In today’s travel and tourism landscape, nearly every new startup relies on technology. In India, both small and large success stories increasingly centre around tech-enabled enterprises. While Gen Z consumers are naturally inclined toward digital solutions, even traditional players are rapidly adopting technology.
However, with opportunities come challenges. AI remains the elephant in the room. These companies manage vast amounts of sensitive consumer data – including personal information, buying behaviour, and preferences, raising significant cybersecurity concerns.
Amid this technological revolution, SATTE Conference 2025 hosted a panel discussion featuring travel tech experts who explored the future of travel, focusing on hyper-connectivity, the power of data, and personalized experiences. Sudheer Reddy, Founder and CEO of TripGain, skillfully moderated the panel discussion, guiding the conversation alongside other esteemed industry leaders.
Relevance in the Current Scenario
Sharing insights on the relevance of AI and technology in the current travel landscape, Sandeep Dwivedi, Managing Director – Travel Seller, India and Subcontinent at Amadeus, highlighted how Amadeus supports travel industry through technology on various aspects, from airport and flight management to revenue and disaster management, as well as chatbots. He emphasized that Amadeus is investing significant efforts in advancing Generative AI.
Dwivedi also cited insights from a recent Amadeus study involving 300+ top leaders worldwide, revealing that 42% are focused on Generative AI. For them, 2025 is a critical year, with 2026 set to mark full-scale adoption. In the APAC region, 61% of tech leaders believe 2025 will be the year of Generative AI, while only 2% think it will take 4 – 5 years to move to adoption. On Amadeus’ end, the focus is on Agentic AI, a more advanced technology. “Things are evolving rapidly, and we must keep pace,” he emphasized.
Anshul Gupta, Managing Director and Lead for the Travel Industry at Accenture, highlighted that AI is gaining significant traction in customer service. He noted that the next wave of AI-driven growth will come from large action models – Operational AI. For instance, airlines are leveraging AI to determine the shortest and most efficient flight routes, ensuring faster, safer travel while optimizing fuel consumption. “Before we even realize it, someone will implement it and take the lead, leaving us wondering why we didn’t think of it two years ago,” Gupta remarked.
Offering a different perspective, Manoj Samuel, CEO & Director of Riya Travel & Tours, shared how the company is approaching AI. He stated, “Right now, we are not looking at AI. We have just evolved out of GDS, it has now evolved into a tool integrating multiple content sources, including low-cost carriers and NDC. While this transition continues, I don’t believe AI will impact us for the next five years.”
He further added, “India is diverse, with multiple languages and around 1 lakh partners of Riya Travels across the country, each managing operations in their own way, something AI cannot replicate.”
Achieving Operational Efficiency
Jaal Shah, Group Managing Director, Travel Designer Group highlighted AI’s growing influence on travel. While consumers use AI for itinerary planning, Rezlive focuses on leveraging Generative AI for email efficiency, handling large queries, data analysis, and automation.
“For us, AI is about enhancing operational efficiency, reducing response times, and staying ahead of the curve. It’s here to stay, making users more informed, and sooner or later, its adoption pressure will come”, added Shah. “Travel is all about connectivity, and technology drives the entire journey. With AI’s self-learning capabilities, errors are decreasing, making it more interesting.”
Supporting the above statement, Chirag Agrawal, Co-Founder, TravClan expressed that AI must be perceived as technology and not something to be scared of. “I can break this down into two parts, internal and external. Internally, it’s about how we use technology within our organization, and externally, it’s about how we support buyers, sellers, suppliers, travel agents, and hotel partners. Internally, our team communicates with partners daily. A basic yet crucial application is handling dissatisfied travel agents. Instead of relying solely on escalations, we began analysing calls a year ago by converting voice to text. This allows us to assess sentiment and extract key insights, helping us address concerns proactively and retain business.”
He further added, “Externally, we introduced AI-powered quotes. Holiday package bookings often take minutes, hours, or even days to receive a quote from a DMC. Now, with our system, users simply need to send a WhatsApp message such as “I want to go to Thailand with my two kids for a relaxed 4-day itinerary”, and within 120 seconds, they receive a bookable package. It’s not just AI at work, the system continuously learns from user preferences, refining recommendations based on past inclusions”, noted Agrawal.
Sharing insights, Ankush Nijhawan, Co-Founder, TBO.com, highlighted that the company’s current focus is on backend optimization. “Reducing costs and serving the growing volume efficiently are key areas where AI bots, ChatGPT, and similar technologies come into play. I personally believe that if implemented correctly, we could reduce our operations payroll by about 40%.”
He stated that most of global hotel brands are already using AI, whereas airlines are still catching up. However, the non-air segments have widely adopted AI. In his view, AI is undoubtedly a cost-saving tool. As we continue to evolve, its impact will only grow. A year ago, AI was just a buzzword – today, it’s a reality.
He also highlighted the importance of understanding how to empower his most important clients – the travel agents, to ensure their protection. “My concern is how can I enable them to use ‘search’ in a more customized way, guiding them toward what they are looking for and beyond, ultimately turning it into an itinerary builder for them”, noted Nijhawan.
When asked about the importance of personalization, Samuel emphasized that Riya Travels has regional teams managing specific areas, a task that cannot be handled remotely from Mumbai. “Not everyone knows how to draft an email, many simply reach out via WhatsApp. That’s why we have a dedicated team of 16 solely managing WhatsApp chats, without relying on chatbots. We interact with people from diverse backgrounds who may not have the patience to navigate multiple IVR menus for a response”, noted Samuel.
For instance, a travel agent in a Tier 2 or Tier 3 city, managing everything single-handedly, from coordinating with vendors to handling cancellations, won’t wait through multiple IVR prompts or chatbot replies, they need instant answers, added Samuel.
Role of Data
When asked about leveraging massive data, Nijhawan emphasized its potential to drive correct pricing and let travel agents win. “We can educate hotels on what they are losing and, in turn, negotiate better deals for travel agents, benefiting both parties. In the airline sector, many are now discussing route consolidation. If AI can handle this, why waste time manually calculating what can and cannot be sold? From the supply side, AI can help us improve margins and support our travel partners.”
Adding an interesting perspective, Anshul highlighted the need to view data holistically. “With the power of Generative AI, analog data, such as visual footage from security cameras, airport temperature readings, and images, can now be understood, processed, and digitized, something that was previously incomprehensible to non-human systems.”
Chirag further shared how TravClan utilizes data to capture travel agents’ sentiments. “We can assess how satisfied or dissatisfied an agent is with our services over time. This allows us to address concerns operationally and intervene more effectively based on emerging trends.”