Latest news with #TripPlanning
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Why 'best time to visit' no longer applies
Climate change is rewriting the rulebook for trip planning – and travellers need to adapt. I spent April and May this year travelling across Nepal – prime trekking season and often billed as the "best time to visit". Almost every online guide promised clear skies and comfortable temperatures. Instead, I found hazy polluted air and low visibility, especially at lower elevations. Early monsoons swept across the country, briefly clearing the smoke but replacing it with downpours I hadn't prepared for. The gap between expectation and reality was jarring. This isn't just a Nepal problem; travel is facing climate-driven disruptions everywhere. Australia recorded its hottest March on record this year, with temperatures 2.41C above the historical average. In Japan, cherry blossoms are blooming earlier than ever. Across the globe, longer summers, shorter winters and erratic "false springs" are now routine. "The planet's warming since around 1980 is making heatwaves, droughts and floods more frequent and severe," says Jonathan Erdman, senior meteorologist at The Weather Company's "All three of these are most common during summer, when travel peaks." But the unpredictability now stretches year-round. "Extremely wet and dry periods can happen any time of year – including shoulder season – if the weather pattern gets stuck for a while," Erdman adds.
Entrepreneur
5 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
With GenAI MakeMyTrip Aims To Change Travel Hassle
The scale and complexity of this system make it one of the most ambitious tech builds undertaken at MakeMyTrip Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. MakeMyTrip, the online travel company, announced integration of gen AI capable trip planning assistant. It has upgraded its existing AI agent, Myra. Conversational assistance will help users through destination discovery, shopping, in-trip, and post-sales scenarios. Currently, it's available in English and Hindi and is a beta version. The GenAI Trip Planning Assistant, Myra, is built on a network of specialised AI agents across all major travel categories, flights, accommodation, holidays, ground transport, visas, and forex. It supports multimodal input (text, voice, image, video), continuous back-and-forth dialogue, itinerary edits, and post-sales support—all within the same interface. The company has plans to expand to multiple Indian languages, after fine tuning conversation flows based on early user feedback. "We have always believed that technology is at its best when it solves complex problems behind the scenes, while making the customer interface as intuitive and as delightful as possible. With GenAI, we take that vision further by turning intent into action. It brings together the full strength of our platform, including customer preferences, data supply, user-generated content, personalization, and real-time intelligence, to power the next era of travel," said Rajesh Magow, cofounder and group CEO, MakeMyTrip. In 2023, MakeMyTrip integrated GenAI into its core booking experience. This was an early investment in AI to solve real-world traveller challenges. Over the years, the platform has introduced features such as Fare Lock, Zero Cancellation, voice-led customer support, and,recently,predictive tools for train bookings. Talking about investments in the project and topline, the CEO said, "We are hopeful of it aiding to our topline. And its a work in progress." The scale and complexity of this system make it one of the most ambitious tech builds we have undertaken at MakeMyTrip."Our in-house team has developed custom language models and layered them with planning, scheduling, and verification systems that work in sync and respond in real time. The result is a multi-agent AI framework that collaborates across categories to deliver a seamless experience. The system is currently in beta, allowing us to learn from real interactions and continue strengthening it," said Sanjay Mohan, group CTO, MakeMyTrip. The next phase of development will introduce richer semantic search capabilities and AI-driven use cases. Now, it operates on an individual level and small groups but is yet to take up bookings on business to business level.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
MakeMyTrip Launches Multilingual GenAI Trip Planning Assistant, Making Travel Booking Conversational and Inclusive
