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Where do we begin?
“Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism“
Welcome! This page gathers expert perspectives from across the travel sector to answer our biggest questions about AI in this people-centric industry. Explore our topics below to build your own verdict on AI.
This page discusses 5 key topics:
AI & Consumer Travel Planning Behaviour: How is consumer using AI to plan their trips? How should businesses & destinations adapt?
AI & DMO: What changes should destination management organisations make to catch up with AI era?
AI & Sustainability: Can AI be used for good things that’s not just business optimisation?
AI & Tourism Workforce: Is AI really going to takeover this people-centric industry? How should the workforce prepare themselves?
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Starting a conversation on AI & Sustainability…
Global AI energy yearly demand is approaching 23 gigawatts (1 gigawatts powers 750K-1M households), generating between 32.6 and 79.7 million tons of CO2 emissions and 312.5–764.6 billion L of water footprint. (Source)
Data centres that powers AI, could consume 945 terawatt-hours of electricity annually by 2030 – nearly triple the combined annual electricity use of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria, countries collectively home to more than 650 million people. (Source)
AI-related water consumption could equal the basic annual domestic needs of 1.3 billion people by the end of the decade, while its land footprint may exceed 14,500 square kilometres — roughly twice the size of the Jakarta metropolitan area. (Source)
The impacts are also characterised by severe environmental inequity. For example, while a data centre in Finland may run on 97% green energy, while facilities in Asia rely heavily on fossil fuels– creating a drastic regional disparity where a few disadvantaged communities suffer the health consequences of global tech consumption (Source).
Stewart Moore, EarthCheck
Satellite imagery, sensor networks and audit data can identify deforestation, water stress, reef degradation and energy waste far earlier than manual inspection. EarthCheck uses AI to analyse audit data across its certified network and identify patterns that an individual assessor might miss.
Detection alone, however, does not drive conservation outcomes. A monitoring system that identifies a problem achieves little unless an operator, regulator or community commits resources to address it. The gap between "we now know" and "we now act" is where many environmental monitoring investments fail to deliver value. Closing that gap is ultimately a governance and funding challenge, not a technical one.
Paloma Zapata, Sustainable Travel International
Much of the underlying data to measure tourism’s environmental impacts already exists, but finding it, bringing it together, and turning it into useful insights has traditionally been a manual and time-consuming process. AI can significantly reduce that burden.
For example, Sustainable Travel International’s Humí extracts data from existing tour itineraries, then applies our established methodology to calculate emissions from each component, removing much of the technical work involved in calculating a carbon footprint.
Destinations can then aggregate measurements across the tourism sector to identify trends, pinpoint the largest sources of impact, and understand where resources and interventions can have the greatest effect.
Prof. Haiyan Song, SHTM HKPU
AI can help destinations to better anticipate and manage overtourism by continuously analysing diverse, dynamic tourism-related Big Data.
Advanced deep learning AI analytical methods can extract information from this Big Data, for example, visitor flows, booking patterns of accommodation and transportation, and social media activity about intentions. This information can be used to identify emerging hotspots and forecast demand, which can help destination managers to implement proactive measures before overcrowding occurs.
Destinations like the Italian Dolomites and Venice utilise AI-based visitor flow management systems. These platforms analyse real-time foot traffic and suggest alternative routes to evenly distribute tourists, protecting vulnerable ecosystems and historical infrastructure from over-tourism (Source).
AI-driven systems utilising edge computing and 5G-enabled drones detect plastic litter distribution along coastlines, allowing local authorities to enact rapid waste mitigation before marine life is impacted (Source).
AI systems use computer vision in hotel kitchens to identify exactly what food is being thrown away. This allows chefs to dynamically adjust purchasing and portion sizes, reducing global hospitality food waste by thousands of tons annually (Source).
Paloma Zapata, Sustainable Travel International
AI can help destinations move from measuring individual impacts to understanding where action is needed across the tourism system. By analyzing data across the sector, AI can identify common challenges and show where businesses can make changes themselves versus where barriers require destination-level action. For example, analyzing emissions data from Humí across a destination could reveal a need for better public transportation, infrastructure investments, or new incentives that make it easier for tourism businesses to decarbonize. We also see potential to extend Humí beyond carbon, using AI technology to measure other tourism impacts such as waste or overtourism.
