The second edition of Travel Tech ME Congress, which launched in Dubai yesterday (September 26) and concluded today (September 27), saw local and regional travel & tourism experts discuss recent challenges and strategies to promote this sector.

"From CRM to bitcoin, from meta to click and mortar, there are so many things happening at the same time. The opportunities Travel Tech congress offers for networking and direct access to the latest trends is very important, with a special focus for start-ups and businesses in need to enter digitalisation. Travel Tech offers the chance to learn from the top players to help drive the right decisions to run and execute the business plan," said Diego Lofeudo, senior executive digital expert and former member of Expedia Leadership Team EMEA.
 
"At this point in the evolution of the travel ecosystem in the region, we understand that regardless of the stage of your business, from a new idea in need of a POC to a full-fledged travel business, being customer-centric means understanding and using technology," Lofeudo added.
 
About the role of latest technology in developing the travel sector in the region, Albert Fernando, COO, Travelwings, said: "Though globally, voice technology, AI, IOT etc. have been the focus in travel technology, in the Middle East, strategies of implementing chatbots, inception of AI, Social Listening and Automation in Corporate Management has been the focus, which helps in reducing cost of operations, understanding our customers and giving relevant content and making it easily accessible."
 
"Travel and Tourism in the region is shifting to theme based travel, such as echo travel and Bi-Leisure, which differs for different age groups and demographics. For the future travellers, truth as blunt as it is matters and thus UGC is going to play a key role in decision making for travellers and this would be fulfilled by embracing augmented reality, real-time content etc. Also, the introduction of cryptocurrencies for travel is going to be popular in the region. We are going to have a very dynamic and interesting future," Fernando said.
 
The local and regional travel and tourism experts discussed several pressing issues related to the travel and tourism sector such as industry challenges for travel start-ups to solve; Future of Bitcoin: how will it revolutionise the travel industry; Artificial Intelligence: Future of Customer Engagement & Travel Experience; Travel tech trends to watch: current and future; The evolution of metasearch for travel and tourism; Blockchain technology and future usage in the travel ecosystem; and much more. - TradeArabia News Service