Tourism investment in technology and luxury the focus at CON-X 23
Palma (Spain), May 10 (EFE).- Professionals from the tourism industry and the financial sector agreed on Wednesday, during the CON-X 23 conference held in Palma (Spain), that companies in the sector should invest in improving their technological processes to offer greater personalization oriented to “luxury experiences.”
The head of research at Skift, Wouter Geerts, said that tourism companies must apply solutions that improve the user experience, because, although there is “revenge travel” after restrictions resulting from the pandemic, inflation and a possible economic recession could slow tourism’s recent good results.
The second UNWTO World Tourism Barometer reported that the sector’s rapid recovery continues, with 235 million travelers in the first quarter of 2023, 80% of pre-pandemic levels in the same period of 2019.
“I think now is the time to be creative if you work in the sector, because demand is not going to be the same as the last two years and there are a lot of opportunities and challenges in how people have changed and technologies like generative AI,” Geerts told Agencia EFE.
For their part, finnCap Group Partner Henry James Wells, Cambon Partner Morgann Lesne and ECP Founding Partner Jan-Franke Valentin agreed at a round table at CON-X 23, organized by TravelgateX, that companies should be aware of the real possibilities of new technologies before making an investment in this field and not be guided by “what they want to hear.”
For them and given their financial experience, blockchain technology will be fundamental in this area, together with the correct use of AI as an efficient tool for routine processes, although they are skeptical that it will have a disruptive impact.
Finally, the founder and CEO of TravelgateX, Pedro Camara, described the conference as a success, with around 350 international professionals attending.
“We are from Mallorca and I have always seen it as the Silicon Valley of tourism, a world power,” he told EFE about the importance of the sector as an economic engine that, in the case of Spain, was worth 159 billion euros, equivalent to 12.2% of the country’s GDP. EFE
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