AI can also help destinations shift from reacting to impacts to anticipating them. Predictive modeling can show how different tourism growth or development scenarios could affect natural resources, communities, and other sustainability priorities, helping destinations plan for those impacts before they occur.
Stewart Moore, EarthCheck
AI works well as an early-warning and benchmarking layer within a sustainability strategy. It can track certification progress, flag emerging risks, and compare performance across a portfolio at a scale that would be difficult to manage manually.
Its limitation is that it cannot replace the slower, more complex work of changing the behaviour of staff, suppliers and travellers. Certification frameworks are most effective when data is paired with accountability through verified standards, independent audits, and leadership that treats findings as a mandate for action rather than a report.
Any destination or operator adopting AI for sustainability should consider not only what the tool measures, but also who is responsible for acting on the results.
Prof. Haiyan Song, SHTM HKPU
Beyond mitigating overtourism, AI can support more balanced and sustainable tourism development by helping destinations understand visitor preferences while aligning tourism activities with local capacity, environmental limits, and community needs. AI-driven decision support systems and digital twins can model and evaluate the potential impacts. As a result, destinations can enhance visitor experiences, protect natural and cultural assets, reduce pressure on local communities, and promote more equitable distribution of tourism benefits across regions.
Sarah Mathews, E-Tourism Frontiers
Data collection for visitor flow is usually fragmented across different systems with different owners. Turning all of that into a single source of truth is harder still, and takes time, money and expertise.
This is where governments should be investing: data architects and analysts, a single source of truth built properly, and used to ask better questions. AI then does what it does well, finding patterns across sources, heat mapping, and forecasting pressure points early enough to act. The same foundation is invaluable in a crisis, when the problem is never too much information but too little, too slowly.
Yang Li, Booking.com
AI can help travellers make choices that better reflect their needs and values, while enabling destinations to distribute demand more effectively and helping smaller tourism businesses reach relevant customers. It can surface accessible options, lesser-known destinations and experiences that benefit local communities, as well as give businesses clearer insight into changing traveller preferences. For example, Booking.com’s 2025 research found that 71% of travellers valued AI recommendations that help them avoid overcrowded destinations or peak times, while 60% wanted AI to highlight experiences that positively benefit local communities. AI is not inherently sustainable on its own. However, AI's contribution depends on reliable and inclusive data, clearly defined destination objectives and measurable outcomes, with communities and public authorities the key determinants of what responsible tourism growth should mean.
Jessie McComb, ADB
AI has the potential to, and in some ways already is, radically changing accessibility and inclusion in the tourism industry. For travelers with accessibility challenges, AI can shift through poorly designed websites, make bookings on their behalf, and guide them on destinations that may be more accessible or inclusive. Once on ground, AI can provide quick guidance to tackle all the tricky situations that travelers face such as assisting with translation, navigating new places, and even figuring out what food you’ve just been served.
However, there are also risks involved when using AI in these ways—information and facts need to be verified, bias can be unintentionally integrated into recommendations reducing inclusivity, and small businesses or emerging destinations can be excluded impeding value capture from tourism. More importantly, AI has the potential to keep tourists from exploring destinations in authentic and unplanned ways—which, in my opinion, is the most beautiful part of a trip.
Incheon Tourism Organization’s Incheon Easy app demonstrates how artificial intelligence can break down physical and digital barriers to make travel an equitable right for everyone. Built to serve Korea (ROK)'s 16 million barrier-sensitive travellers—including seniors, families with strollers, and persons with disabilities—INCHEON EASY uses AI to deliver verified, real-time accessibility data.
Through the "Easy-Ggu" AI assistant, travellers can instantly verify wheelchair ramp locations, accessible restrooms, and barrier-free routes with zero guesswork.
Coupled with multilingual voice and chat support and three consecutive years of Mobile Accessibility certification, the platform eliminates information asymmetry and empowers every traveler to explore with independence and dignity.
