The travel industry will need to find out tech services to balance out the workforce decreases that included an aging population.
The industry is already struggling to discover workers. “An across the country scarcity of employees is preventing hotels from regaining all the jobs we lost to the pandemic,” stated a representative for the American Hotel & Accommodations Association.
Based upon existing market trends, around one out of 5 people worldwide will be over the age of 65 by 2054, according to the United Nations and World Population Prospects Task. That’s up from one out of 10 in 2024.
There will not be as lots of young people to fill the ranks. People are living longer while having fewer kids in the West, which equates into an aging society and long-lasting population decrease, stated Dr. Paul Morland, demographer and author of “The Human Tide.”
Amid the market shift, AI and other tech will be needed to support front desks, customer support, sales, cleaning, shipment and other points of interaction with tourists. If AI can’t fill or support these tasks, service quality will decline.
It will take time, however the industry is currently dealing with it. Take South Korea-based Robotis, which developed a room-delivery service robot. It has an arm that can press an elevator button and knock on doors. At the 2023 HITEC conference, among its robotics provided a bottle of wine straight to a visitor’s space in a design hotel. The business intends to break into the North American hotel market.
Airline companies and airports will invest in more effective self-service tech. They will need to as the variety of air travelers is anticipated to grow significantly. The International Air Transport Association predicts that the variety of air traveler journeys will reach 7.8 billion by 2040, double what it was before the pandemic.
A pain point in working with right now is discovering baggage handlers at airports. It’s contributed to mass flight cancellations over the last few years. It’ll become worse as it gets harder to hire handlers and more individuals travel.
All Nippon Airways in Japan has been working with Toyota Industries to pilot a robotic bag loader in addition to a self-governing tow tractor to carry cargo.
Alaska Airlines plans to invest $2.5 billion over 3 years to upgrade its guest technology in airport lobbies. The airline will have a baggage dropoff machine that scans a traveler’s face, recognition and bags.
As tour guides end up being harder to hire, autonomous cars might step in. Double-deck buses might be changed by self-driving cars and trucks with digital guides that use a range of trips based upon particular interests in a number of languages.
The industry can’t afford service spaces in the years ahead, particularly as a bigger share of the traveling public exceeds 65. Some of these grownups may require more support.
In Japan, which is far ahead of the West in its population decline, Narita International Airport, partnered with WHILL to release a self-governing wheelchair service last year.
Nearly one-fifth of U.S. adults aged 65 and older reported they had difficulty with seeing, hearing, communication, movement, memory or concentration, or self-care, according to the Administration for Community Living’s 2021 demographic profile.
The industry currently has a hard time to support tourists with availability requirements. Provided the predicted labor crunch, this just will get more difficult in the years ahead without better tech.
As their labor pool diminishes, all travel business will ultimately deal with a stark option: adopt AI tech or downsize their services.