Artificial intelligence in tourism: an opportunity for smarter destinations or a threat to their sustainability?
Artificial intelligence is entering tourism ever faster, from travel planning and customer support to crowd management, pricing, data analysis and destination promotion. For tourist destinations, this is no longer a technological novelty on the edge of the industry, but a question of competitiveness, trust and long-term sustainability. According to the OECD document on artificial intelligence and tourism, AI can help innovation and the sustainable development of the sector, but at the same time it opens questions of data protection, transparency, jobs and the responsibility of public and private actors. That is precisely why the debate is no longer simple: artificial intelligence can be a major opportunity for destinations, but only if it is used thoughtfully, lawfully and in the interest of the local community, visitors and the economy.
The topic is especially important at a time when global tourism, after the pandemic collapse, is once again moving at record levels. According to UN Tourism data, around 1.52 billion international tourist arrivals were recorded in 2025, which is approximately 60 million more than in 2024. The same organization expects further growth in international tourism of 3 to 4 percent in 2026 compared with 2025, provided that the recovery of Asia and the Pacific continues, that global economic conditions remain favourable and that geopolitical conflicts do not worsen. Such growth further increases pressure on transport, accommodation, cultural heritage, the environment and the local population, and destinations are finding it increasingly difficult to manage development using only traditional methods.
Tourism no longer decides only about promotion, but also about data
In the classic model of destination management, tourist boards, cities and regions relied on statistics on arrivals and overnight stays, surveys, spending estimates, seasonal campaigns and the experience of local stakeholders. These tools are still important, but they are no longer sufficient for a sector in which travellers' decisions change almost in real time. Accommodation bookings, flight searches, social media posts, reviews, mobility data, weather forecasts and service prices create an enormous amount of information that can show where demand is moving before the pressure is felt in streets, on beaches, on roads or in protected areas.
Artificial intelligence in that context can help destinations extract from data patterns that people would find difficult to notice quickly enough. Analytics systems can predict peak days, estimate the burden on individual zones, recognize changes in interest in certain attractions and help distribute visitors toward less burdened locations. Within the framework of the digital transition of tourism, the European Commission emphasizes the importance of a common European data space for tourism, whose aim is to facilitate data exchange, planning and the more sustainable development of destinations. This shows that the debate about AI is not reduced only to chatbots and automated recommendations, but to a broader infrastructure for tourism management.
For destinations facing overtourism, such an approach can be an important tool. If local authorities know earlier when the greatest pressure is expected, they can better organize public transport, inform visitors, direct them toward alternative routes, temporarily adjust entry regimes or strengthen municipal services. If data are used properly, AI can also help smaller places position themselves more visibly on the market, but without necessarily copying the mass tourism model. In that sense, technology does not have to serve only the growth in the number of arrivals, but also a better distribution of demand throughout the year and across space.
Opportunity: personalized experience and more efficient management
The most visible application of artificial intelligence in tourism relates to the personalization of travel. Travellers increasingly expect fast answers, recommendations tailored to their interests and simple itinerary planning. AI tools can suggest cultural routes, restaurants, events, museums, public transport or excursions based on language, budget, available time, weather conditions and personal preferences. For destinations, this means the possibility of offering visitors more relevant information, but also encouraging them to visit less familiar parts of a city or region.
According to WTTC and Microsoft reports on artificial intelligence in travel and tourism, technology can increase operational efficiency, improve the customer experience and open new ways of doing business in the sector. This applies especially to hotels, airports, agencies, carriers, museums, convention centres and booking platforms. Automated customer support can answer frequently asked questions in multiple languages, revenue management systems can adjust prices according to demand, and review analysis tools can quickly detect recurring problems in the guest experience. In destination management, the same logic can help identify weak points in the tourism offer.
The European Travel Commission, in its report on the application of artificial intelligence in national tourism organizations, states that AI is already entering marketing, market research, communication with visitors and knowledge management. Such tools can help national and local tourism organizations create campaigns faster, segment markets, monitor traveller sentiment and analyse competing destinations. But the value is not only in the speed of content creation, but in the ability for campaigns to be based on a better understanding of demand and the real needs of visitors.
Threat: algorithms can intensify the same problems that tourism already has
The risk appears when artificial intelligence is used without clear goals, oversight and responsibility. If the main goal of an algorithm is to increase the number of bookings or clicks, the system can further push visitors toward already overburdened locations. Recommendation algorithms often favour what is already popular, because such content has more reviews, photographs and interactions. The consequence may be an additional concentration of demand in the same streets, the same landmarks and the same periods of the year, while less familiar parts of the destination remain outside travellers' field of view.
This is especially important for cities and regions that are already facing tensions between tourism and the everyday life of residents. The growth of short-term rentals, crowds, rising prices, noise, pressure on public space and seasonal dependence are not problems that artificial intelligence can solve by itself. If AI is used only as a tool for more aggressive promotion, it can even worsen them. According to the OECD, the benefits of artificial intelligence in tourism should be viewed together with risks to privacy, ethics, safety, competition and inclusiveness, which means that destinations must develop rules before technology starts shaping decisions without public debate.
The quality of data is also a problem. An AI system trained on incomplete, biased or outdated data can give recommendations that do not reflect the actual situation on the ground. If it relies only on digitally visible content, it can neglect small service providers, local initiatives, cultural programmes without a strong online presence or areas where commercial data are not collected. This creates a new inequality: destinations and entrepreneurs that have more digital traces become even more visible, while those that are less digitalized are pushed further aside.
