Technology and travel hoisting Thailand’s sharing economy

The pace of innovation across every industry and every company, both in Thailand and globally, is astounding — from natural language processing and data sciences to artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

How exactly these megatrends are going to affect the tourism industry, especially hoteliers, remains to be seen, but we do know that tomorrow will look very different from today.

The world is a lot flatter as a result of consumers’ undying thirst for adventure. Combine that enthusiasm for travel with more disposable income, more information about the wealth of culture and experiences that await them, and a smartphone with which to book a trip, display a boarding pass or check into a hotel room, and you have an almost combustible recipe for growth and innovation.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s figures showed an additional 2.6 million people travelling to Thailand in 2016, while Expedia Group data revealed that international travellers to the country explored new destinations such as Lipe, Rayong and Trat, with demand for these locales growing more than 60 per cent year-on-year.

“We’re fascinated by this, and work daily to understand, harness and apply the technology that will provide the best consumer travel experience and create the best business opportunities for hoteliers,” said Arthur Chapin, senior vice-president for global product and design at Expedia Group. “In turn, consumer experience should dictate and drive hotels offerings — so hoteliers can give their guests relevant, timely, and tech-forward experiences.

“It is not a question of whether the travel industry grows, but rather how emerging technologies and platforms will shape that growth — from artificial intelligence and virtual reality to chat bots and completely self-managed mobile check-ins. This is critical, and something that we are already building for and strategising around.”