During the past years, Big Techs have been investing massively in developing AI systems that are accessible to non-tech users.
As a result of these efforts, new products, such as Dall-E for image generation and ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, start to pop out on the internet. The last became very popular in no time, mostly because of its processing power and ease of use.
Based on the many possible uses for ChatGPT and its capacity, it’s normal to ask “Can it help me enhance my business”?
And the answer is yes. Most businesses can benefit from AI chatbots, including the ones in the travel industry.
So, continue reading this article to learn how ChatGPT can enhance your travel business.
AI stands for Artificial Intelligence; simply put, the term refers to the ability of machines to learn and make decisions based on data and analytics.
AI isn’t something new. At the beginning of the 50s, John Von Neumann and Alan Turing made the transition from computers to 19th-century decimal logic and machines to binary logic. This opened the way for the development of the modern computers we use today.
Because of that, Neumann and Turing are considered the founding fathers of the technology behind AI.
Nowadays, AI is extensively used in many industries and is an indissociable part of our daily lives. Your mobile for example has many applications that use AI, including your GPS and virtual assistant.
Other more advanced uses for this technology are being developed, such as autonomous vehicles and facial recognition applications.
Like any industry, there is a huge potential for AI in travel. The way it can be used ranges from facial recognition systems in airports to AI assistants that help tourists in booking their hotel rooms and flight tickets.
According to Statista, the share of AI-influenced revenue in the travel industry was predicted to rise to 32 percent in 2024.
Examples of AI in the travel industry are:
Travel businesses can definitely benefit from this technology. No wonder many are investing in their digital transformation by implementing solutions that are AI-based.
ChatGPT is a form of generative AI developed by OpenAI. The term generative AI describes algorithms that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos.
The way it works is very simple, basically, users enter a prompt in a chat-like interface and it returns an answer based on what was requested. What makes AI chatbots unique is that the output has a humanlike touch, it doesn’t matter if it’s written or visual.
ChatGPT and other similar tools represent a significant change in the way content is created. They can generate an answer to almost any question asked.
ChatGPT is considered a state-of-the-art AI chatbot. It can produce computer code, college-level essays, poems, and even halfway-decent jokes. And the best part, it’s free to use. All you need to start using it is to create an account on their website.
It’s so popular that receives 1.8 billion visitors per month, among users, many are professionals working in the tourism industry.
If you read to this point you might have an idea about how ChatGPT can help you better manage and promote your business.
To make it clear let’s list some ways you can use ChatGPT to enhance your travel business.
Creating a new tour is no easy task. There are a lot of details you should think about.
For example, when designing a bike tour, you should know the number of bikes, estimate the guest capacity, define who will lead the tour, the departure day and time, calculate its price, and most importantly, create an attractive itinerary for your guests.
Of course, ChatGPT can’t do all for you, but automating parts of this process will save you a lot of time.
Let’s say you run bike tours in Paris. By asking ChatGPT to create an itinerary for a bike tour in Paris I had the following outcome:
Not bad, you can definitely use the suggestion above as a base for a real Paris Bike Tour.
Once you have your itinerary set you need an appealing description for your tour. Why not ask ChatGPT to write down one?
You can also use it to create content for your tour guides to present during the tour, for example, a detailed description for each sight, or any other relevant content you judge necessary. Just use your imagination.
Time is one of the most valuable assets for tour operators, and many don’t find it in their agendas to work in their marketing strategy. I don’t judge them, running a business means there are many vital tasks to be done daily.
So why not use ChatGPT to streamline the production of social media content?
Here is an example of how you can easily create copy for your Instagram posts.
You can ask ChatGPT to add emojis, hashtags, keywords, and also define the length of the text and its tone.
More elaborated content is great to offer to website visitors in exchange for their personal data, such as emails.
A downloadable city guide is an example of this type of content that ChatGPT can create.
Blogging is necessary if you want to rank organically on Google. If you struggle in writing interesting content, don’t worry, just ask ChatGPT to give you ideas for your next blog post.
Remember that you should vet all the information provided by ChatGPT as it doesn’t provide sources. But in general, the content generated by this tool is reliable.
Managing current and past guests is challenging. They demand attention and personalized communication, which sometimes you cannot provide on time, especially during the high season.
Here it comes ChatGPT.
If you are struggling to answer guests’ emails, ChatGPT can give you a hand. Here is an example of an email template regarding a refund situation.
It’s normal to get upset when receiving bad feedback from past guests, and answering them right away is not the best option.
Instead, you can simply copy and paste the bad review in ChatGPT and ask the AI to write a polite and positive answer to publish.
Fast interaction is very appreciated by customers. But sometimes there is no one to answer their inquiries, either because there are many requests at the same time, or they contact your company outside of working hours.
One way to address this issue is by adding a live chat widget to your website that is powered by ChatGPT. You can do that through API, in other words, you connect ChatGPT to a third-party tool that will provide the chat interface.
This way your users will be able to have instant assistance when navigating through your website, and only contact a real support agent if they don’t get the answer they want by interacting with the AI in the live chat.
Social Intents is an example of software that offers this integration between their chatbots and ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is not only good at providing content to your customers, but it is also a useful source of knowledge for your employees.
When you hire someone new it’s normal that you spend a good amount of time teaching them about the company, its products, the destination, internal policies and how to deal with customers.
Good news, you can outsource this part of training to ChatGPT. What you need to do is to ask the AI about the most common doubts new hires might have.
For example, you can ask ChatGPT to explain your company cancellation policy to a new travel agent.
ChatGPT is a powerful tool that has a lot to offer to businesses in different industries.
It helps you with daily tasks that are necessary but time-consuming, giving you extra time to focus on more important aspects of your business that only a human can do.
In this article, we listed a few ways tour operators can use ChatGPT to enhance their travel business.
Now that you know how to unleash the power of ChatGPT, it is time to use it to boost your marketing efforts. If you don’t have a marketing plan yet, I strongly recommend you download our free ebook Low Budget Digital Marketing Strategies for Tour Operators and start working on your brand.
ORIOLY
on June 29, 2023
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