The use of artificial intelligence systems in tourism and hospitality : the tourists’ perspective

A myriad of types of artificial intelligence (AI) systems-namely AI-powered site search, augmented reality, biometric data recognition, booking systems, chatbots, drones, kiosks/self-service screens, machine translation, QR codes, robots, virtual reality, and voice assistants-are being used by companies in the tourism and hospitality industry. How are consumers reacting to these profound changes? This study aims to address this issue by identifying the types of AI systems that are used by tourists, the purposes they are used for in the present, and how likely they are to be used in the future. This study also aims to identify the types of emotions (positive vs. negative) that tourists associate with the use of AI systems, as well as the advantages and disadvantages they attribute to them. Considering the exploratory nature of the research, data were collected through an online survey shared on social media, which was available from September to December 2023. Results show that most respondents have already used several AI systems, assign more advantages than disadvantages to their use, and that the emotions they associate with their use are significantly positive. Moreover, compared to the small number of respondents (13.7%) who associate negative emotions with the use of AI systems, respondents who claim to feel positive emotions when using AI systems also evaluate them more positively in terms of their usefulness for tourism and hospitality. They identify more advantages, use a greater diversity of AI systems, and admit that they would use a more diverse range of AI systems in tourism contexts in the future.