Beijing’s Niding International Travel Agency (NITA) is banking on sister company QIan Liang Technologies Co. (QLTech) to develop AI and Large Language Model (LLM) applications to expand into inbound travel and beef up its business events segment.
Kang Rui, founder and CEO, said the companies founded in 2012, specialise in personalised outbound travel services for mid- and high-end customers through a reverse-customisation model.
He noted: “Tourism is a long-tail market with a vast audience and addresses users’ fundamental emotional needs. I believe generative AI is best suited for the leisure segment due to low standardisation of products and services and the diverse nature of leisure travel demanding highly customised solutions, making it difficult to standardise offerings.”
AI makes time-Intensive processes such as designing and planning leisure itineraries more efficient and addresses high knowledge and creative experience requirements to cater to a wide range of customer preferences.
“However, the development and application of generative AI will provide significant support and opportunities for the entire tourism industry, including FIT, MICE, and all facets of the travel ecosystem,” Kang added.
QLTech, he shared, will develop AI and LLM applications tailored to business events and corporate travel scenarios in the near future.
The company’s internal system Fullroutes will also be offered to travel suppliers in the next phase with the primary function of generating and storing data of customised travel products and providing a structured framework for collaboration with travel suppliers.
NITA has a base of more than 600,000 middle- and high-end customers, with an annual revenue of more than US$500 million, split into US$30 million for MICE, US$250 million for small leisure groups, and US$220 million for FIT.
It covers destinations in nearly 200 countries and regions globally.
