TYPES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) THAT AFFECT THE TOURISTS’ EXPERIENCES: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

This systematic literature review critically assesses the multidimensional impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on tourist experiences, addressing the central question: “What are the effects of artificial intelligence on tourists’ experiences?” A rigorous systematic literature review, conducted using PRISMA guidelines, utilized the Scopus database and a PICo-based search string. From an initial 246 articles, 24 relevant papers were synthesized through quality assessment and thematic analysis. Findings reveal AI’s pervasive role in enhancing personalization, efficiency, and digital immersion across sentiment analysis, urban mobility, and personalized travel planning. However, this potential is significantly tempered by critical challenges, including data privacy, algorithmic bias, the persistent digital divide, and a notable lack of quantitative empirical support for AI’s long-term effects on tourist satisfaction and authenticity. This review offers actionable insights for tourism professionals to strategically leverage AI and guides researchers toward crucial future directions, emphasizing robust ethical frameworks, addressing user-specific barriers, and conducting empirical studies on AI’s enduring psychological and emotional impacts. The study’s novelty lies in its holistic synthesis of AI’s multifaceted impacts on the entire tourist experience, uniquely highlighting the critical tension between its transformative potential and the ethical, social, and empirical gaps that must be addressed for its responsible and equitable deployment in tourism.