Discover How AI is Shaping the Future of Travel: Enhancing Experiences, Streamlining Services, and Personalizing Journeys
Written by Kaelie Piscitello
Imagine landing in a new city, and before you pick up your luggage, your phone buzzes with personalized recommendations for hidden gems, local cuisine, and insider tours tailored just for you. As you step outside, a guide app provides real-time translations, navigation tips, and updates on nearby events, making your journey smoother.
This isn’t some distant future vision—it’s the here and now, thanks to artificial intelligence. AI quietly but powerfully reshapes the travel industry, making trips more intuitive, personalized, and memorable than ever. AI transforms travel experiences, making each journey not just easier but unforgettable.
AI at the Airport
AI has flooded airports and given them massive upgrades over the past few years. Companies have implemented facial recognition assistants into security scanning devices, making it much quicker to pass through checkpoints and customs.
The technology matches a face to the picture on driver’s licenses and passports, making security lines faster and more efficient. Furthermore, airports can now use biometric screening or systems like fingerprint identification and iris screening to easily determine a person’s identity.
Airports and train stations also have access to behavioral analysis systems to detect suspicious activity. Beyond determining prohibited items during security screenings, these tools can monitor people’s body language to assess their potential threat level and flag behaviors such as anxiety and unusual movement patterns suggesting potential criminal activity.
Artificial intelligence can also monitor crowds and identify bottlenecks and overcrowded spaces in airports. By identifying potential locations where it could become crowded, the technology allows airport staff to redirect people and reduce crowds.
Additionally, new technologies can also help manage evacuation procedures during emergencies. For example, Scylla made a product that can detect intrusions to places with unauthorized access by providing airports with video analytics. Meanwhile, SITA has a passenger management flow system to predict movement data and alert airport workers when a place gets busier.
AI-powered Robots Take the Scene
In addition to machines, many airport robots utilize AI to streamline processes and enhance service. For example, robots can now clean different parts of the airport with disinfectant sprays and UV lights, making sanitizing easier for airport employees.
Robots can also now guide passengers to where they need to go, including restaurants, gates, and other points of interest. The robots can also provide people with real-time updates about their flight status throughout an entire airport.
Many robots also now assist with handling baggage. They move the items from counters to sorting areas and reduce the likelihood of human error.
The Power of Predictive Pricing
Predictive pricing can help travelers plan a budget-friendly trip today. Websites such as Google Flights, Hopper, and Skyscanner exist today and can notify their users each time a tracked flight or hotel goes up or down in price.
Furthermore, these websites can also track a traveler’s search history and preferences and then provide them with suggestions for the best time of year to book a specific trip. Overall, predictive pricing can provide customers with more cost-effective travel planning.
Many of these sites offer travel bundle deals complete with flights and hotels, all under one price lower than the value of making separate booking purchases. Finally, AI can also provide customers with the best prices for flight options when they get cancelled due to poor weather.
Not Lost in Translation
People can kiss communication troubles during international travel goodbye! Translation has come a long way in a short amount of time. In addition to services requiring people to type in a word or phrase and know the translation immediately.
Many applications, like Microsoft Translator, today use simultaneous or real-time translation. This means people can talk into their phones, and then the other person can read the translation at the same time.
If an app doesn’t work for whatever reason (and sometimes they don’t, depending on the country), travelers can invest in Google Pixel Buds.
Each person wears an earbud, and then the buds give the listeners real-time translation as they speak. However, instead of writing out the words, the earbuds translate the spoken words into spoken words. This makes translating across cultures much easier and more convenient.
Building a Personalized Itinerary
Of course, many people love the personalized itineraries they can create for themselves using AI. Today, AI can analyze user preferences based on social media algorithms, making it much more likely to receive destination recommendations you will feel more interested in.
Here’s a hint: if you want specific recommendations for a trip, look up “things to do in…” on Instagram/Facebook reels once or twice, and then the apps will flood your Discover page with them!
In general, anyone can easily find hyper-personalized activities best suited for them on vacation, especially with apps like UTrip and Inspirock, which gather data on people’s interests to craft interesting trips.
In addition to specifying activities, AI can make suggestions for your itinerary based on health and accessibility needs. AI can factor in diet, health conditions, and other health factors to determine a destination and activities there, providing travelers with their well-deserved vacation.
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