recently attended the ITT Conference in Malaga, Spain, where I met travel influencer Gill Antonin, who has a massive 5 million followers, unlike my 5.6 million TikTok followers, which he had earned rather than just bought like me (Well, that’s what he tells me), and therefore had a large amount of instant credibility.

Over a beer at the opening party, he started talking about “Travel 4.0”. My immediate reaction was that this sounded suspiciously like what I often describe as A-F-B-M,  “Airy Fairy Bollocky Marketing”, a term I coined in the 1990s to describe Industry Veteran Richard Carrick’s regular rants. Let’s be honest: Travel has always had a habit of inventing new buzzwords to describe things that have already been happening for years, and I’m probably more guilty than most.

However, the more Gill explained it, the more I realised he was describing the current state of the travel industry remarkably concisely.

Travel 4.0 is essentially the travel equivalent of the wider Industry 4.0 term. It describes the point at which technology ceases to be a support function and becomes woven into every part of the customer journey.

Artificial intelligence, big data, automation, cloud computing, mobile apps, virtual reality, digital payments and connected systems now all work together to create a more intelligent travel ecosystem.

When you look around the travel sector today, Travel 4.0 is everywhere.

Customers are already researching holidays on their phones, receiving personalised recommendations based on previous behaviour, using AI chatbots for support, boarding aircraft with digital boarding passes, and receiving real-time notifications throughout their journey. Travel businesses, particularly low-cost airlines, increasingly use predictive analytics to forecast demand, automate pricing and personalise marketing. AI assistants like my own prototype at https://www.holidayrep.ai/ are already helping customers plan trips and answer destination questions.

In many ways, the online travel revolution of the last twenty years was simply the warm-up act, with Travel 4.0 now connecting everything together into a seamless digital experience.

The interesting thing is that most travel companies believe they have already embraced Travel 4.0 because they have a booking engine, a CRM system and a bit of AI bolted onto their website. The reality is that many are still operating somewhere between Travel 2.5 and Travel 3.0 because, although they have digital tools, these tools are often disconnected, fragmented, and heavily reliant on human intervention.

But as usual, the key thing was not what Gill said but how he made me think about what comes next.

If Travel 4.0 is technology-centric, I think Travel 5.0 will become human-centric.

As we discussed at length at the conference, I firmly believe that the human element of travel is vital, because in essence we are selling a virtual product based on a promise to deliver something 6-9 months later. That requires a lot of trust, and although the super brands can build that trust, the rest of us will continue to rely on our human sales staff to establish it through face-to-face conversations or phone calls that are full of empathy and the expertise to extract from customers what they want, often before they even really know. How often does a customer ring up with one destination in mind but hang up having brought another?

I just think AI will make the best sellers a lot more efficient because their co-pilots are handling the bullshit admin that has dominated half their lives for far too long, allowing them to handle 2-3 times more customers a year. Unfortunately, the obvious conclusion is that 2-3 colleagues will disappear. Sorry, guys, if you don’t want to hear that, but maybe it’s time to jump into the AI world to make sure you’re one of the survivors.

At times, I think my blunt honesty does me no favours. After saying this on day one of the panel debate I hosted, I got into trouble for dragging Gill on stage at the last moment, against the organisers’ express wishes (sorry, guys, but he was worth it). I found myself labelled by Jacquline Dobson, Barrhead’s eloquent CEO, as Anti-Human.

Interestingly, when I gently challenged her about this comment over a beer in the evening, asking what about my comments on the panel had given her his view, she confessed that she had missed the session and had only just been told so by another delegate.

I am lucky to have this written outlet to make myself 100% clear. I am not anti-Human. It’s just that I honestly think there will be fewer entry-level jobs in travel, and in the longer term this is a major concern because our best travel leaders have all worked their way through the ranks and understand their businesses inside out, with deep empathy for customers and their needs. I really fear that future business will be dominated by AI marketers who have never lived the product they sell, and the sector is in danger of losing the beating heart that has driven it for years.

One indication of this is that we had no attendees from any OTA at the ITT conference, apparently because they see us as a lot of old travel dinosaurs. In some ways, they are right, and I do believe, as an ITT Board member, that it’s time to modernise. That’s why we have added regular UK events, such as Debate IT sessions in London, to specifically bring these OTAs onto the stage for an interesting debate about AI, sustainability, and issues facing aviation. Not everybody wants to take the time out to spend several days at a conference.

However, those people are missing out on the social side of the conference, where friendships and bonds are built over the years and inspiration is delivered not just by the sessions but the chats over a beer or a wine.

I had not gone; I would not have met Gill or had a week of inspiration driven by my apartment Roomies Martin Lomax and Laurence Woodhams. Conversations shape my ideas and motivate me to launch new businesses, such as Review Wizard, my first attempt at a fully AI-only business. OK, OK, that may be a little anti-human

Personally, I think those who did not attend this year’s ITT conference really missed out and need to think about exactly what they achieved in the business between Monday and Wednesday this week.

Taking time out to think about your business and compare notes with industry colleagues when the AI Juggernaut is heading down the motorway at you, while you sit, legs crossed, in the middle of the road, may not be the best idea.

I am, of course, biased as a long-term ITT member, but I’d strongly recommend you ask people who did attend what they thought, as I personally think the morning-only sessions with plenty of time for afternoon meetings and evening drinks are a strong one that makes it stand above many of its competitors.

Why not give us a try next year?