Despegar.com, Corp. announced the launch of SOFIA, the region?s first Generative AI Travel Assistant, marking a significant enhancement to the Company?s customer value proposition. This pioneering innovation allows users to enjoy rapid, as well as more personalized and convenient travel planning through technology.

Powered by generative artificial intelligence, Despegar's SOFIA is multimodal and fully supports travelers from the initial conception of their travel idea, through the planning and coordination stages, until their return. Interacting with SOFIA is simple, intuitive, and flexible, accommodating oral, written, or image-based communication according to a traveler?s preferences, and is available at any time and day. Behind this advancement is Despegar's technology prowess, strong culture of innovation, and deep knowledge of the travel market.

SOFIA assists customers at every step of travel planning, from searches to bookings to payments, to create the best possible travel experience. Interacting with SOFIA is remarkably simple and straightforward. For example, a user expressing a desire to go surfing prompts SOFIA to suggest potential destinations, allowing the user to engage through chat, voice, a displayed catalog of travel options, or any combination thereof.

Going beyond traditional chatbot functionality, SOFIA provides a genuinely and naturally interactive digital assisted travel planning experience. SOFIA's dynamic conversation style, adaptive responses, and empathetic nature, coupled with Despegar's extensive knowledge of over 30 million customers and their preferences, clearly distinguish the digital assistant from conventional online platforms and could facilitate the secular transition from offline to online travel booking. In addition, SOFIA offers a self-assisted purchasing experience and facilitates contact with Despegar representatives for sales or after-sales inquiries when desired.

The tool is now available across Latin America and the Company plans to incorporate additional features and functionality over time.