CEO Spotlight: Nishank Gopalkrishnan of Dreamlines

Nishank Gopalkrishnan is six months into his role as CEO of Dreamlines, an online travel agency specializing in cruises. 

Having come from a role in the tours and activities segment, his priorities for the first few months have included getting to grips with the cruise industry. He has also sought to understand how Dreamlines differentiates itself from other cruise retailers.

Over his career he has worked across travel startups such as Triposo as well as established players such as TUI and MakeMyTrip and gained experience in using technology to plug structural gaps in fragmented travel markets.

Gopalkrishnan views the cruise sector as in need of digitalization, with plenty of opportunity for innovation. 

"If you look at cruise today it's probably four to five percent the global tourism market. It's a relatively small part, but if you look at the way customers book cruises or book cruise packages today, I think there's a huge opportunity to improve that value proposition. That's kind of where me and my team are focused right now, which is how can we create the next generation of cruise packaging or cruise booking experiences."

He also discussed where he thinks Dreamlines stands out currently and the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in driving operational efficiency. The company is rebuilding parts of its technology stack to enable AI-driven cruise packaging from both a B2C and B2B perspective.

Gopalkrishnan went on to talk about use cases of AI in the wider cruise market, highlighting the opportunity for greater personalization within loyalty programs.

He also touched on his greatest hurdles as CEO, challenges for the wider cruise industry and other technologies that could boost the cruise experience.

See below for the full interview with PhocusWire's Linda Fox.