According to Greg O’Hara, founder and senior managing director of Certares, there is untapped potential for artificial intelligence (AI) in the travel industry.
In an “unfiltered” executive interview at Phocuswright Europe last week, the vocal industry player said AI has the potential to give people more time—if we're to believe it will allow them to work less and get paid more—therefore opening up the ability to travel.
“What are they going to do with the rest of their time? They’re not going to do nothing, and one of the things they’re going to do is travel, and the other thing they’re going to do is learn things,” O’Hara said.
With that in mind, tours and activities operators should also be prepared for business to pick up, as AI is “manufacturing free time that people haven’t had,” he said.
In terms of New Distribution Capability, O’Hara offered a more critical view, stating that he wished the initiative would arrive. According to O'Hara people don’t pay different prices because of yield management but do so because of personal travel habits and how they’re segmented—whether as an investor who is willing to pay more or someone who is more price conscious.
“I don’t think the tech’s ready yet. I think we’re going to find that a lot of airlines use it for different things ... the other thing is that it’s not really doing anything that the GDSs can’t do already," he said.
“They tried to blockchain it for a while and that wasn’t different enough, and so they’re using kind of brute force to try to get the industry to accept it, so I hope it comes up with some innovative products that serve the customer better, because that’s what we’re all here to do.”
O’Hara also shared his thoughts on where technology fits in the travel industry, his recent visit to the Middle East with President Donald Trump, the “bullish” or “bearish” nature for online travel agencies with AI and more.
Watch the full conversation with Pete Comeau, managing director of Phocuswright, in the video below:
Greg O'Hara Unfiltered