Comment: Is ChatGPT an opportunity or a threat to the travel industry?

The world of technology and innovation has always been trend-driven. In 2021, it was crypto, 2022 was the year of the metaverse, and 2023 is likey to be remembered as the year of ChatGPT."What ChatGPT highlights and reminds us of most is that technology continues to develop faster and faster, and that natural language processing, machine learning technologies, and AI are being adopted increasingly and will have massive impacts in many industries, including travel. Together they will bring about a more convenient and integrated multi-modal approach to travel planning "A few months ago saying you had an AI solution was interesting to potential acquirers of companies "

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Mark Ross-Smith, StatusMatch
Mark Ross-Smith from loyalty technology provider StatusMatch doesn't feel that ChatGPT is going to impact the frequent flyer loyalty status space just yet. He says: "Many of the perks of being a status holding frequent flyer member of an airline are access to a lot of information and services that aren't available online easily, often sitting behind password protected member areas or more simply "In some small ways this is already a reality for us in our business. For example, we have found that ChatGPT can produce images for use in marketing campaigns that not only saves us the cost of a graphic designer, but also creates images that get significantly higher click-thru volumes "

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Emilie Dumont, Digitrips
Emilie Dumont, CEO of B2B travel technology provider Digitrips "For sure we are witnessing the birth of a new way of searching for information, processing it and getting an answer: in 10 years we'll probably wonder how we ever organised anything before "A bit like when search engines first came along, whoever controls access to the information superhighways that ChatGPT and its competitors will create will be able to monetise them and we'll quickly see adverts appearing inside the experience. In that respect a whole new industry will spring up dedicated to helping people gamify the algorithms to ensure that their brands organically don't lose out – very similar to search engine optimisation. No doubt we'll see legislation, regulation, consumer watchdogs and more coming into effect very quickly too. While it raises many questions that are unanswered, those who ignore this technology could find themselves falling behind, slowly at first but then quicker and quicker before it becomes too late to catch-up."

For more information, visit openai.com/blog/chatgpt and www.belverapartners.com