OAG CEO says travel’s next operating system will be built on “trusted intelligence”
OAG CEO Filip Filipov issued a sharp warning that the travel industry is heading into its most significant interface shift since the rise of online booking. Search boxes, filters and price‑led comparison – the model that has defined digital travel for nearly three decades – are no longer suited to an AI‑driven world, he said.
Filipov traced the evolution from in‑person agents to the web and mobile eras, each of which reshaped consumer behaviour. AI, he argued, represents a break from that pattern because “the traveller becomes the interface.” Instead of searching, travellers will rely on agentic systems that understand identity, preferences and context.
The challenge is that the industry’s infrastructure is still built for “cheapest first.” GDSs, reservation systems and pricing logic all assume a search‑driven world. Filipov warned that look‑to‑book ratios could reach one million to one in an agentic environment, making today’s backend architecture unsustainable.
He said the next operating system of travel will be defined by trusted context - a shared, real‑time data layer that allows an AI agent to manage a trip continuously, from planning to disruption. “The best interface becomes invisible,” he said. Asked who stands to lose power first, he replied: “The big four agencies will feel it first.”
Phocuswright data shows AI adoption accelerating as productivity gaps widen
New research presented on the main stage shows AI adoption among travellers and travel companies rising at record speed, creating a widening productivity divide that will shape the industry’s next phase.
Phocuswright’s Mike Coletta said more than one‑third of European travellers now use AI for trip planning, up from single digits two years ago. In the US, usage has reached 56 percent. “This is the fastest behavioural shift we’ve ever measured,” he said. Despite this surge, trust remains low, with travellers still favouring friends, family and human agents.
On the business side, only 12 percent of travel companies felt ready for AI last year, and just 6 percent were using agentic AI at scale. Coletta estimates that number is now closer to 17 percent, but most companies remain early in their transformation.
He highlighted the economic implications: AI native companies are already showing far higher revenue per employee, while token costs continue to fall sharply. “The winners won’t be the companies that cut labour,” he said. “They’ll be the ones that use AI to do one hundred times more work.”
Coletta concluded: AI advantage equals demand capture multiplied by operating leverage multiplied by trust velocity.
Founders and investors say AI is reshaping travel startups, but trust and outcomes matter most
The Day 1 founder and investor panel painted a clear picture of a travel startup landscape being reshaped by AI, but not defined by it. The fundamentals of trust, workflow integration and measurable outcomes remain decisive.
The panel featured Leyla Allahverdiyeva (Nuitée), Callum McPherson (Obvlo) and Roger Sharp (Web Travel Group / North Ridge Partners). McPherson argued that AI has eroded software as a defensible moat. “Customers aren’t buying AI,” he said. “They’re buying results.” He said the companies that win will be those that embed deeply into customer workflows.
Allahverdiyeva stressed that infrastructure players succeed when they become part of a partner’s ecosystem rather than a vendor. She said Nuitée’s growth has come from enabling direct connectivity and reducing intermediaries, not from chasing AI hype.
Sharp described a split investment environment: private capital is flowing into frontier AI, while public markets remain highly sensitive to perceived disruption. Even strong travel companies, he noted, can see their valuations fall sharply if investors fear they are exposed to AI‑driven shifts.
Despite predictions of disintermediation, the panel agreed that middle layers will persist - but in new forms. LinkedIn data showing a 25 percent rise in people with “travel agent” in their title underscored that human expertise remains in demand.
Tags: OAG Filip Filipov operating system of travel Phocuswright Europe Mike Coletta
