The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) dominated this year’s WTM London International Tourism Exhibition and was the focus of the Technology Summit, which revealed the positive influence AI has on the travel industry.
The role of artificial intelligence in travel was discussed by two groups of three people. One, led by Stephen Joyce of Protect Group, agreed with the proposal “artificial intelligence is the enemy of travel,” while the second, led by Christian Watts of Magpie Travel, strongly disagreed.
The reservations about artificial intelligence were related to its inaccuracy and, as a result, its unreliability. As Mr. Joyce noted, trips organized by artificial intelligence “take away the magical human feeling of being in a new place.”
On the other hand, supporters of artificial intelligence pointed out that travelers are already using AI despite the well-documented errors, and that it frees industry workers from certain procedures and can help suggest alternative destinations and improve the traveler’s experience at the destination.
The show of hands vote was overwhelmingly in favor of artificial intelligence. Mr. Watts joked that it was “a tough day for humans,” but added that the audience’s reaction likely reflected “not the current state, but the future.”
AI beats tourism professionals
Artificial intelligence was a recurring topic in all the sessions. James Spalding from Trip.com said that OTA is implementing a customer support strategy with artificial intelligence worldwide, which is tailored to different markets. Trip.com allows its artificial intelligence to answer basic questions, but the AI has also been trained to not only recognize the complexity of the question but also to respond with the right tone. He knows (or has learned) when to refer the question to a person to resolve the issue.
Qais Amori from Almosafer discussed the possibilities of artificial intelligence in detecting fraud (when the fraudsters themselves use artificial intelligence).
Melissa Skluzacek from easyJet said that artificial intelligence is used in all the company’s commercial and operational processes and is considered an additional pair of hands.
Sally Bunnell from NaviSavi explained how she uses artificial intelligence to help with editing, tagging, and profiling user-generated content, with integrated booking options, so it can be used by brands that want to license it.
The meeting began with an overview by Dave Goodger of Tourism Economics, who presented data from the WTM Global Trends Report 2025, which found that three in ten travelers believe artificial intelligence will increase their average spending. In the introduction, he also emphasized that the development profile of travel is positive, giving artificial intelligence the opportunity to positively affect even more travelers and businesses.
A business that benefits from the growth of travel is the global eSIM provider, Holafly, the official technology partner of WTM London. The company’s managing director, Pablo Gómez Fernandez-Quintanilla, noted that the convergence of trends – more international travel, the need for connection, hybrid work, and smoothness – gave the company a boost.
Returning to the topic of artificial intelligence, Filip Filipov from OAG identified a potentially significant problem that resonated with the travel technology industry audience. The last of the 30 slides in his presentation, lasting 300 seconds, was about the ratio of projections to bookings. According to him, online travel agencies (OTAs) currently receive one booking for every thousand views. Looking ahead, large language learning models could yield a 60,000:1 ratio of views to bookings. When artificial intelligence becomes mainstream, he warned that this ratio could reach one million to one.
While artificial intelligence was always likely to dominate the discussions, personalization was another issue that was repeatedly mentioned. Many of the panelists were interested in pointing out the difference between personalization and framing – the idea that it’s just as important for travel companies to know why someone is traveling as it is to know who they are.
The conference was organized by Timothy O’Neil Dunne, a technology conference consultant for WTM London, from the consulting firm T2Impact. He said, “The travel industry has a lot to deal with – war, disease, Trump – at the same time that genetic artificial intelligence is disrupting the way we search for, plan, and experience travel, with active artificial intelligence working tirelessly in the background. The Conference addressed many of these issues. The main conclusion from all speakers and sessions is that, while disruptive changes are inevitable, the travel technology industry is determined to improve travel for people.”
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