How you choose your destination, pay for it, book a flight, stay in a hotel and enjoy memorable experiences during a holiday is changing – fast. Artificial intelligence (AI) and new tech are fundamentally transforming the travel sector, enabling better personalisation, seamless automation and enhanced operational efficiency for travellers and businesses worldwide.
Innovations such as AI-driven travel assistants and predictive data systems are reshaping the customer experience at lightning speed. And AI-driven facial recognition – biometrics at airports that allow preregistered passengers to clear immigration and security checkpoints without presenting physical documents – is already transforming the airport experience.
Meanwhile, the rise of large language models – the technology used to train services such as ChatGPT – and generative AI are fundamentally changing the way travellers select their destination, moving away from traditional online travel agencies to interacting with AI models that personalise travel planning by searching the entire web, including social media, for information.
In Asia-Pacific, for instance, 60 per cent of travellers now use AI tools to research and book their destinations, according to data shared at a recent Web in Travel conference in Singapore.
And in mainland China, which represents one of the biggest opportunities in the tourism market, the potential to capitalise on a demographic with plenty to spend is significant. The Chinese market exhibits the highest average spending globally, representing more than US$250 billion in foreign travel expenditure last year, according to Statistica. It is also notable for its scale – with monthly active users of AI platforms reaching 686 million in June. And as these travellers become increasingly intentional in their choice of destination, demand for personalised itineraries is growing as they shift away from organised group tours.
However, some destinations are losing their competitive edge and seeing a decline in traditionally reliable visitor demographics. For instance, Chinese visitors to Thailand have yet to hit pre-pandemic highs because of a combination of factors such as increased competition from neighbouring nations and concerns about personal safety.
Dida Holdings, an AI-first travel technology company offering solutions to travel partners – and one of China’s largest business-to-business travel distribution platforms connecting 1.5 million travel products to more than 35,000 distributors – is responding to the challenges and opportunities that technology, particularly AI, is bringing to the sector.
While AI and other cutting-edge technologies will be a part of the drive to boost tourism in countries such as Thailand, Lee says the “overall mindset has been that it’s an optional growth engine”, with much of the innovation aimed at cost efficiency and adoption.
But he adds that over the past year, more business-to-customer players are using generative AI to help travellers discover better trips and to improve the experience “that helps them find the right products at the right price for the right time”.
Alipay+, for example, has built an AI support ecosystem integrated with users’ digital wallets, offering personalised recommendations for travellers, while food delivery and ride hailing app Grab caters to specific demographic groups such as mainland Chinese travellers. This is achieved through innovations that include a Mandarin-language service and listing activities in destinations that will be of interest to that group in particular.
At a recent Dida-hosted event for the hotel sector in Thailand focusing on how technology is reshaping Chinese tourism in Southeast Asia – where the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Chiraveadee Khunsub, deputy governor for international marketing (Europe, America, Middle East and Africa), shared the government body’s vision for 2026 – it was noted that the travel industry needs to create strategic partnerships in which collaboration, transparency and value for money are considered. The hotel sector is now in a position to provide curated experiences, for example, using local knowledge and integrating with partners such as Grab to offer a complete digital journey, starting from the moment a traveller begins thinking about their trip.
Lee says AI is changing travel-related marketing, which used to be driven by fragmented content from online travel agencies. But now, thanks to tech innovations, marketing destinations and holidays is becoming more seamless. He notes that in mainland China this year, there has been a boom in travel-related social media driven by two of the nation’s most popular apps – RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, and Douyin. These platforms, along with WeChat, have become the top search engines for mainland Chinese travellers, serving as focal points for inspiration, planning and trust-building.
New videos on these apps – some which include itineraries – mean that people now tend to think more about where they want to go and the experience they want. “The inspirations are no longer mainstream. And the best part is that you can share [the videos] with the people you want to travel with,” Lee says.
Lee believes AI’s ability to help test what works for specific markets is huge for the travel industry, as it means messaging can be more targeted.
Dida uses AI tools to generate short videos for clients before putting them on social media and seeing what goes viral. Whatever does will be shared with its thousands of key opinion leaders (KOLs), Lee says. “We have a team of people who think about quick storylines,” he adds, noting that Dida has been helping some KOLs to be more efficient and produce more targeted campaigns using AI.
As AI and other forms of new tech in the travel industry excel, and the source of inspiration for today’s travellers continue to evolve, the strategies implemented by the sector will become crucial as they adopt new ways of driving visitor numbers. “This is especially important for the hotel sector, where performance and reputation on social media are critical; AI models use key words and information posted online to inform their suggestions,” Lee says.
Dida, which is investing heavily in its AI ecosystem, aims to help its supply and demand partners adopt its technology, while leveraging the data from its significant reach in the Chinese market to provide tailored solutions that enable stakeholders to engage more effectively with their target markets.
“Generative AI is becoming so personalised that it ‘knows you better than yourself’,” Lee says, adding that the challenge is finding the most effective way to reach individuals via advancing AI models. “Future travel planning will be less about fixed dates and destinations and more about flexible preferences, budget and activities, with AI doing the complex matching. We ultimately aim to bridge that gap.”
