$200/month app does the job for the entire room, will AI 'steal' tourism human resources jobs?

40% reduction in response time

Instead of having staff working late at night to answer questions and advise tourists, thanks to the application of artificial intelligence, tourists will be served 24/7. The response time is shortened by 40%, the company's sales team takes better care of customers, and the rate of customers closing tours or booking airline tickets is higher.

The above sharing of Mr. Bui Thanh Tu, Marketing Director of Best Price, shows the clear effectiveness that AI application brings. Talking to VietNamNet reporter, Mr. Tu said that the application "AI Assistant for Tourism" - Virtual assistant for tourism - helps the company understand the needs of each customer, thereby helping them "personalize" the trip according to their own requirements.

In addition, AI assistants can give customers answers in a short time, even immediately, instead of having to wait several hours or a whole day for tour design staff, quotes, etc.

“Especially, with the current trend of customers booking online a lot and with high personalization, while the company cannot increase staff during peak times, this application proves to be even more effective,” said Mr. Tu.

Visitors experience virtual tourism through screens at the Vietnam International Tourism Fair recently held in Hanoi . Photo: Tran Huan

Mr. Nguyen Cong Hoan, General Director of Flamingo Redtours, added that thanks to the application of AI, the time to design and introduce products at his company has been greatly shortened.

He cited that in the past, a tour took staff 2-3 hours to present, or even longer if the customer did not understand the product, but now it only takes 5-7 minutes, or even just 2 minutes, to complete and send to the customer.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Cuong, General Director of Trang An Travel, AI focuses on interaction with customers. Tourists feel like they are participating in the tour program, choosing their own tour with the support of virtual staff. His company is also deploying and connecting with large AI apps such as ChatGPT,... to measure demand and approach customers according to each target.

“Through big data, we can assess what customers need, thereby offering different and competitive products,” said Mr. Cuong.

However, the application of artificial intelligence in industries, especially tourism, is still slow. Statistics show that nearly 50% of small and medium enterprises in the tourism industry have not applied digital transformation.

Mr. Vu The Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, assessed that most tourism businesses have only applied AI in certain activities such as marketing, customer care, etc. Another difficulty is the shortage of AI experts and human resources in the technology field. In addition, the initial investment cost for AI solutions is often very high.

Tourism businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, may find it difficult to access AI technology due to budget constraints.

Regarding the accommodation sector, Ms. Do Hong Xoan, President of the Vietnam Hotel Association, commented that “many 3-star hotels and below are almost unable to implement digital transformation due to the lack of human resources knowledgeable about technology, software and smart devices. The weakness in human resources makes the digitalization process very difficult”.

Travel agency staff are consulting and introducing products to tourists. Photo: Ha Anh

Is AI 'stealing' jobs from tourism staff?

In order to deploy AI applications more effectively in tourism operations, experts say companies need to invest in building a strong technology ecosystem, including infrastructure and a team of employees with the right skills.

Businesses need to invest more in training programs and facilitate employees' access to new technology and knowledge.

Regarding the cost of investing in AI technology, sharing at a recent seminar on the future of Vietnamese tourism with AI, Mr. Vu Quyet, Chairman of LocalAI Technology JSC, said that it will not cost money if we know how to use AI technology appropriately, such as creating marketing programs, writing content, making videos...

According to Mr. Quyet, there are support tools that cost only 200 USD/month but do the work of an entire marketing department; there are also AI Agents ( a system or software designed to automate and perform specific tasks independently ) that have been built, businesses can cooperate with existing tools to design specifically for their units.

“You don’t have to spend too much money, you can cooperate with that AI Agent to take care of customers or find customers, and the business just closes the deal. Or, companies can come up with a task, hire AI units to design chatbots according to the request, it only costs a few tens of millions of dong,” said Mr. Quyet.

Obviously, applying AI is not costly, but reduces time, effort, and human resources for monitoring, consulting, or customer care.

However, the question is, will the application of AI reduce labor in the tourism industry?

As someone who has worked in the banking sector for more than 20 years, Ms. Dinh Thu Huong, Deputy General Director of Net Zero Vietnam JSC, admitted that it is true that the banking industry has laid off many employees due to technology application and digital transformation, but depending on the department, they still recruit more, so the total number of employees has almost not changed.

Regarding tourism, Ms. Huong believes that the upcoming trend will be AI Agent and AI Operation, which means that even business agents can be gradually invaded by AI and the operations of businesses may only need 1-2 employees. According to her, these are areas where AI can encroach, businesses need to grasp them to adjust their human resource structure.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ung-dung-200-usd-thang-lam-thay-ca-phong-ai-co-cuop-viec-nhan-su-du-lich-2391204.html