•Mastercard launches Lifestyle Navigator, an AI-driven platform, to move beyond payments into early-stage travel discovery.
•Integrated with MakeMyTrip's GenAI assistant Myra in India, the platform aims to simplify travel planning amidst information overload.
•Kauveri Khullaar highlights India as a key market due to its rapid growth in travel and expanding middle class.
•The platform uses 'trusted intelligence' with curated human inputs to offer personalized recommendations, countering 'smoothies of sameness' from generic AI.
•Lifestyle Navigator focuses on experiences post-booking, embedding offers and benefits while limiting data collection to consumer intent signals.
