Beyond Mobile: How Voice and AI Are Changing Digital Travel
Skift Take
Despite the rapid shifts already caused by mobile, even bigger changes are on the horizon as voice search, artificial intelligence, and conversational messaging are transforming how travelers interact with travel brands. While there is a lot of excitement around the promise of each of these technologies, we now face the challenge of implementing them.
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In the past decade, mobile devices have revolutionized the travel industry. Some forecasts now predict more than half of all travel purchases are made with mobile, and mobile is reshaping how every travel organization, from corporate travel firms to airports to hotels, interacts with travelers. But despite all the rapid shifts already caused by mobile, even bigger changes are on the horizon. That’s because three emerging interfaces, including voice search, artificial intelligence and conversational messaging, are transforming how travelers will interact with travel brands on mobile in the future.
The first big shift is the move toward conversational messaging apps like Slack and Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger. These “chat” apps are reshaping how mobile users communicate with friends, family, coworkers and, increasingly, with travel brands, leading some to proclaim this paradigm as the start of a new era of “conversational commerce.”
Many travel companies are already working on messaging tools featuring “artificial intelligence” chatbots, fostering intelligent conv
