36 SPECIAL FEATURE
36 SPECIAL FEATURE CYCLING TOURISM The New Danube Cycle Route Free Mobile App EuroVelo 6 is the must-have app for all cyclists that plan to spend a few days riding long distances along the Danube. Developed by the Danube Competence Centre and based on the data European Cyclist Federation collected during EuroVelo 6 route assessment, the EuroVelo 6 is a longdistance cycling route running along 3,653 km of some of Europe’s major rivers, including almost the entire length of the Danube. There are 18 different data categories included in the app with 73 different values existing along the route. Seven main categories were observed on a 1km basis and they will provide you with crucial info such as what’s the road type and width, surface material and quality, riding direction, observed traffic congestion and speed limits for motorised traffic. Other data is usually collected on a 5km basis and includes 11 additional data categories: such as accommodation availability, restaurants, natural and cultural highlights Hall 4.1 / Stand 245 Pure! Travel Group Launches New Brand Pure! Cycling offers bespoke road and mountain cycling programme in Colombia. The company said it will design the itinerary taking into consideration the passengers’ experience, stamina, and interests and that it has already operated these tours years to guarantee it has the capacity to offer passengers a flawless experiences. In January 2018, Pure! Cycling had its first fixed departure. Starting in Bogota, the programme introduced travellers to the vibrant capital of Colombia. Next, the cyclers fly to Cali and subsequently travel by car to Buga, one of the oldest colonial cities in Colombia. From here they start the bicycle trip, leading through the Cuaca Valley, the National Coffee Park, the Coffee Triangle, Cocora Valley, and the town of Finlandia. Organisers said each cycling day is different in length, varying from 29 to 86 kilometres. The altimetry of the route fluctuates from 1000 metres to 2000 metres above sea level Hall 23a / Stand 121 NEW BIKING TOURS OFFERED IN MYANMAR Variation is certainly a key aspect that comes to mind when looking into what Myanmar has to offer to tourists. For young and adventurous tourists, who are ready to explore unusual destinations, Myanmar is the new kid on the block when it comes to biking trips. Specialised biking operators based in Myanmar like Uncharted Horizons, Spice Roads, Myanmar Pure Travel and Grasshopper Adventures all offer trips on bike ranging from a few hours to more than 15 days. Uncharted Horizons Manager Jochen Meissner said: “Myanmar offers everything a biker could wish for, explore the lush hills and meet different tribes in Shan state, or go for serious off-road mountain biking in Chin state, all far off the beaten tracks, exploring areas that are not accessible by car or on foot . “Exploring Myanmar by bike opens all new possibilities to experience a completely new side of the country.” Adam Platt-Hepworth, CEO of Grasshopper Adventures, added: “Grasshopper’s new two days overnight trip by bike from Bagan to Salay and back by boat to Bagan is becoming more and more popular, as is our combined bike and kayaking daytrip in Inle Lake – and we see Myanmar becoming trendy for bikers” Hall 26b / Stand 226 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 7 th March 2018 www.itb-berlin-news.com
SPECIAL FEATURE TRAVEL TECHNOLOGIES 37 Widespread Use of AI in Travel Industry Bob Offutt, Senior Technology Analyst, Phocuswright, has outlined the opportunities for the effective use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the travel business. We began by asking him about the research and how AI can be implemented across the industry. One of the startling findings in the research is the significant growth in the use of AI without a lot of fanfare. AI applications will define much of how travel will be shopped, distributed and experienced in the next decade. How will user interfaces change through using AI? The future is spoken commands or queries. Already, we have seen how Alexa, OK Google and Siri provide high quality results based on AI technology, even when the query is less than clear. As the mobile and car communications channels grow, interactive speech will grow, as well. With Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa, the primary way to dialogue with their supporting AI systems is with interactive speech. What impact will AI have on travel planning? AI can be effective in delivering customised content, trip and local event/activity planning and scheduling. AI can be used to predict weather for the destination as well as intermediate points. AI could also be used to look at historical route performance and the likelihood of having to spend the night in the airport. Finally, AI is ideal for irregular operations and fleet recovery to reposition aircraft in case of a network event. For leisure travel, the opportunity is for AI to use preferences and historical data to recommend vacation opportunities. This is AI CAN BE EFFECTIVE IN DELIVERING CUSTOMISED CONTENT, TRIP AND LOCAL EVENT/ ACTIVITY PLANNING AND SCHEDULING particularly difficult in leisure, where so much destination data is not tagged (free form). This means if a picture of the beach at Maui is not identified as such, the AI system will need to classify it as part of the search process for a Maui vacation. AI can be used to determine the best time to book, projected load factor or occupancy level, and expected cost, among other things. For business travel, travel managers can use AI to collect and correlate data to develop “standard” trip costs and to define travel policy. AI can help predict when suppliers will have discounted offerings via dynamic pricing models. AI would be very useful in developing travel budgets. Will AI aid fraud detection? As technology evolves, so do the tools to commit fraud (and the tools to combat this fraud). Travel merchants experience the loss of approximately 0.4% of revenue to fraud, with smaller agencies being the most vulnerable. AI could detect fraud through unusual pattern detection. This isn’t the whole picture. A significant number of bookings are rejected as being potentially fraudulent. Some of these are actually good bookings (false positives). Agencies reported needing to review approximately 7% of the bookings manually, which created another cost. While there is not an industry wide business case, this area is a perfect target for AI. From a customer engagement perspective, how will AI manifest itself? Customer engagement is another super opportunity for AI. Some areas where AI can improve customer support/service include: digital concierge, customer selfservice, personalisation and problem anticipation ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 7 th March 2018
