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The smart tourism revolution: AI, e-tourism and the future of personalised travel experiences
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The smart tourism revolution: AI, e-tourism and the future of personalised travel experiences

  • 09:00–09:55 UK time55 minutes
  • Online, on Zoom, inside ScholardemiaRegister, then join on this page from 08:50. How to join
  • Carlos CostaConvened by Prof. Eugenia Wickens

Explore how AI can improve travel services while raising questions about privacy, bias, access and platform power.

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About this event

Speaker update, 2 October 2026: Carlos Costa is confirmed as the academic speaker. The industry speaker and chair will be announced once confirmed.
Artificial intelligence and digital platforms increasingly shape how travellers search for destinations, compare services, make bookings and navigate unfamiliar places. This webinar examines recommendation systems, conversational agents and connected visitor services as components of smart tourism. It asks when personalisation improves relevance, accessibility and convenience, and when algorithmic filtering narrows discovery or gives priority to commercial interests. The discussion will treat digital tourism as a system of governance and infrastructure rather than simply a collection of useful consumer applications.
Panellists will examine privacy, informed consent, algorithmic bias, model explainability and unequal access to digital services. They will consider how data are collected across platforms, how inferred preferences affect later recommendations and whether visitors can meaningfully challenge automated outcomes. The session will also address platform power by asking who owns tourism data, which businesses can access digital markets and how the value created from visitor activity is distributed within destinations. Human oversight will be considered in relation to both routine decisions and service failures.
Participants will receive a practical checklist for evaluating whether a digital tourism service is useful, inclusive and accountable. They will learn to identify the purpose of an automated system, assess whether its data practices are proportionate and determine where human judgement remains necessary. The webinar will also introduce questions about procurement, accessibility testing, audit rights and routes for correction. These criteria will help destinations and operators adopt digital innovation without weakening consumer autonomy, local economic participation or public responsibility. This supports innovation while preserving legitimate public oversight.

How to join

This webinar runs on Zoom. You join it here on Scholardemia, where the meeting opens inside the page with the chat, questions and polls beside it. You do not need a Zoom account or a Zoom link.

  1. RegisterFree, with your Scholardemia account.
  2. Come back on the dayThe room opens at 08:50 on Friday 18 June. We email you reminders with the Join button 24 hours and 1 hour before.
  3. Press JoinSign in with the same account. The meeting opens here, with questions, polls and the group chat beside it.

Use an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. Allow sound when your browser asks, and use headphones if you can.

Featured speakers

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Carlos Costa

Speaker

Scholardemia
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The smart tourism revolution: AI, e-tourism and the future of personalised travel experiences

WebinarOnlineSession 28 of 29

Explore how AI can improve travel services while raising questions about privacy, bias, access and platform power.

  • 09:00–09:55 UK time08:00 UTC
  • Online, on Zoom, inside Scholardemia · 55 minutesRegister, then join on this page from 08:50. How to join
  • Carlos CostaConvened by Prof. Eugenia Wickens

About this webinar

Speaker update, 2 October 2026: Carlos Costa is confirmed as the academic speaker. The industry speaker and chair will be announced once confirmed.
Artificial intelligence and digital platforms increasingly shape how travellers search for destinations, compare services, make bookings and navigate unfamiliar places. This webinar examines recommendation systems, conversational agents and connected visitor services as components of smart tourism. It asks when personalisation improves relevance, accessibility and convenience, and when algorithmic filtering narrows discovery or gives priority to commercial interests. The discussion will treat digital tourism as a system of governance and infrastructure rather than simply a collection of useful consumer applications.
Panellists will examine privacy, informed consent, algorithmic bias, model explainability and unequal access to digital services. They will consider how data are collected across platforms, how inferred preferences affect later recommendations and whether visitors can meaningfully challenge automated outcomes. The session will also address platform power by asking who owns tourism data, which businesses can access digital markets and how the value created from visitor activity is distributed within destinations. Human oversight will be considered in relation to both routine decisions and service failures.
Participants will receive a practical checklist for evaluating whether a digital tourism service is useful, inclusive and accountable. They will learn to identify the purpose of an automated system, assess whether its data practices are proportionate and determine where human judgement remains necessary. The webinar will also introduce questions about procurement, accessibility testing, audit rights and routes for correction. These criteria will help destinations and operators adopt digital innovation without weakening consumer autonomy, local economic participation or public responsibility. This supports innovation while preserving legitimate public oversight.

How to join

This webinar runs on Zoom. You join it here on Scholardemia, where the meeting opens inside the page with the chat, questions and polls beside it. You do not need a Zoom account or a Zoom link.

  1. RegisterFree, with your Scholardemia account.
  2. Come back on the dayThe room opens at 08:50 on Friday 18 June. We email you reminders with the Join button 24 hours and 1 hour before.
  3. Press JoinSign in with the same account. The meeting opens here, with questions, polls and the group chat beside it.

Use an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. Allow sound when your browser asks, and use headphones if you can.

Speaker and convenor

Carlos Costa

Presenter

Event speaker

Scholardemia profile

Prof. Eugenia Wickens

Convenor

OTS Academy

United Kingdom

Professor Eugenia Wickens edits the Journal On Tourism & Sustainability (JOTS) and the Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (JTHE), and chairs Scholardemia webinar sessions. Her research covers tourist experience and typologies, tourism routes and rural development, volunteer tourism, and event and cultural tourism. Formerly Reader in Tourism at Buckinghamshire New University, she has helped plan tourism education in Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Serbia, Greece, Ireland and Turkey.

Scholardemia profileORCIDGoogle Scholar

Organised by Scholardemia.

Committee

Organising Committee

Operational leadership and event delivery team.

Prof. Eugenia Wickens

Convenor

OTS Academy

United Kingdom

Professor Eugenia Wickens edits the Journal On Tourism & Sustainability (JOTS) and the Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Education (JTHE), and chairs Scholardemia webinar sessions. Her research covers tourist experience and typologies, tourism routes and rural development, volunteer tourism, and event and cultural tourism. Formerly Reader in Tourism at Buckinghamshire New University, she has helped plan tourism education in Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Serbia, Greece, Ireland and Turkey.

Scholardemia profileORCIDGoogle Scholar

Scholardemia

Organizer

Event committee

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Next in this series

All 29 sessions
  1. Fri 25 Jun14:00Forecasting the future of travel: Economic models, policy impacts and navigating global uncertaintiesSession 29