ixigo launches TARA the travel agent of the future

The travel industry in India has evolved significantly over the past few decades due to internet explosion and penetration of smartphones in India. To stay ahead in the journey of digital transformation, most online travel platforms are embracing new technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), Business Intelligence, data analytics to enhance the user interface. To capture the segment of digitally savvy travellers most online travel apps have introduced chatbots to assist the users in planning their travel. But the overall user experience on these websites lacks personalized service.

To address these difficulties confronted by the travellers ixigo launched TARA to make travel planning & booking hassle-free as well as reduce time spent in researching. With the launch of TARA, the voice-based travel assistant, ixigo plans to disrupt the travel industry. Rajnish Kumar, CTO and Co-Founder at ixigo says that TARA is exactly like the travel agent of the past, except that she responds instantly and is available 24x7. She has all flight-related information and deals at her fingertips, she is unbiased, informed and offers a wide variety of options after evaluating the preference of the travellers.

TARA is a voice-enabled, 100 per cent AI-driven travel assistant of the future that helps users discover, plan, book and manage their travel. Features like emotive voice-based assistance, pre-emptive trip planning, automated frequent flyer programme management, seamless flight search and booking and automated web check-in make TARA first-of-its-kind in the world. TARA was launched at the Phocuswright Innovation Platform, held in Florida, in November, where it received overwhelming appreciation for its unique features.

To make the user interface smart and travel planning a delight with the assistance of TARA, ixigo is leveraging the data collated through multiple engagements with the users. The data collected from emails with complaints/suggestions, call transcripts, chat records from customer support about a traveller helps in the training model that ultimately results in an engaging conversation with the traveller.

Unlike chatbots, the AI-driven platform TARA is developed with advanced natural language understanding, powered by deep learning and contextual awareness that makes the experience extremely personal. What differentiates TARA from chatbots is the human-like engagement with the travellers. TARA does a complete analysis of the users past holidays, reminds the user about the vacations, suggests destinations based on the travel history of the user and recommends dates by predicting prices. Thus, making every conversation extremely personal and informative.