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PayPal and YourStory hosted a panel discussion to throw more light on the opportunities and challenges faced by the travel sector. Chandni Nihalani, Director – PayPal India; Ankit Chaturvedi, Global Head of Marketing – RateGain; Navin Jacob Abraham, VP Digital Engineering – IGT Solutions; Saurabh Arora, Founder and CEO, University Living; and Manan Bajoria, VP Growth, Product Marketing and Analytics – Ixigo, spoke at length about the evolution and change in consumer behaviour and how service providers are countering the challenges.

With extensive work being put in to transform the digital experience for the travel industry, the sphere is seeing leveraging of technology and reimagining of the existing business processes with the main focus being on building customer experiences. “We are basically you trying to use technology and AI to solve all the customer pain points that are out there” says Manan Bajoria of Ixigo.

As the customers have become more technology oriented, there’s an immediate need for merchants and travel partners to meet their digital demands. Another major challenge in fulfilling digital transactions is building consumer trust. “Just having the PayPal logo on the website or app shows a seal of trust. So safety and security of money is kind of at the heart of all of this and that’s how we help merchants build trust.” says Chandni.

In their bid to make the travel experience more personalised for customers, airlines are now willing to provide visa, lounge access, pickup tools and fast track through the airport. Features such as ‘Flex’ where flight timings as well as sectors can be changed provide complete flexibility to consumers. “It (travel industry) is changing into a marketplace model, rather than just a pure e-commerce retail model selling a single product. It is now bringing in an ecosystem of partners, and that’s where the digital, cashless journey starts coming together.” says Naveen to sum it up.

To watch the session on Hubilo,