WiT Japan & North Aisa 2024 with a theme of ‘The Human Revolution’ opened on May 13 2024, joined by emerging travel-tech companies in Asia. On the first day, they particularly shared knowledge of how to use GenAI for travel.
At a session titled ‘Welcome To The Third Age of Digital Travel,’ Sheue Chee Beh, Uber Director said that the point is to give better experiences with AI, when she was asked what was the biggest challenge for travel-tech companies.
Uber introduced AI eight years ago for car distribution, driver assignment or linkage service between restaurant booking and experience booking, and takes advantage of AI for personalized advertising in a destination. She added that AI was just a tool. Success could be done by creativity of human brain.
セッション「Welcome To The Third Age of Digital Travel」には、ウーバーやトリプラ、アゴダ、リクルートらが登壇。モデレーターは、WIT創設者のイェオ・スーフン氏
Promising middle-class in Asia
Pointing out changes in the Asian market, Expedia said that the giant OTA is focusing on ‘Premium Travelers,’ who want to travel longer and more frequently. The strategy is based on a prospect that two of three people will become middle-class by 2030 in Asia. Expedia has reinvested to Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong and opened its offices in Saudi Arabia and UAE. Michael Dykes, Vice President, Market Management, Asia Pacific
Expedia Group, said, “Asia is a market the travel industry can make money.”
エクスペディア・グループのアジア太平洋地区マーケットマネジメント担当副社長、マイケル・ダイクス氏（右）と、WIT創設者のイェオ・スーフン氏
Caesar Indra, President of Traveloka, an Indonesian OTA, appealed its business strength to focus on localization.
トラベロカ社長のシーザー・インドラ氏（右）
Tejveer Bedi, Head of Travel, Hospitality and Tourism, SEA at TikTok, said that shared short movie could be personalized recommendations, appealing three of five users are inspired for their travels by short movies.
TikTok Head of Travel, Hospitality and Tourism, SEA Tejveer Bedi氏
