Boston Globe Highlights 6ix, Destination Toronto's Custom AI from GuideGeek

The travel industry’s embrace of AI continues to grow and transform the ways travel agents and destination marketing organizations operate. That is the message of an article from The Boston Globe, which features GuideGeek and 6ix, the GuideGeek-powered travel assistant recently launched by Destination Toronto. Reporter Jon Marcus identifies GuideGeek as a leading technology that can streamline travel planning, demonstrating the growing potential of technology to meet the evolving demands of modern travelers. Here is an excerpt:

About 20 national, state, and local tourism agencies around the world have signed up for customized AI-powered travel assistants developed by GuideGeek, a spinoff of the travel company Matador Network, including Greece, Aruba, Illinois, Reno, and Toronto.

Toronto’s AI tour guide was launched formally in October. It’s called 6ix, a reference to the city’s six boroughs popularized by native son Drake in his single “Know Yourself.” Visitors can “talk” with 6ix through the Destination Toronto website or on WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook Messenger, using a smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Having information like this handy helps people do and see more, said Ross Borden, Matador Network’s cofounder and CEO. But he said it isn’t meant to replace the kinds of human interaction that makes traveling so memorable.

“When you come back and say, ‘We had the most incredible time in Toronto,’ the reason will not be the AI. It will be the people that the AI led you to,” Borden said.

[...] 

The multitrillion-dollar travel industry is decidedly fragmented, Matador’s Ross Borden noted. “You need your flight. You need to figure out how to get to the airport. You need to know how to get from the airport to your vacation rental. You need dinner reservations. There could be language considerations. This is the silver bullet technology to connect all those dots of travel.”

Read the entire story here.