December 19, 2024
The tourism sector in the G7 countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—could benefit from adopting AI tools, according to the OECD. However, these opportunities may come with risks.
The policy report, “Artificial Intelligence and Tourism: G7/OECD Policy Report,” released on December 18, highlights the importance of AI in supporting innovation and sustainable tourism worldwide.
The OECD report on AI applications in tourism found many potential benefits, such as improving visitor experience, increasing accessibility, enhancing engagement with audiences, as well as automating internal processes and customer services. The report noted that:
“AI can support efforts to promote sustainable tourism practices, through its ability to manage resources more efficiently, including energy use, reduce waste, allocate workforces based on skills, and improve tourist flows.”
Reshaping tourism policies through artificial intelligence tools
AI tools can help local communities better manage tourism flows. However, the OECD recommends “continuous evaluation and adaptation” to ensure successful implementation of AI technologies.
The accurate data collected by AI tools can improve tourism policy-making and can be used to train AI models for specific tourism use cases. However, the report notes that there are risks associated with adopting AI in tourism, including concerns about data quality, security, and environmental impacts.
Call for Formulating AI Policies Through International Cooperation
On the other hand, the OECD advised policymakers to consider “key issues” when adopting AI technologies in tourism. These include implementing strong data protection measures and ensuring consumer rights, as well as analyzing the impact of AI on jobs, and providing training and education for all stakeholders in the tourism sector.
The organization also warned that the legal and regulatory frameworks for artificial intelligence will have a significant impact on tourism, its businesses and future policy-making. The report concluded with a recommendation for the G7 Tourism Working Group to enable knowledge exchange on specific issues between the G7 economies.
On December 17, Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, Chairman of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), announced that Saudi Arabia has been ranked third in the OECD’s AI Policy Observatory, after the United States and the United Kingdom.
Thus, Saudi Arabia is considered the first destination in the Middle East for developing reliable artificial intelligence tools and policies.
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