Cologne/Frankfurt, 10 May 2023: DERTOUR travel agencies have been successfully using artificial intelligence (AI) in their customer communication for around a year. Now, the use of AI from the service provider adigi, which specialises in tourism, is being further expanded and implemented in all DERTOUR travel agencies. We are undergoing a strategic transformation towards Travel Agency 4.0
, says Andreas Heimann, CSO DER Touristik Central Europe and overall responsible for DER Touristik sales. The use of artificial intelligence is an elementary component of this. It allows us to further improve our customer service and relieve our employees of standardised enquiries.
Depending on the travel expert’s request, the AI creates individual holiday offers and generates bookings within a very short time. Thanks to text recognition and machine learning specially trained for tourism requirements, the AI is able to analyse and understand enquiries and respond to them in real time with individually tailored answers. By connecting the tourism offer systems, the AI can respond to customer requests in a very high quality and very specifically. We are currently also working with adigi on integrating the mid-office in order to provide even more targeted offers based on customer preferences in the mid-office and to be able to better process the findings of the AI dialogue,
says Alexander Breitkreutz, Vice President IT of DER Touristik sales, adding: Personal advice to customers in DERTOUR travel agencies continues to play a major role and is irreplaceable from our point of view. However, AI and current models such as ChatGPT can be used to supplement and support this in order to relieve employees.
The travel agency chain uses artificial intelligence specifically where customers need very fast advice and quotations. The integration of AI is currently handling around 1,000 enquiries per month, which arrive via social media and the digital platform reise-spezialisten.com. The aim is to intelligently combine stationary and online sales by enabling DERTOUR travel agencies to offer expertise wherever our customers are looking for it. To this end, we have created a digital platform with reise-spezialisten.com, significantly expanded our social media channels and implemented an online appointment scheduling solution for all 1,500 travel experts.
This concept works and a large number of travel enquiries are generated that would not have been received in a bricks-and-mortar shop, says Breitkreutz. He adds: It was important to us to combine fast quotation generation and personalised advice. In line with our digitalisation strategy, it therefore made sense to use the bots we were already using, for example, to compare processes in the back and mid-office, integrate ChatGPT or automate repetitive tasks in order to reduce the workload on our employees. adigi’s AI takes over the needs assessment and communication with the customer – but with the option for the travel consultant to intervene or make corrections at any time.
Further expansion of the use of AI and ChatGPT is planned, so that the expertise and special conditions for the use of AI will be available to DERPART’s own and franchise offices.
