The travel and hospitality industry is on the brink of a transformation unlike any seen before, driven by the rapid rise of generative AI GenAI.
Speaking at WiT Africa in Cape Town on March13, Chris Hemmeter , a venture capitalist from Thayer Ventures who has invested in over 35 travel tech companies worldwide, urged the industry to address its cynicism about what he believes will be a shift that will reshape the entire travel supply chain.
The industry has evolved significantly over the years. It was once built on static marketing strategies before transitioning to new forms of display and distribution. The late 1990s saw the rise of online travel agencies OTAs, which dominated the sector for well over a decade. More recently, social media has played an influential role in travel marketing and booking.
GenAI is something entirely new. Unlike previous disruptions, this transformation is happening at an unprecedented pace. Whats different about today is that this isnt just one player like when Google won the search game. The battle happening here and the acceleration of this game is unprecedented, said Hemmeter.
Travel is already emerging as a leading use case with 70 of US travellers indicating they will use GenAI for travel planning.