A star is born in Bali.
Starlink is coming to Bali – a move that will no doubt delight the island’s global nomads and tech entrepreneurs – although whether they will fork out the extra dollars for the Starlink service rather than stick with local Internet providers remains to be seen.
Elon Musk will launch Starlink on the 19 May during his visit to the World Water Forum in Bali.
Musk will also exchange pleasantries with President Joko Widodo during the forum.
Tasting pink soup in Poland – virtually.
Digital portals are popping up to connect cities all over the world – letting people see each other in real time.
Last week, a new digital portal opened up between New York and Dublin, connecting these two cities across the Atlantic Ocean. The first portal was revealed in 2021 by the Benediktas Gylys Foundation, a non-profit that works to unify nations. The first futuristic installation connected Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, with Lublin, a city in Poland.
Now the original portal of Vilnius-Lublin is being put to good use: it has brought together locals from each country to enjoy traditional cold pink soup and create an optical illusion of a real-time joint dining experience.
The tables looked like they reached from one country to another, making it seem like it was the longest long table in the world.
Skateboarding with Skyscanner? Let’s go.
Powered by Open AI’s Chat GPT technology, Savvy Search harnesses the power of AI and Skyscanner’s own flight search (showing more than 18 million unique flight routes and searching more than 80 billion prices every day) to empower travellers to effortlessly communicate their desired trip preferences.
This ranges from common queries like a ‘budget-friendly European getaway in October‘ to more nuanced requests like ‘a 30th birthday trip featuring vibrant nightlife and a great food scene’.
Subsequently, the app identifies the most ideal spots and generates up to three curated destination recommendations. Upon selecting a destination, travellers are directed straight to Skyscanner’s flight search funnel to compare prices and select their ideal flight option.
Skyscanner tested its own system by asking for suggestions for certain niche holidays, one of which was requesting a warm destination for skateboarding.
Skyscanner’s Savvy Search recommended Barcelona for travellers from Singapore.
Barcelona, it recommended, “is a burgeoning destination for skateboarders due to its vibrant skateparks and diverse street skating scenes”.
Piero Sierra, chief product officer at Skyscanner said, “Generative AI is such an exciting technology that we as a travel industry are only just beginning to apply. Globally, 44% of travellers are using AI to help them plan and research travel, but its use varies a lot depending on the market.
“The next logical step is to use the AI technologies now available to us to help these travellers in the discovery phase of their travel planning journey.
“This is also one of many experiments Skyscanner is running to see how generative AI can be incorporated into our core proposition – helping travellers plan and book their trip with ease and confidence – in the future.”
Meditating with META reaches new heights
Lufthansa has debuted a new ‘Travel Mode’ for its Meta Quest 2 and 3 virtual reality headsets, with a pilot programme on select Lufthansa flights through the northern summer.
The programme will be trialled by passengers flying Lufthansa’s new Allegris business class.
Meta says the travel mode has been tuned “to account for the motion of an airplane, so you’ll have a stable and consistent experience in Travel Mode – even when looking out the window”.
With the headset in place, travellers will be able to access movies and TV shows, explore destinations ahead of arrival via a virtual sightseeing preview, or unwind with meditation exercises.
Aeronology and Virtuoso step out together
Aeronology has confirmed a wide-reaching technology and services provider agreement with Virtuoso, the global network specialising in luxury and experiential travel.
The Melbourne-based company provides travel agents with a modern “full service” point-of-sale travel booking platform and was named one of the Hot Top 25 Travel Start-Up’s 2023 by Phocuswire.
Virtuoso advisers will have access to a seamless and modern booking experience thanks to the ‘AeroFares’ platform.
Aeronology also provides airfares and ticketing technology services for Sabre, Travelport, Amadeus and TravelSky.
Aeronology CEO Russell Carstensen said, “Our technology addresses the needs of three types of travel advisor. Firstly, we serve non-GDS, non-IATA users. Secondly, a travel advisor equipped with GDS but not IATA,” Carstensen continued.
“And thirdly, the large host travel advisors who possess both GDS and IATA but need a full-ticket centre solution for their travel advisors and ICs.”
Aeronology’s services will commence late June 2024 in the North American market, and other global markets are expected to quickly follow suit.
Source: Travel Weekly USA