Jobs, skills and local entrepreneurs
Artificial intelligence can automate part of the work in tourism, especially in customer support, administration, translations, basic marketing and reservation processing. This does not mean that human work will disappear, but it does mean that the skills being sought will change. Tourism workers will increasingly have to know how to check AI-generated content, manage digital channels, understand data, recognize incorrect recommendations and communicate with guests in situations that automated systems cannot solve. For destinations, this is a question of education, not only of software procurement.
Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs are in a special position here. Larger hotel chains, airlines and platforms invest more easily in advanced systems, while small renters, local guides, family hotels, hospitality businesses and cultural organizers often do not have experts or budgets for complex solutions. If public institutions and tourism organizations do not provide support in the digital transition, AI can widen the gap between large and small actors.
That is precisely why European documents on the digital transition of tourism increasingly emphasize the need for interoperable data, cooperation between the public and private sectors and the inclusion of different stakeholders. Technology that serves only the largest platforms does not necessarily have to serve the destination. Tourism development depends on whether the benefits of digital tools will also reach local communities, employees, cultural institutions and smaller business entities.
Privacy and trust as the foundation of tourism technology
Tourism is a sector in which a large number of sensitive or personal data are collected: traveller location, documents, spending habits, health requirements, family data, accommodation preferences and movement patterns. AI can turn these data into useful insights, but it can also open serious privacy questions. Visitors must know which data are collected, why they are used, how long they are stored and who can access them. Without that trust, a smart destination can quickly turn into a destination that tourists and residents experience as surveillance infrastructure.
The European Union has set an important regulatory framework in this area. According to the European Commission, the Artificial Intelligence Act entered into force on 1 August 2024 and introduces obligations for the development and use of AI systems according to the level of risk, with special protection of health, safety and fundamental rights. Tourism companies and destination organizations that use AI in the European Union therefore have to think not only about business benefits, but also about compliance, transparency, system documentation and human oversight. This is especially important if AI is applied in risk assessments, safety procedures, recruitment, dynamic pricing or personalized communication.
If a destination chatbot invents information about museum opening hours, if a translation tool incorrectly conveys safety instructions or if an algorithm recommends a route that is not accessible to persons with disabilities, responsibility cannot be shifted onto technology. Destinations that introduce AI must have clear verification procedures, the possibility of human intervention and regular data updates. In tourism, incorrect information is not only a communication problem; it can affect safety, cost and the overall travel experience.
Sustainability must not remain only a technological promise
One of the most common arguments in favour of artificial intelligence is its potential for sustainable tourism. AI can help predict burden, reduce unnecessary travel within a destination, improve energy management in hotels, optimize supply and reduce waste. It can support the protection of natural areas by directing visitors in a timely manner toward less sensitive zones or by warning managers about a sudden increase in pressure. In cultural tourism, it can help with heritage interpretation, translations and the accessibility of content for people who otherwise find it harder to access information.
However, sustainability is not guaranteed by the mere introduction of artificial intelligence. If AI is used to create an ever greater number of campaigns that encourage short, frequent and seasonally concentrated arrivals, the effect can be the opposite. If a destination measures only spending and arrivals, and not residents' quality of life, emissions, housing accessibility, pressure on water or the condition of cultural assets, AI will optimize the wrong goals. In that case, technology can create an appearance of precision, but not a genuinely more sustainable development model.
That is why the key question is what the destination wants to achieve. Artificial intelligence can serve an increase in the number of guests, but it can also serve a better distribution of visitors, longer stays, greater spending in the local economy, reduced seasonality and the protection of space. The difference is not in the algorithm itself, but in the strategy, data and criteria according to which the system is adjusted. A smart destination is not the one that has the most digital tools, but the one that uses them for publicly understandable and verifiable goals.
Destinations need rules, not only applications
For tourist destinations, the most dangerous scenario is not that they do not introduce artificial intelligence immediately, but that they introduce it without a clear plan. The procurement of chatbots, analytics platforms or marketing tools may look like a quick step toward modernization, but without quality data, educated people and responsible management, such systems easily become an expensive addition to existing problems. Before introducing AI, destinations should determine which problems they want to solve, who is responsible for the data, how the accuracy of information is checked, how privacy is protected and how the impact on the local community is measured.
It is useful to distinguish three levels of application. The first is communicational: AI helps in answering questions, translations, recommendations and content creation. The second is operational: technology helps in managing crowds, transport, accommodation capacities, events and resources. The third is strategic: AI is used for development planning, scenario assessment, market analysis and policy-making. The higher the level, the stricter the oversight, transparency and inclusion of the public must be.
The answer to the question of whether artificial intelligence is an opportunity or a threat for destinations therefore cannot be unequivocal. As a tool, it can help tourism become more efficient, more accessible, better distributed and more resilient to change. As an uncontrolled growth mechanism, it can intensify overtourism, dependence on large platforms, pressure on residents and the non-transparent use of data. In the coming years, the advantage will not belong to destinations that introduce AI fastest, but to those that connect it with a clear tourism policy, protection of space, inclusion of local stakeholders and verifiable benefits for the community.
Sources:
- UN Tourism – data on international tourist arrivals in 2025 and expectations for 2026 (link)
- UN Tourism – excerpt from the World Tourism Barometer, January 2026, with a growth forecast for 2026 (link)
- OECD – policy paper “Artificial Intelligence and tourism” on opportunities and risks for tourists, businesses, destinations and governments (link)
- European Commission – information on the entry into force of the Artificial Intelligence Act and obligations according to the level of risk (link)
- European Commission / EU Tourism Platform – digital transition of tourism and the common European data space for tourism (link)
- World Travel & Tourism Council – WTTC and Microsoft reports on the role of artificial intelligence in travel and tourism (link)
- European Travel Commission – report on the impact of artificial intelligence on the operations of national tourism organizations (link)