The Contiki Alexa Skill aims to make packing a breeze by creating personalised packing lists that are tailored to travellers' holiday destinations. Alexa then collates the packing list into an interactive list within the Alexa app and shares it via email to the account attached to the user's Amazon ID.

Whether users are heading to North America's national parks, the snowy mountains of Japan, or the historical cities of Europe, 'Contiki: Pack My Bags'  intends to provide helpful suggestions on what to pack based on the season. This is also with the aim to prevent users from overpacking for travelling with unnecessary items.

As part of the Contiki Cares initiative, the skill encourages users to think about environmentally conscious travelling with advice on how users can pack more sustainably. The 'Pack My Bags' voice skill recommends products that are more sustainable, such as ocean-friendly sunscreen and discourages the use of single-use plastics.

The skill has also been built to include destination-specific visual elements, which aims to enhance the experience for those using it with Smart Speakers featuring screens, as well as making it Fire TV compatible.

Individuals can use 'Contiki: Pack My Bags' through the following steps:
  1. Enable 'Contiki Pack my bags' on the Amazon store
  2. Say 'yes' when prompted for list access. This is where the items on the packing list, which are not yet obtained, are saved.
  3. Ask the device, “Alexa, pack my bags” to trigger the skill
  4. Tell Alexa the destination and the month of travel
  5. Alexa will recommend items to pack such as clothes, accessories and toiletries
  6. Tell Alexa know whether these items are packed or not, with the missing items added to a list
  7. Add additional items to the list by saying, "Alexa, add to my Contiki packing list"
  8. Go to the Alexa app to access the packing lists; they will also be emailed to the user
"With 50% of all searches predicted to be voice searches by 2020, we saw an opportunity to create a voice skill for Alexa that was both fun and useful for users, capturing Contiki's exciting brand identity," says marketing manager for The Travel Corporation (Contiki's parent company) Kele Scheppers. 

"When looking at our best performing content on our publisher site Six-Two, we realised there was a demand for help when people were packing for their travels. This inspired the concept for 'Contiki Pack My Bags', designed to take the stress out of packing and enrich traveller's holiday experience from packing through to travelling," adds Scheppers.

"If you always pack too much or too little, or never actually use any of the items you pack, then this skill is here to help," concludes Scheppers. 

Fore more information, visit www.amazon.com.