be able to predict that. Human beings, in our ‘people-rich’ Travel and Tourism industries, will always be as important as ever, but we need to accept that change is inevitable and shift our focus to truly embrace this partnership.
Lidia de Olim
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER