The Future Is Now: Artificial intelligence and robotics in tourism and hospitality

This article was written for Uncover magazine – From Global to Ground (10th edition). You can read the full magazine here. 

Authors:
Angela Wright is Head, Teaching & Learning Unit, AnSEO – The Student Engagement Office, Arts Office, Office of VP for Academic Affairs and Registrar at Munster Technological University (Ireland).Alžbeta Kiralova is Director of the Institute of Tourism - Vice-Rector at  AMBIS University (Czech Republic). Stanislav Ivanov is Professor at Varna University of Management (Bulgaria), Director at Zangador Research Institute (Bulgaria), and President of the International Federation for Information Technology and Travel & Tourism.

Why do AI and robotics matter for tourism?
AI has rapidly penetrated tourism, from big data analytics and blockchain-based solutions to robots and AI-powered applications that personalise the entire customer journey. By analysing massive datasets on tourist behaviour, AI systems can anticipate trends, generate tailored recommendations, and support highly targeted marketing campaigns that boost both satisfaction and revenue. 

Chatbots based on large language models have revolutionised customer interaction by providing 24/7 support, multilingual communication and instant, context-aware suggestions for trips, activities and services. At the same time, service and social robots are moving to the front lines of hospitality, providing information, delivering room service, cleaning floors, cooking, serving dishes, preparing drinks and performing a wide range of other tasks.

Yet the SIG does not treat technology as a magic solution. Increased reliance on AI and robotics raises issues of job displacement, privacy and data security, and the risk that tech-savvy actors gain advantages over those less able to adopt these technological tools. It also puts ethical questions centre stage, from opaque ’black box’ decision-making to fairness in automated systems that influence pricing, access and service quality.

Laboratory for ideas and platform for you
For students and lecturers, this SIG is both a think tank and a laboratory for the future of tourism work. It provides a platform for educators to share experiences, strategies and challenges in integrating AI into tourism curricula and classroom practice. This includes not only teaching the tools but also addressing their technical, economic and ethical dimensions from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The group emphasises that robots and AI applications are not toys; they are assets on a hospitality company’s balance sheet that require careful cost–benefit analysis and sound financial reasoning. This perspective helps frame investment decisions in AI and robotics within broader questions of business models, productivity and long‑term competitiveness in tourism and hospitality.

What the SIG explores
The SIG welcomes contributions from tourist, brand, societal, technological and educational perspectives, engaging with topics that speak directly to the careers of today’s students and the research agendas of their lecturers. Key themes include emerging AI and robotic technologies (e.g. agentic AI, humanoid robots) and how they might reshape tourism, the impact of AI on tourist decision‑making, and the role of intelligent systems and robots in enhancing tourists’ and employees’ experiences.

It is also deeply interested in tourist attitudes and trust towards AI, the way robots and AI can support brand differentiation, and the use of AI in customer relationship management. Other agenda items include disruption to social interaction in hospitality, the economics of AI and robotics, task automatability, and new forms of human–AI collaboration. The group critically examines job displacement and job enhancement, the links between AI, robotics and the Sustainable Development Goals, their impacts on local tourism development, and mental health issues associated with the use of AI.

On the education side, the SIG looks at robot-friendly hospitality facilities, ethical considerations in AI‑enabled tourism education, data privacy, and responsible use of AI tools in teaching and learning. It also focuses on bridging the skills gap by training future professionals for AI‑driven tourism, including the use of AI-assisted teaching tools and promoting ethical AI literacy.

Ultimately, the SIG focuses on how to make tourism more human with the help of AI and robotics. Although automation technologies will permeate every aspect of tourism and hospitality and will be used by both tourism companies and tourists alike, the SIG aims to show that, if used properly, AI and robotics may help tourism strengthen its core value proposition – the hospitality that people receive while travelling.