There aren’t too many technology-driven travel start-ups with radically distinct solutions. Artificial reality, virtual reality, blockchain, machine learning, voice and price prediction can be leveraged to deliver a personalised experience to customers
As the holiday season kicks off, we’re flooded with travel tech start-ups lining up a plethora of offers, discounts and cashbacks for speedy bookings and packages to exotic destinations. But in the age of “disruptive’’ and ‘’predictive’’ solutions, are the offerings mere copies of one another? Consider this. Despite rapid advancements in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence(AI) and machine learning, there aren’t too many technology-driven travel start-ups with radically distinct solutions for, say, helping with jet lag, or optimising duty-free purchases, or predicting a rise or fall in airfare.
“Seems like the disruption in the travel-tech space is all about adding 'experiences' and 'homestays' to the platform. The industry clearly doesn’t have a lead player which has a monopoly over the market and there are no competitive differentiators. Often, the new entrants serve a vertical market, focused on a single niche and don’t seem to deploy any proprietary technology to make them different from the rest,” says Nandu R Kumar, CEO, Spice Route Business.
The travel sector holds a tremendous potential for new-age ventures. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), travel and tourism in India generated $208.9 billion in 2016, contributing to 9.6% of the country’s gross domestic product. The sector is growing a rate of 6-9% per annum.
Internationally, the sector has witnessed a heavy infusion of funds. As per data by intelligence firm Phocuswright, travel start-ups globally raised $29 billion from 2016 to 2017, which is much more than the $33 billion that was raised in the decade between 2005 and 2015.
Apurva Damani, managing partner, Artha India Ventures, feels that to cater to a wider millennial audience, start-ups offering similar solutions have found their place in the ecosystem and have been flourishing.
“Travel players have so far focused on aggressive discounts and transactions to drive up the volume. But with every player offering discounts, there is little room for companies to compete with each other for customer acquisition,” feels Rajnish Kumar, chief technology officer and co-founder, ixigo.
Experts say start-ups in India should focus on personalisation to gain an edge over the competition. “There is a need for start-ups to come up with better technology to offer millennials a personalised experience. Personalisation will possibly be the lead differentiation in the industry,” says Damani.
According to Nandu R Kumar, the sector has the advantage of access to a huge set of data points to engage and predict patterns and trends in travel. “AR/VR can play a lead role in hotel bookings and help in reducing the gap between customer expectations versus the reality. Blockchain can address challenges in traveller identification; baggage tracking and can eliminate intermediaries in the sector, allowing for peer-to-peer transactions.”
Says ixigo co-founder Kumar, “Through machine learning, we can predict a lot of travel-related aspects for the user, making the booking experience hassle-free. For instance, the train PNR prediction feature on our app informs the user the probability of confirmation of their wait-listed ticket.”
The emergence of voice and price prediction will be two additional areas seeking start-ups' attention. Sudhir Mantena, product director, Cleartrip, says there has been a seismic transition from keyboard to touch to voice. “Voice will revolutionise travel planning, booking and the support experience.”
Rajnish Kumar says ixigo is building TARA, its AI-based voice assistant, which already handles 75% of their customer interactions on email and chat, and has deep learning capabilities.
Coming to price prediction, with the massive amounts of travel data available, start-ups should play a decisive role in determining pricing trends through AI and predictive analytics tools, says Mantena. “This can empower customers in making informed decisions and unlock significant savings.”
ROOM FOR GROWTH
- $29bn – Travel start-ups raised globally from 2016 to 2017 as per Phocuswright, up from $33 billion raised in between 2005 and 2015
- $208.9bn – Travel and tourism in India generated in 2016, contributing 9.6% to GDP, as per World Travel and Tourism Council. The sector is growing a rate of 6-9% per annum
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