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AI & tech


Putting the AI in sustainable travel


With the travel and tourism sector only just getting back to pre-pandemic levels, the latest hype cycle of AI threatens to overhaul operations once more. But it also offers an unparalleled opportunity: access, better management of resources and the potential to quell kickback against the sector. Dan Cave


speaks to Professor Iis Tussyadiah, dean of Surrey Business School and lead coauthor on the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index, to fi nd out more about AI, travel and what sustainable development looks like today.


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rtificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to overhaul pretty much everything of importance within the digital realm. The employment landscape will be radically reshaped – displacing over 80 million jobs, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) assessment – as will medical diagnostics, military operations and executive decision-making. However, among these big-ticket issues that often drive


Hotel Management International / www.hmi-online.com


headlines and leadership concern there’s a whole sector – worth 9% of global GDP, or circa $9trn, in its own right – expected to be upended by this technology. An area of commerce less defined, with fewer data-led boardroom decisions and one that might just start using digitised processes to help decide where travellers next drink their beachside daiquiri – the travel and tourism (T&T) industry.


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