BANGKOK, 17 January 2024: AI emerged as the hot topic at the 13th Thailand Tourism Forum 2024 (TTF), hosted at InterContinental Bangkok on Monday, with around 1,000 tourism and hospitality executives attending the three-hour afternoon presentations.
C9 Hotelworks managing director Bill Barnett founded the annual TTF as a leading travel and tourism discussion platform. Industry leaders from the private sector come together each January to gain insights and indicators for the sector’s future trends.
“Every tourism outfit and hotel are AI companies whether they realise it or not,” said Barnett. “With the lightening development of AI, this is a call to action for hospitality to return to its roots of a service culture as technology frees up human resources and allows our industry to focus on what is important – people. AI is not a shadow cast over hospitality; it’s a bright shining light.”
The myth that AI creates a less personable industry was busted by keynote speaker Google Thailand’s industry head of strategic partnerships, Aditip Panupong.
“With travellers spending more time planning, businesses can leverage AI to simplify their journey and make their experiences more personalised and seamless than ever before,” Aditip commented.
Thailand’s tourism journey is a 50-plus year story, but its evolution emphasises experience, reflecting changing tastes and aspirations.
“With its long tourism history, entrepreneurial spirit, design interest and attraction from investors, it makes sense that this segment is growing in Thailand. Naturally, we see more hotels coming up, primarily in Bangkok and Phuket. Still, there is also an interest in smaller markets across the country when you look at the hotel pipeline,” said STR, a CoStar Group company, senior director Asia Pacific Jesper Palmqvist.
The 13th edition of TTF 2024 was supported by leading industry partners InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, STR, Horwath HTL, JLL Hotels and Hospitality, QUO, AMCHAM Thailand, Delivering Asia Communications, Creative Concept AV, Phuket Hotels Association and host venue InterContinental Bangkok.
