DES2019 is hosting the Tourism & Hospitality Forum, a meeting with the main agents, experts and companies of the tourism and hospitality sector to address the digital transformation of the sector and its main challenges.

New technologies have boosted the appearance of new actors in the tourism and hotel scene, as well as new customer-focused business models that have forced traditional players to tackle their digital transformation in order to adapt to the market and be more competitive.

Among the main challenges that companies will have to face in the coming years, is the implementation of technological solutions that allow them to offer new services, as well as adopting ways of operating that can be adapted to the new consumer patterns that have emerged with digital tourists. Thus, applying Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and geolocation to the sector will be the main topics to debate during this forum, dedicated to tourism and the hospitality sector. The goal is to win the digital, hyperconnected and multichannel customer over.

The digital tourist: customized services

The implementation of Artificial Intelligence as a facilitating technology when forecasting trends, optimizing the offer, and improving booking management (making it more agile), is among some of the most important topics today. Besides this, the experts discover the possibilities offered by technology to personalize the experience for each customer.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Extended Reality (XR) are the core technologies of the debate «Hyper-personalization in travel, are we achieving it?» presented by Philippe Garnier, Vice President Third Party Distribution at IHG; Jussi Wackli, Vice President of Amadeus; and the Virgin Voyages CIO, Brian Garr. At the conference they explain how these technologies are allowing their companies to offer customized services to their customers in a way that was not possible until now.