THRIVE ISSUE 6 DECEMBER 2025 16 Alan Elliott Merschen, Partner MMGY Global, Director for The SIGMUND Project and Venture Catalyst AI & the Future of Travel Travel means many things to different people. For some it is about rest and rejuvenation. For others it is about business growth and expansion. Perhaps, even the faint concept of escapism comes into the mix for some. However, when it comes to technology and the future of travel, there is no escaping the dynamic role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Based on his keynote address at the 2025 Tourism Leadership Conference on AI and the Future of Travel, Alan Elliott Merschen, shares insights on this topic and offers some advice for emerging young professionals. The Influence of AI on Travel The influence of AI on travel is everywhere you turn. From the product to the search and the advertising, the AI influence will be very strong. • AI and Travel Search When it comes to AI, the influence is in every single place you turn. It is influencing what destinations people are picking. For example, case prompts such as: “Should I go to Zanzibar or Mauritius - in August - for a family of four and kids are aged 4 and 7 – The prompts are getting better and better. • Prompt Engineer is a top job topic in the US right now. I do not know about South Africa but one of the hottest jobs in the United States is Prompt Engineer. Knowing how to prompt is key and the systems are getting better. I might come up with what I think is a good prompt, then give it to AI and ask it to improve the prompt. Today’s smart Travel Advisors are recognizing the importance of that knowledge and knowing the history of the traveler. It’s going to get more interesting and much more granular responses. • Can the power for AI to personalize have implications for products and services. I recently attended a conference where one of the delegates argued that the AI will be used to plan the trip, however once you reach the destination, you will still require face to face interaction. My view is that this will not be the case for everyone. In a few years, AI will likely know a lot of information about me – they will know what kinds of restaurants I like to eat from. From my restaurant reservations history, it will know what kinds of food I like to eat, when I like to eat, it will be able to map out the type of traveler I am and the type of experiences I like when I’m travelling etc. Based on all this information, it will tailor my travel bookings, restaurant reservations and experiences accordingly and provide me with options. This means in certain destinations there is likely to be less demand for face-to-face interaction and more reliance on the AI. Another product example to refer to is the rise of the autonomous vehicles. In three cities in the United States, we now have service called Waymo. These are driverless cars like an Uber. In this context, I cannot help but think when I was in Africa, when there will be a time where safari vehicles will be electric, self-driving and even guide-less. In this scenario, if you add a layer in AI, the technology in the future could be so good that it starts to intuitively guide the safari tourist to where the animals are likely to be located. • Search results will reshape marketing approach for on-line search The latest study from MMGY Global is that AI search results are not advertising-based results like you would typically see in a Google-search. Most of the results are on content that has been created. Most of the links cited by AI are based on independent information, e.g. news articles. So now we need to rethink digital marketing. It’s not going to simply be about buying Google AdWords, It is going to be about getting more content out because the search engine optimization premise will be historic. This is why Google and other platforms are changing.
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