“Right now is the time to be in the mix” — that’s the advice from leading travel investor Erik Blachford to aspiring entrepreneurs, as artificial intelligence sweeps the sector.
Blachford, who in 1995 helped establish Expedia within Microsoft and became CEO of the online travel agency in 2003, likens the current landscape to the onset of the internet in the early nineties.
“In fact, it felt very much like today's moment filled with AI,” he said at The Phocuswright Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. “I'm telling you, it's very similar.”
As a result, he said it was critical to experiment with AI tools, and to not “put your head in the sand and sort of wait for a couple of years to see how it turns out,” he told interviewer Chris Hemmeter, managing partner at Thayer Investment Partners, who agreed it was a time of incredible experimentation for startups — with everything to play for in the travel industry, whose economics of distribution and travel don't favor a monolithic solution.
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Blachford recalled how in the past travel agencies were reluctant to move online, as they were adept at closing deals in shops. Many didn’t want to use the internet, but the investor said you couldn’t stop it back then. “It’s the same thing with AI. Absolutely can't stop it at this point, the genie is out of the bottle.”
However, it is also now a dangerous time for entrepreneurs because they can get stuck and committed to their idea, and not “pivot off of it and move on”, the audience heard.
Blachford advised flexibility, because of so much global uncertainty. “It's easy to imagine something six months from now that's completely unpredictable sitting right here. You just don't want people to feel bad about that, and stick with something that the circumstances changed,” he said, adding the travel industry should ensure entrepreneurs are encouraged to make another step.
During the “Executive Interview: Past, Present and Future of Travel, Tourism and Tech” he also shared concerns how climate change would impact tour operators, due to legislation around carbon emission reporting. And with flying set to become more costly, some destinations could soon become out of bounds. However, returning to the theme of AI, Blachford said new technologies could offer potential climate change solutions through advanced modeling.
Watch the full session below:
Executive Interview: Past, Present and Future of Travel, Tourism and Tech