So again, hello everyone. My name is Lorna Beats and I am a research and travel technology and I also call myself a travel futurist because I believe that technology is the right way to change the travel and to change the way we will travel in the future.And I would like to today, I would like to cover the topic of the COVID and especially post COVID times because as far as we all know, tourism is one of the most impacted industries and we are trying to understand how we will travel in the future, especially when the pandemic will, will leave this planet.

Let's see. So firstly, I would like to start with some facts how COVID-19 and tourism uh they're let's say connected. So as I, as I already mentioned, tourism is currently one of the most affected sectors because we can see that a lot of lots of people, they are losing jobs and people can travel there. There were quite a lot of travel restrictions, quarantine measures, lockdowns, etcetera. And all of this has been introduced across many countries. Some of them, they are like, let's say making these restrictions um lighter, but still, we can see that people can travel to any place that they want. It's also impacted the way how the number of tourists, international special tourist arrivals declined between 20 40%. And believe me, it's quite a huge number because uh uh mo most of the cities and countries which were relying most of the time on tourism. Uh They don't have any additional money to earn from tourists and this also leads to the loss of uh quite a huge number. As you can see on the screen, like uh 30 to 50 billion of dollars in spending by tourist visitors to issue the city. Meaning that lot of uh cities example like Paris Venice especially they were suffering during these times uh because people didn't visit, visit these places.

Uh Tourism is one of the areas and sectors, let's say, which has most mostly small and medium size enterprises which make up around like 80% of the tourism sector. And let's say that this uh small companies, they're mostly impacted because we, we can notice that a lot of small restaurants, small uh hotels and any different places they are closing because they cannot survive the crisis because COVID-19 is not, is not only about like uh you know, virus as well, it's also about the crisis and a lot of people they can go through it.

That's a very prominent example here is like airlines go bankrupt. And I think most, most of you heard that like two months ago, Virgin Australia, they declared that they will stop. Um they will not exist anymore on the market. And let's, and it was one of the second biggest airline in Australia. Could, could you imagine? And they could survive this crisis. So this is like this is already an example that something is going wrong and it's not the easiest task which we are going through now. And also pandemic could cost millions of jobs reduction in global industry, meaning that uh lots of hotels, they cannot afford themselves to have the bigger, bigger number of employees. And a very good example here is like Air and B layoffs. Like one month ago, the CEO of the airbnb Branches, he mentioned that they will, they will, they will ask 20% of the people in their like global market to ask to uh to leave the company. It was the hardest time for them. But you know, 25% of the of the whole um number of people, it is quite a huge number anyway, but still tourism is suffering. It's from one hand, but from another one, tourism is quite uniquely positioned because it can help societies and communities which are mostly affected, return to growth and stability.

And we can see that lots of campaigns, different kind of place they called or initiatives has been grown because of these kind of things. For example, people are trying to make communities and uh uh based on the interest, let's say, like we want to travel to this place today, but we can go there tomorrow. So let's do something like this. Uh World tourism organizations, like the lead organization and tourism, the stress and the collaboration between World Health Organization in order to make the change and the way tourism will be in the future, how it will look like. Uh what I mentioned about like initiatives.

One of one of them, it was this like, don't cancel postpone. Uh because most of the travel companies, they tried to ask the uh their clients to change the date is the way how we can save tourism, not to cancel completely your trip. So if there is an option for you to postpone your trip until let's say next year, so please do it because this is the way how you are saving tourism, you are saving other jobs, saving other people and and saving the whole plan. Uh Now moving to the fact like how COVID-19 A I, they are connected. Um There is already an opinion that A I already helped greatly to address the issue of the COVID-19. And if we use it in a greater way, we can uh we can go to the way how everything will be changed. So from their med med tag and healthcare point of view A I is already used for diagnostics and virus recognition. And if for example, like if you, if uh if you could imagine we live in the Times during the Spanish flu, which was exactly 100 years ago, it was impossible to do something like this because technology wasn't that advanced at this time. So we even couldn't, couldn't uh call it technology. What, what they had 11 hun uh 100 years ago, but still all of this, what we have now there helping us for the fast drug discovery.

Also A I help us to study the DNA and the structure of the virus. And it's already, it's what's already been done by the Chinese scientist by the way, because they apply different kind of neural networks in order to understand the structure and the nature of the virus which help uh not to create the vaccine. Because yes, of course, we're still waited for the vaccine for the uh to of the virus. But we understand how and what can be applied in order to stop it spreading anyway. Uh from the human perspective or let's call from societal perspective. A IA I already used and can be used more frequently in future in order to deliver food supplies, let's say. And also I can help us to perform similar to human tasks because we can see that most of the uh in some hospitals, especially in the Asian market, they use robots in order to, to deliver something. It's the way how, how we can stop this human touch because it's still quite a danger now and this A I appliances can be intermediaries to do something. Also, uh the way how A I is used is to share information, share awareness about the virus.

