Traditional metrics like online adoption rates are becoming redundant as artificial intelligence (AI) erases the line between online and offline booking, according to industry experts on The Big Idea panel at the GBTA APAC Conference in Singapore yesterday.
For decades, the online adoption rate served as the gold standard for travel programme efficiency. However, there is now a near-unanimous consensus that this era is over, driven by a fragmented landscape of apps and chat.
“Looking at it from just an online adoption level as a KPI is redundant,” said Nicola Winchester, global travel, meetings and events leader at EY. “I would prefer we look at the value drivers – efficiency and traveller experience – rather than just the channel.”
Evgeniya Kataeva, global head of workplace and travel at Thunes, echoed this sentiment, noting that a high adoption rate does not reflect a programme’s health.
“A 98 per cent online adoption does not say anything about our booking window or actual performance. It will become a natural direction for every programme, and therefore, become outdated,” she explained.
Ben Wedlock, BCD Travel’s senior vice president of global sales for APAC, used a historical analogy to urge travel managers to embrace AI, comparing the current moment to 1991, when Estonia chose a technology-first path while neighbouring Latvia stayed with analogue networks.
“Estonia is now a global Fintech hub because they future-proofed their infrastructure. AI is here and now. Do we want to keep adopting analogue technology and facsimiles, or do we want to evolve like Estonia?” Wedlock challenged.
Winchester further shared that EY is already building agentic AI capabilities, allowing travellers to book trips entirely within workplace environments like Microsoft Teams.
She said: “You can be talking to an agent in Teams that gives you offers, links to an approval process, and flows through to expenses in seconds. The distinction between online and offline becomes redundant.”
Consequently, the focus is shifting from controlling traveller behaviour to guiding it. This involves a “carrot” approach – creating a seamless experience that encourages users to stay in-programme – balanced against the “stick” of duty of care.
All panellists agreed that “rogue” bookings remain a major risk. In one instance, a traveller saved US$200 on a booking but cost the company US$3,000 due to hidden cancellation terms, Wedlock shared.
“If you can make a programme so efficient that people do not even realise they are being policy-managed, that is the utopia,” Winchester concluded.
