How AI Is Changing the Travel Industry: Key Takeaways for Industry Players

In the past year, AI adoption in travel has jumped at a pace we’ve never seen before and it’s touching everything from flight planning to hotel sustainability.

1. Transforming How Travel Businesses Operate & Grow

AI is helping travel businesses run smarter, cut costs, and grow faster — from automating routine admin tasks to analysing data that reveals new opportunities.

It is helping businesses:

• Automate routine tasks such as itinerary creation, booking confirmations, visa documentation guidance, and customer enquiries, freeing staff for higher-value work like seeking unique ideas, upselling, partnerships, and guest relationship building.

• Streamline customer touchpoints through chatbots, multilingual virtual assistants, and automated check-in/check-out systems, ensuring faster and smoother experiences without long queues.

• Optimise marketing and sales with AI-driven audience segmentation, campaign targeting, marketing materials preparation and dynamic pricing that reacts instantly to market shifts.

• Unlock new products and services by analysing customer behaviour trends and emerging destination data, enabling faster launch of packages that match market demand.

Takeaway: AI can save time, cut costs, and open new revenue streams while allowing you to grow without growing headcount.

2. AI Adoption is a Strategic Must-Have, Not a Nice-to-Have

Tourism leaders agree that AI is becoming essential for competitiveness.

It can help deliver better service, reduce expenses, and improve decision-making, but success depends on having the right talent, infrastructure, and ethical guidelines in place.

Takeaway: Treat AI like a core business tool, not a side experiment, and start building internal capability now.

(Source: WTTC)

3. Sustainability Becomes Achievable with AI

AI is not just about convenience, it is helping make tourism greener.

Examples:

• Hotels: AI systems like Winnow monitor buffet waste, helping cut food waste by up to 27%, saving thousands of kilos from landfills.

• Airlines: Tools like Project Contrails find alternative flight routes that avoid creating heat-trapping clouds, lowering emissions.

• Resorts: Smart energy systems adjust lighting and air conditioning based on guest movement, reducing electricity use without sacrificing comfort.

• Tour operations: AI can recommend less crowded travel times or alternative routes to spread tourist traffic and reduce environmental pressure on popular sites.

Takeaway: AI-driven sustainability cuts costs and builds brand appeal among eco-conscious travellers and regulators.

(Sources: WTTC, Reuters)

4. Scaling AI Across the Travel Ecosystem

A landmark 2025 report by WTTC and Trip.com Group, Technology Game Changers: Future Trends in Travel & Tourism, reveals:

• 94% of travel leaders believe AI is critical to their future success.

• Use of AI assistants like Trip.com’s TripGenie jumped by 200% in just one year.

• Travellers now expect “Super Apps” where they can book flights, hotels, activities, and pay, all in one place.

• To achieve this, the industry needs bigger investments in AI technology, skilled talent, and clear rules for responsible use.

Takeaway: Future growth will favour travel companies that integrate services into one seamless platform and invest in AI at scale.

(Source: WTTC–Trip.com Group)

5. Technology + Human Touch = The Winning Combo

 AI can suggest the perfect trip, but travelers still value warmth and empathy. The most successful companies will use AI to handle the heavy lifting so staff can focus on creating memorable, personal experiences.

Takeaway: AI should enhance, not replace, the human care and creativity that make travel truly unforgettable.

(Source: Forbes)

AI will continue to shape how the travel industry operates and how travellers experience the world. At its heart, travel is still about people, the joy of discovery, the warmth of service, and the connections we make along the way. For us at Sedunia Travel, AI is simply a tool to help us work more efficiently while keeping the human touch at the centre of every journey.