Built on Agentic AI framework to power millions of real-time travel decisions across categories NEW DELHI, August 07, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MakeMyTrip, India's leading online travel company, announced a significant leap in product evolution with the launch of GenAI-enabled Trip Planning Assistant, that assist users at every stage of travel planning, from discovery to fulfilment, and beyond. Users would find conversational assistance through their entire journey, from destination-discovery, shopping, in-trip, and post-sales scenarios. The new GenAI Trip Planning Assistant is a notable upgrade to the existing AI agent, Myra, and will make the experience seamless and conversational, enabling travellers to interact via voice and text. This will ensure that users across India who have previously been unable to book due to discomfort with the English language, will now be able to do so. The Beta version of Myra is now live in English and Hindi, with plans to expand to multiple Indian languages, after fine tuning conversation flows based on early user feedback. Users can ask complex and open-ended queries in the realm of travel in Hindi or English like "Where can I go in August for a relaxing holiday with my kids?" Or "Mujhe Udaipur mein 3-star hotel 3500 ke budget mein chahiye" Or "I want to go to south India to cover Madurai, Rameswaram, Kovalam, Kodaikanal. Can you suggest me the best route? I don't want to travel via flight" and receive dynamic, personalised responses based on real-time availability, pricing, and relevance. Multiple AI platforms globally stop at suggestions, Myra is taking a course that hasn't been attempted before by bridging the gap between inspiration and actual booking, letting users move from query to confirmed booking in one conversational journey built on voice end-to-end. The GenAI Trip Planning Assistant, Myra, is built on a network of specialised AI agents across all major travel categories, flights, accommodation, holidays, ground transport, visas, and forex. It supports multimodal input (text, voice, image, video), continuous back-and-forth dialogue, itinerary edits, and post-sales support—all within the same interface. Speaking at the launch, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip said, "We have always believed that technology is at its best when it solves complex problems behind the scenes, while making the customer interface as intuitive and as delightful as possible. With GenAI, we take that vision further by turning intent into action through natural, human-like conversations. By enabling access initially in Hindi, and expanding to multiple Indian languages soon, this launch has the potential to solve for the Bharat heartland, reaching the deepest corners, and bringing seamless, intelligent travel booking to those who've long been underserved by digital platforms. It brings together the full strength of our platform, including customer preferences data, supply, user-generated content, personalization, and real-time intelligence, to power the next era of travel: connected journeys that intuitively adapt to each traveller's needs, from start to finish." "The scale and complexity of this system make it one of the most ambitious tech builds we have undertaken at MakeMyTrip. It is also the first of its kind to operate across so many categories, in real time, and at this depth. Our in-house team has developed custom language models and layered them with planning, scheduling, and verification systems that work in sync and respond in real time. The result is a multi-agent AI framework that collaborates across categories to deliver a seamless experience. The system is currently in beta, allowing us to learn from real interactions and continue strengthening it," said Sanjay Mohan, Group CTO, MakeMyTrip. In 2023, MakeMyTrip became one of the first travel platforms to integrate GenAI into its core booking experience. This early investment in AI builds on a broader track record of using technology to solve real-world traveller challenges. Over the years, the platform has introduced features such as Fare Lock, Zero Cancellation, voice-led customer support, and, recently, predictive tools for train bookings. The current launch extends that momentum, bringing AI deeper into the platform and across the entire journey from planning and purchase to service and support. The next phase of development will introduce richer semantic search capabilities, AI-driven use cases on images & videos, enabling users to move beyond structured filters and interact through more abstract, intent-led queries. This will allow the system to understand and respond to nuanced travel needs, making discovery even more fluid and personalised. As the GenAI platform evolves, MakeMyTrip will continue to push the boundaries of how travellers plan, book, and experience their trips. About MakeMyTrip: MakeMyTrip Limited is India's leading online travel company, with a vision to become the most comprehensive and trusted platform for travellers and partners alike. We are driven by world-class technology, industry-first innovations, and deep consumer insights. Over the 25-year journey to date, we have more than 83.2 million lifetime transacted users. We own and operate several well-recognized online brands, including MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, and redBus. Through our primary websites— and — and mobile platforms, travellers can research, plan, and book a wide range of travel services and products, both within India and overseas. Our offerings include air ticketing, hotel and alternative accommodations, holiday packages, rail ticketing, bus ticketing, taxis, forex services, and ancillary travel needs such as third-party travel insurance and visa application processing. View source version on Contacts Press Contact: MakeMyTrip: AvianWE: akarshitg@
