Equator Global is pushing out a new training platform upgrade, uses cutting edge technology to make learning, product knowledge development and sales support faster and easier for travel agents.

The enhanced training platform incorporates AI to put instant knowledge, ideas and support at travel agents’ fingertips.

The new ‘Advanced Intelligence’ platform blends human and artificial intelligence to deliver instant information (in more than 25 languages) on destinations, hotels, cruises, airlines, and other travel products.

Agents simply type in their travel question, and the ‘Auto-Expert’ generates quick and clear information within seconds. The new tool is also capable of creating and suggesting itineraries.

To make learning more engaging and easier to absorb, the platform automatically generates Auto-Podcasts.

Each time an agent asks a question through the AI tool, the answer is transformed into a podcast, presented as a natural, discussion-style conversation between two life-like hosts.

The podcasts allow travel agents to revisit the platform’s responses in an easy and fun way, continuing learning whether at work, on the go, or at home.

Equator Global’s CEO, Ian Dockreay, says: “This is just the start of the next stage of travel e-learning, marketing and information technology.”

Philip Micallef, the newly appointed Marketing and Account Manager at Equator Global, said: “I’m excited to have joined Equator Global at this stage of their expansion and development. Emerging knowledge technologies are really taking off into a whole new world of innovation and delivery, most of which we couldn’t have imagined just a few short years ago.”

Drawing on more than 20 years of experience, supporting over 350,000 travel agents and tour operators worldwide, the new AI tool is a revolutionary upgrade to how agents learn and sell.

To ensure the answers are reliable and accurate, Equator Global is working with their travel and tourism clients to create a bespoke digital knowledge cloud with the client feeding it with data and sources that will deliver the best information for agents.

A blistering rally in Chinese mainland technology shares accelerated on Wednesday as renewed bets on artificial intelligence sent a key gauge to the highest in nearly four years.

The Hang Seng Tech Index, which tracks the largest tech firms listed in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, rose as much as 3.9 percent to hit its highest level since November 2021.

Search engine operator Baidu Inc led gains with a 19 percent jump but multiple tech giants came along for the ride: Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, and JD.com Inc all surged in morning trading.

The index is now set for its seventh consecutive week of gains, helped by hopes that tech companies’ big bets on AI will pay off. The gauge has surged 41 percent this year, trouncing a benchmark of regional peers.

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“China tech leaders are visibly re-accelerating AI spend and product rollouts — models, robotaxis, in-house chips — while also proving they can monetize AI faster than many expected,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets. “With valuations lagging the US, investors are starting to pay attention again.”

The Hang Seng Tech Index trades at around 20.5 times forward earnings, below its five-year average of 23.3 times earnings and Nasdaq 100 Index’s ratio of 27 times, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.

Brokers are quickly lifting price targets. Goldman Sachs Group Inc has raised its target for Alibaba’s shares, citing a better outlook for its cloud business. Arete Research Services LLP lifted its rating on Baidu’s American depositary receipts to buy from sell on the growth potential for its in-house chip business. Earlier this week, JPMorgan Chase & Co upgraded its rating on battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.

Other headwinds for the mainland’s internet sector are starting to clear. A local media report citing JD.com chairman Richard Liu saying he was not interested in starting a price war in the hotel sector sent shares of the e-commerce giant surging by more than 6 percent. Rivals including Meituan and Trip.com Group Ltd also jumped.

Big Spending

The mainland’s biggest tech companies are in the middle of a spending spree on AI, as they race against one another and against US firms to conquer a market widely expected to revolutionize how people live and work.

Total capital expenditure from major mainland internet firms such as Alibaba, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Baidu and JD.com is set to hit $32 billion in 2025, more than doubling from $13 billion in 2023, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report.

That has helped create a funding spree in equity and bond markets. Alibaba raised $3.2 billion from a blockbuster convertible bond offering last week, while Tencent turned to the dim sum bond market for 9 billion yuan ($1.27 billion) on Tuesday, its first bond sale in four years.

READ MORE: HK stocks open week on positive note as rate cut expectations rise

The latest news fueling optimism was a state television report Tuesday night that China Unicom’s Sanjiangyuan data center has signed contracts to deploy AI chips from local firms including Alibaba’s chip unit T-Head.

Separately, mainland foundry SMIC’s shares jumped over 6 percent following a report that it is running trials on the mainland’s first domestically produced advanced chipmaking equipment.

The booking funnel is fractured by generation, with younger travelers leaning more on technology and social media.

In July, travel technology company iSeatz commissioned that included responses from 1,000 Americans travelers over the age of 18. The survey, conducted by Talker Research and titled “The Modern Traveler 2025,” revealed that the booking path no longer follows traditional patterns.

“Today’s travelers are not just choosing destinations. They are navigating a digital journey from discovery to booking, and they expect it to feel effortless, intuitive and personalized at every step,” said Kenneth Purcell, founder and CEO of iSeatz. “These rising expectations do not come out of nowhere. Consumers have been conditioned by the digital ease of e-commerce, social media and streaming platforms.”

ISeatz found that travelers are discovering travel opportunities in a more fluid process, which also requires more steps. 

“Instead of following a straight path from idea to booking, most travelers now move back and forth between inspiration, research, comparison and planning across a variety of platforms,”  iSeatz said in its report.

This shift is tied to social media for younger generations, while older generations are still relying on friends and family for recommendations.

Generally speaking, 43% of respondents said they are inspired by loved ones. But younger generations are more often inspired by social media: 52% of Gen Z and 46% of millennials said it is their “primary source” for travel inspiration.

The report found that during the research phase, 45% of Gen Z members prefer using social media over traditional search engines. Overall, 43% of travelers still use traditional search engines like Google and Bing, but 27% go to social media first.

Nearly 40% of travelers also said social media influencers had a “significant impact” on how they book and where they travel, with that figure ticking up among younger generations. Sixty-two percent of Gen Z respondents said influencers impact their decisions.

Social media’s influence is further illustrated by Phocuswright research that found almost two thirds of travelers made a trip purchase or visitation based on content they viewed while trip planning.

Considering the survey results, iSeatz said some travel brands are missing the mark.

“There isn’t currently enough technical infrastructure to support discovery-to-booking experiences within social platforms,” iSeatz said. “That’s a missed opportunity: 53% of millennials and 52% of Gen Z say they’d book travel directly from social media if it were secure and seamless.”

That is a gap that some travel brands and social media platforms—including Expedia and Instagram, Booking.com and TikTok and TourRadar—are trying to solve.

But regardless of age or generation, the funnel is still fragmented, according to iSeatz. 

“Travelers often jump between social feeds, search engines, review sites and booking engines, which creates both friction and opportunity. Travel brands that can bridge these gaps will be better positioned to capture interest and convert it into action.”

Additional AI findings

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is having an impact on traveler behavior too, as other reports have also found.

Around one in five travelers reported regularly using AI, and that percentage ticks up among younger travelers, with 35% of Gen Z and 34% of millennials using AI regularly. 

And with AI tools maturing, travelers are anticipating more personalization, iSeatz found.

“Fifty-seven percent of travelers already expect brands to anticipate their preferences and needs based on past behavior,” iSeatz said in its report. “Millennials, in particular, are driving this shift. Seventy-four percent say personalization is a baseline expectation, not a bonus.”

And the majority of travelers are not strongly opposed to sharing their data to make that happen.

“The travel companies that succeed in this new landscape will be the ones that understand their customers deeply and design every touchpoint around what today’s travelers value most,” iSeatz said.