ITB in Berlin last week was the venue for release of a fishy survey suggesting that the tour and travel industry should prepare for the age of robots delivering more services. Overall, the Travelzoo survey of 6,000 travelers was an obvious play to garner more publicity at ITB that worked on us, but it did find a surprisingly high level of acceptance of robots, although there were regional differences and a more accepting attitude for certain tasks. Highlighted points drawn from the study include the following:

 

—Overall 80 percent of respondents globally expected robots to play a big part in their lives before 2020, with three quarters believing they will make their lives significantly better.

—Among British respondents, 50 percent said they found them frightening, and almost two thirds expressed concern about handing over day-to-day travel responsibilities to machines.

—British consumers expressed a preference for being greeted by a human receptionist in a hotel, with 86 percent preferring a human over a robot in this role. However, if the robot receptionist were able to handle questions more accurately and process more information with 52 percent saying they would choose a robot over a human.

–Nearly three quarters of UK respondents also believe robots have better memories than humans, can process data faster and are better at learning multiple languages. (What does that tell you about the other 25 percent?)

—British respondents were the most concerned about robots and the subtle understanding of language.

Just over three quarters (78 percent) of respondents doubted a robot’s ability to understand informal language such as slang, idiomatic phrases, irony and humor. (Sometimes comedians have the same problem).

—UK respondents clearly want a robot to look like a robot, and not too lifelike. This ensures clear separation between robots and real people: Nearly 6 out of 10 UK respondents (59 percent) would prefer a robot to look like a machine, and not have human qualities.  (My induce an outcry about a new form of R2D2-like profiling)

—In contrast, over three quarters (76 percent) of Chinese respondents would rather the robot look like a human. (So they can be inconspicuously taken on shopping excursions)

—UK travelers seem fairly happy with robots being used within the travel industry, as long as a human is accompanying them. They don’t want robots to replace human contact:

—61 percent of UK travelers would be comfortable with robots being used in the travel industry.

—Travelers from Germany (63 percent) and France (53 percent) are the least comfortable with robots (Too stiff, perhaps?)

—Travelers from China (92 percent) came out as the most comfortable with robots being used in travel, followed by Brazil (73 percent) and the USA (71 percent)

—50 percent of UK respondents would accept the use of a robot as a hotel receptionist if it was accompanied by a human, and almost one third (31 percent) would accept the robot even if it was unaccompanied. (What about robots as a concierge?)

—Speaking to a real person when booking a holiday is important to UK travelers—they are the second-least likely to agree that they would welcome the use of a robot when taking holiday bookings over the phone (49 percent).

—Germans were the least in favor of booking via a robot, with 56 percent disliking the idea. (You mean other nationalities were comfortable giving the robot their credit card?)

—One third of UK respondents wouldn’t accept the use of a robot as a waiter under any circumstance—–British respondents were the most averse to robots being used in nurseries or kids’ clubs in resorts, with 55 percent saying they wouldn’t accept this.

While we await and process photo contest entries, we thought we would share with you a sampler of earlier photos that found their way to the Inbound Report.

This is what Cathy Keefe, US Travel’s media relations manager (and thousands of other crammed together) saw as they waited to enter the main exhibit area at the Berlin ExpoCenter on the first day of ITB. New technology this year? More people to process delegates? “Nope,” posted Cathy on Facebook. “Just the same four people beeping in 10,000 exhibitors” through the Fast Lane.

 

Showing how to partner in the booth are: Joe Tropia, director, national sale and marketing, Blue Man Productions; Dave Falsetti, senior sales manager at Big Bus Tours New York; Gisel Vidals, head of national trade sales USA/head of sales and marketing New York City Big Bus Tours; Liz Gilbert, national director-travel industry sales, Entertainment Cruises; Sheelagh Wylie, head of trade sales, Midway Attractions, North America, Merlin Entertainments; and Jennifer Edwards, trade sales manager, Midway Attractions North America at Merlin Entertainments. Merlin recently announced that it had invested more than $34 million for a 15 percent share in Big Bus Tours.

 

Making an individual pitch at the booth is Dave Falsetti, senior sales manager at Big Bus Tours New York

At the Georgia booth as the event opened are (left-to-right): Mindy Shea, director of international sales, Visit Savannah; Tracy Vaughan, director of international accounts,  Georgia Tourism; Dennis Kemp, regional sales manager, Georgia Aquarium; Peter Hannaford, UK representative, Georgia Tourism; Brandon Barnes, director of international sales, Atlanta CVB; and Anja Hoebler, Germany representative, Georgia Tourism.

Robotics were a big part of ITB this year. Here, we see Toshiba’s latest generation of its Chihira robot at the show. It has been programmed to respond to questions in four languages, including German. One observer said the robot was “clearly on this side of the uncanny valley.”

Meanwhile, the 57-centimeter tall Mario, who is the youngest employee at the Ghent Marriott Hotel in Belgium, was featured during ITB’s Hospitality Day. Mario speaks 19 languages.

The room was quiet and serious, almost hushed, when Hubertus Knabe, a German historian and the scientific director of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, a museum and memorial in a notorious former Stasi torture prison in Berlin, made his presentation.

David Ruetz, head of ITB, “celebrates” the fifth anniversary of the ITB Buyers Circle, by doing an internship at the Circle lounge’s bar.

 

Though there were several hundred people at the ITB Speed Networking session at this point, the crowd seems engulfed by the huge, curtained-off portion of an exhibit hall room.

If you were an ITB hipster, you just might have received an invitation for the closing party in Berlin put on by Timo Kohlenberg, president and CEO of America Unlimited, which is based in Hannover, Germany. Timo was pleased, it seems, posting this on Facebook: “Thanks to everyone attending our ITB Party. We loved it!”