Google Germany exec speaks on GenAI at ITB Berlin travel show

Yesterday at world's largest travel show ITB Berlin, Google Germany Head of Customer Engineering Dr. Stefan Ebener delivered a presentation on how Generative AI in Google Search will change the nature of global travel planning.

According to Dr. Ebener, the AI-powered, next-generation search engine that Google is about to launch will be "unlike anything users have previously encountered": interactive and multimodal, capable of understanding and processing a wide range of inputs beyond text queries.

Dr. Ebener envisions the future of search as involving image-driven queries that leverage platforms like Instagram for travel-planning inspiration - not only a technological advance but also one that takes tourism marketing to another level through greater use of visuals that will captivate shoppers - particularly Millennials and members of GenZ.

Another innovation promised by Dr. Ebener is the introduction of AI-powered "hyper-personalized travel assistants" that will support consumers in their journey through the travel-researching and -booking process.

Google's Gemini AI (ex-Bard) is expected to be able to create marketing content for travel suppliers based on automated video analyses of their products.

Dr. Ebener said that with GenAI the new travel will be about immersive experiences, personalized assistance and a seamless blend of media.

Note however that a couple of weeks ago Google took down its Gemini AI picture generator following complaints about the tool's bias toward inclusiveness at the expense of verifiable reality.

How soon will Dr. Ebener's vision of travel be realized? Stay tuned.