BOTT DESK
A thought-provoking session on artificial intelligence emerged as one of the key highlights of Day 2 of the 41st IATO Convention in Visakhapatnam, bringing together leading voices from across travel, technology and tourism services to debate the rapidly evolving role of AI in tour operations.
Moderated by Naveen Kundu, the session featured Dev Karat, CEO, ASEGO; Abhishek Logani, Head – MyPartner, MakeMyTrip; Jitin Bhatia, Founder, Explurger; Chirag Agarwal, Co-Founder, TravClan; and Rocky Jagtiani, AI Transformation Coach.
Kundu opened the discussion with a question central to the industry’s future: whether AI should be viewed as an enabler of growth or as a potential threat to the livelihoods of travel professionals.
The discussion explored AI’s growing ability to improve operational efficiency, personalise experiences at scale, forecast demand and travel trends, enable data-driven decision-making and offer round-the-clock multilingual customer support. The panellists broadly agreed that the real challenge was no longer whether AI would transform the sector, but how quickly travel businesses could learn to use it effectively.
“I do not see AI as a threat to the travel professional; I see it as a force multiplier. Technology can process data and predict behaviour, but it cannot replicate empathy, intuition or human connection,” Kundu said.
Summing up the session, Kundu introduced his ‘5 E’s of AI in Travel & Tourism’ — Enable, Empower, Emotion, Engineer and Engage. The framework urged travel professionals to use AI to enhance capabilities, empower decision-making, preserve the emotional and human dimension of travel, re-engineer themselves for new ways of working and actively engage with emerging technologies.
“The future belongs to those who combine AI intelligence with human emotion. We need to engineer ourselves for the coming AI revolution and learn to engage with AI as a collaborator rather than a competitor,” Kundu added.
The session ultimately shifted the conversation from anxiety around automation to practical adaptation, reinforcing that while AI will transform the mechanics of travel, human judgement, relationships and emotional intelligence will remain at the heart of the industry.
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