So we can see that most of the global company, they created chatbots in order to, to make people informed, to understand what are the next steps, what should be done in order to, to stop what we have now. Uh One of the most interesting of the things what A I changed because A I fostered um traditionally offline industries to go digital. So now we all can see that healthcare when digital education went digital completely because there is no other way how can do it, fashion went digital culture and also tourism. Because like speaking from a tourism perspective, uh a flying uh flying side was still important because tourism is mo it's a very offline industry. But now we we live in the times where what we can do because we can't travel. So and they found an option of what we can do even in the land park. And again, like uh to support the statement that COVID-19 led most of the industries to go digital. So you can see on the screen that uh the poll created by Brian Solis, one of the famous uh digital transformation and technology futurist uh who, who transformed, who led you to the digital transformation of your company.

And most of the most numbers like COVID-19 is just like fantastic but still this, this is the reality of what we have now. Uh talking about tourism in A I. Uh Here, it is very important to highlight that tourism in A I. They were together even before the COVID because uh before the COVID, they were introduced different face recognition and uh face recognition scanners in airports for the past on boarding. One of the examples here is like San Francisco Airport, they used ready for more than one year.

The scanner which can scan your iris, fingerprints your face in order to skip the line and go directly to the place. It's already happening. Also voice assistance using hotel rooms. Uh And again, example, here's Marriott hotel chain, one of the biggest hotel chains in the world.

They use Amazon Alexa to uh to support clients in order to personalize the stay in hotels, meaning that like you can change the temperature by your voice me to change the music et cetera in order to make you stay as comfortable as possible. Uh Also the there was a statement that we can we are talking about robot hospitality. And uh most another bigger hotel chain like Hilton, they use concierge robots in order to solve their uh their clients and hotel guest during their stay, for example, like to deliver your food or anything like that. Or if you have any questions, there is no need to go to person because there is a robot which can answer you the questions, especially to those which are frequently asked by hotel clients from previous times. And again, like A I is used for for personalization offering temme recommendation, which I already mentioned. And also again A I in tourism is also used through the way of using chat boards for online customer service. For example, like uh if you go to some place you can, you can uh ask on Facebook, uh the chatbot, like how to book next week, please provide me with some additional information which should be done or where should I go, et cetera, et cetera.

So it's quite easy now to do it. Also also one of the ways which we are already used for tourism is about cash payments. And this moment will be mostly u even widely used because now we are living at the times where again, the human touch is quite a dangerous thing. And in order to uh to change the way how we pay, pay, paying something and buying something cashless scene is here for us to come in. Another way how the E I is about food tourism is about using different super apps by super apps. I mean, the different kind of multi use things for booking the trip planning it when you already undergo on the destination or if you have some kind of emergency problems, et cetera, et cetera. So all of these things could be already implemented in one app and you can uh use it anytime you want. So summarize what I said. So yeah, travel is applied for online customer service. Uh It can be used in a way of specialized mad apps for predicting systems. It's aga again about your personal personalization of your offers for facial recognition, for different data processing, especially for the the supplier side and for fraud detection.

Because when we are speaking about online, again, we're speaking about privacy and different kind of stuff, this kind of stuff and ethics and A I is also can he help us to stop different kind of stealing information about your trip and any personal information about yourself who you are?

Um Now we are moving to the most interesting part. So about the travel, how it how it will be changed after the COVID. But first of all, we need to recollect how was the travel before the COVID? So it was still like a few months ago but still for us, the problem, what was the problem for us? Travel? Of course, is the physical presence. If you're going somewhere, it's essential for you to be in this place. It's essential for you to meet new pe people and learn new culture because that's, that's the way why travel is exists because travel is for face to face communication, to learn something new, to discover new places, to meet new people, to be there and experience what is going on there.

And also travel is all about these five senses. So how you smell something and tests and touch here, et cetera, et cetera. But uh then the COVID-19 happened and we can say that travel is not possible because you can't travel anywhere, you can go to other places to discover. And there is so called that during COVID-19 travel. So it's probably not the right term but still what people can do because they are locked in their places, they lock in their apartment homes and they would like still to do something because you uh you need to sometimes to change your habit. And ho ho and ho is, and here we, we have this virtuality because virtuality is a new reality for everyone and what we can see what the way we have uh the way of traveling we have now. So we have tools from home. That's why quite an interesting example and produced by one U uh start up called V. So actually you can book the tour. Uh We uh tour with a professional tour guide which can guide you through the through the, let's say Muse Vatican Vatican or gallery feats in Italy or anywhere else.

