Technology can make a journey faster, but only people can make it memorable.
Artificial intelligence is already changing how travellers search, compare, book, translate and navigate. Used responsibly, it can remove much of the confusion and wasted time associated with travel. But tourism is not simply a transaction between an application and a customer. It is an experience built through places, cultures and human relationships.
In my view, the best use of AI in tourism is to reduce friction without removing hospitality.
Why this discussion matters now
World Tourism Day is observed on 27 September each year. UN Tourism has announced the 2026 theme as “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to redesign tourism”. The announcement was published on 27 September 2025.
Travel demand also remains substantial. According to UN Tourism data published on 2 June 2026, approximately 307 million tourists travelled internationally during the first quarter of 2026, around 2% more than in the same period of 2025.
These are verified facts. The conclusions below about technology, service and responsibility are my personal assessment.
AI can solve practical travel problems
A traveller may need to compare flights, understand visa requirements, find suitable accommodation, translate a menu or change a plan after a delay. AI can organise information quickly and offer assistance in multiple languages.
Hotels and airlines can use technology to forecast demand, manage queues, detect disruption and communicate changes earlier. Destinations can study visitor flows and reduce pressure on overcrowded locations. Travellers with disabilities may benefit from more detailed accessibility information and better planning tools.
These are valuable improvements. Nobody misses standing in a long queue merely because it was part of the traditional travel experience.
Efficiency is not the same as hospitality
The danger begins when companies assume that every human interaction is an inefficiency to be removed.
When a flight is cancelled, luggage is missing or a hotel room is unsuitable, a traveller usually does not want an endless conversation with a chatbot. The person wants someone who can understand the circumstances, accept responsibility and make a decision.
Hospitality often depends on judgment: helping an elderly guest, guiding a family arriving late at night, understanding a dietary need or suggesting a local experience that does not appear in a standard list. Technology can provide information, but genuine care cannot be reduced to a script.
Businesses should therefore automate repetitive processes while keeping trained people available for situations involving emotion, safety, complexity or discretion.
Personalisation must not become manipulation
AI can recommend destinations, rooms, restaurants and activities based on a traveller’s preferences. This can be convenient, but it also raises questions about data and influence.
Travellers should know when a recommendation is based on their interests and when it is promoted because a business has paid for visibility. Prices should not become impossible to understand because an algorithm is constantly estimating what an individual may be willing to pay.
Companies must also collect only the information they genuinely require, protect it carefully and explain how automated decisions affect customers. Trust is especially important in travel because people are often away from home and dependent on services they have never used before.
Small businesses must not disappear from the journey
Large travel platforms have the resources to adopt AI quickly. A small hotel, local guide, independent restaurant or rural homestay may not.
If digital systems recommend only businesses with the largest advertising budgets or the most data, travellers may be directed toward the same commercial experiences everywhere. Local character will suffer, and tourism income may become concentrated instead of benefiting the wider community.
Governments and industry bodies should help smaller operators improve digital skills, publish accurate information and participate in trusted booking systems. Technology should widen opportunity rather than create another barrier to entry.
A destination is a community, not a product
Tourism succeeds over the long term when residents also see value in it. AI can help authorities understand congestion, seasonal demand, waste, water use and transport pressure. But data alone cannot decide what a community should become.
Local residents, workers and businesses must remain part of planning. A destination that gains visitor numbers but loses its environment, culture or liveability has not achieved sustainable success.
My personal view
After more than 25 years in business, I have learned that technology creates its greatest value when it supports good people and clear responsibility.
AI should help travellers make better decisions, receive faster information and avoid unnecessary inconvenience. It should help tourism businesses plan intelligently and use resources more efficiently. But it should not become an excuse to hide behind automated responses or remove every meaningful human connection.
The future of tourism should be both digital and deeply human. We should automate the friction—not the welcome.
—Tushar Kumar
Sources and context
The World Tourism Day 2026 theme was checked against UN Tourism’s announcement of 27 September 2025. International-arrival figures were checked against UN Tourism’s update of 2 June 2026. The recommendations about hospitality, data, small businesses and community participation are my personal viewpoint.