VIVA Cruises is responding to an opinion article published on TravelPulse about the dangers of its new AI Travel Advisor tool potentially hurting travel advisors.
The original news, about the launch of its AI Travel Advisor, explained the tool as a way “to help travelers discover their ideal river cruise,” through a conversational experience with personalized recommendations based on budget and other factors.
The opinion column was written in response to that, warning about the potential for AI-powered systems to one day replace the critical role of the travel advisor.
“VIVA Cruises likely wasn’t thinking of directly competing against travel advisors with a new AI-powered technology,” wrote Lacey Pfalz in her opinion column on the subject. “But in calling it what it is—an AI Travel Advisor—something threatening has begun in the travel industry. Something that could, if we allow it to, replace so many people with a technology that only pretends to know us. So let’s not let it replace us.”
VIVA Cruises saw the column and provided some new information, releasing the statement below on the matter, defining the tool as a system travel advisors can use to help find fitting itineraries for their clients, rather than a tool travelers can use to replace them.
"VIVA Cruises supports the travel advisor community and appreciates that advisors bring invaluable expertise to the river cruise planning process,” said a VIVA Cruises spokesperson. “The new AI Travel Advisor from VIVA Cruises was designed to complement that expertise, not replace it, giving advisors a fast, convenient way to identify the perfect itinerary for their clients. We view our new AI tool as another powerful resource in the advisor's toolkit, one that enhances the discovery experience while keeping the advisor at the center of every booking."
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