It's, it's not still the same when you go somewhere to the real Museum, but still you can learn something new and there is no need for you to give your couch. So you can be in your pajamas somewhere else and uh go somewhere. So it's quite a nice thing. And as an example of the during COVID-19 travel is like live streams which are organized by destination authorities by the organization which are responsible for the branding of the travels. And obviously it was quite a boom, especially in March and April because there's still that, first of all, the main idea of the spice streams were to inform people that there is no need for you to travel. Now please stay home because it's quite essential. But we would like to show you how beautiful, beautiful is our destination. So please go there when the virus will be over. And it was quite a success, obviously, except for most of the places. Also another init initiative here is like vacations and example here is like how would visit Estonia organized. It's again like they support like please stay home but uh stay home, visit your lo your local cities, your country explore something new because it's like the way how you can also change your uh your travel behavior.

And again here like uh here was the rise of the chat bot for future travel purposes. So booking at home Airbnb and different hotel chain, they, they created a lot of chat bot but mostly in order to inform the customers how to cancel their trip, how to postpone them or if someone has uh doubts uh that uh whether I want to go there, like if it's safe or not. So there is a chatbot, which can answer this simple question. And also they were created like one online online experiences, for example, here, airbnb. And it was one of the greatest things here because you can dance, you can do salsa, you can cook somewhere else on the other part of the world. It's the same like I'm speaking, I'm talking now to you in making my presentation. But still you can also do something interactive with other people. And that's how a lot of industry did it. And here's the more important thing here is that automation is the key for the online industry. We are talking about like travels after the COVID. Uh like is everyone saying that life won't be the same, of course, and the same concerns travels. So first of all, what we will see, we will see the lines and borders will be longer than ever before. We will need to have the certificate of immunity.

And I would say that most of the country they are introducing it. For example, like if you're from non eu and would like to go to European Union, you need to have a proof that you are not the person who will spread the virus to the country. Also, you will pack differently because now we understand that we need to like sanitizers, mask, et cetera. They will be with us. And also insurance will be important than ever before. And again, there will be rid of domestic travels. A carbon free flights. And all of this leads to responsible travel behavior, which is the core for a new type of the travel experiences. And what is the role of A I in the post COVID trail? So again, um Vrarxr, this kind of different kind of uh technology, deep tech, deep tech, they again popularity more and this will lead to immersive travel. So this immersive or it's called also online uh online tourism or travel can be an alternative for online tourism, but still it cannot replace it because it can be the way how you can learn something new. You can uh visit some galleries of uh online and then go to uh and then understand whether you like them or not and you can travel them in during the offline travel and see also A I will lead to new hotel models uh for instance, like a hospitality before the COVID Echo Hotel Group, they wanted to introduce this so called robotized and automated uh hospitality performances.

But then the COVID-19 happened and they stopped this project. But anyway, everyone is talking about it. We will see more and have more the smart hotels which were will be automated. And we also can have robot hotels, which is the most interesting thing because probably we will come to places where the people will meet us. But robots and I will show you like just very just have like a few minutes left. A few examples like A I and a post trial like how we must travel will look like. So probably for some people, it will be enough just to put, you know, like hets or spectacles and different kind of variables in order to experience. And that's enough. Or if you still prefer to go to uh to the destination, you can experience to go to a hotel which is ta by robots. And here on the screen, you can see the hotel from Japan. It's a, it's actually exist and there is also another one, quite a famous one in New York. But I forgot the name of it where you can come to the reception. You will be made by Roberts. Fantastic and probably new reality of our tourism. So summarize, I would like to say that uh we need to remember that tourism will be different and it will be different, but it will be, we will, we will travel of course, but we'll take Justin sometimes, but we need still understand what we'd like to see and how we'd like to travel.

And I still think that E I should be great helpful for us. And yeah, so thank you very much for your attention. So if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me here on the chat or in the comment section. If you're interested to learn more about different child tech trends, anything related to technology in tourism and hospitality, feel free to follow me on Twitter and thank you very much. Mm I'm back to questions. I think we still have time. I'm just like I want to rob concierge.

I think actually you can order some of you if you want because they're available. I'm just like checking your questions. And do you think so if you still have any questions and would like to answer something? So we still have just like a few moments because the next person is ready to join this panel. What do you recommend to people working in tourism in? I'll just uh answer this last question and, and I need to, to move the place. I I would say that tour tourism is a very interest, interesting industry. And please try, if you would like to work there, please go there. But, but just like keep your mind open that everything will be changed. And uh if and I suggest like to be very tech friendly in order to stay in tourism and to follow later strands and try to find something new. Yeah. So thank you very much and I will leave now because I'm the persons come. Goodbye.