Chapter 8: Evaluating the Role of AI in Promoting Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Development

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by rapidly evolving technologies, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) being a transformative innovation across global industries. AI is defined as computer systems capable of performing tasks requiring human intelligence. In tourism, various AI applications, including facial recognition, virtual reality, chatbots and voice-activated conversational AI like Siri and Alexa, are enhancing tourist experiences through features such as language translation, audio tours and personalised recommendations. Beyond marketing, AI holds significant potential as a persuasive tool to influence consumer choices and promote responsible travel behaviour, thereby supporting sustainable tourism development. This chapter defines AI, responsible and sustainable tourism, evaluates different AI types for their role in sustainable tourism development and discusses the economic, social and environmental implications.