The European Travel Commission (ETC) has released a comprehensive study on the adoption and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) within National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) across Europe. The findings reveal that AI is significantly influencing daily operations, particularly in marketing functions, while also highlighting the need for strategic direction and skill development.
AI’s Role in Tourism Operations
The study, conducted by Kairos Future, surveyed ETC members to assess the adoption, benefits, and governance of AI within NTOs. It focused on two key areas: the readiness of national tourism boards for long-term AI deployment and the current benefits observed from the use of AI. The research indicates that a select group of European destinations is leading in AI adoption, demonstrating high readiness and perceived usefulness, with tangible improvements in productivity and quality.
Marketing as a Pioneer
Marketing departments within NTOs have been at the forefront of AI experimentation. They report clearer use cases, such as automated content generation, leading to higher maturity scores compared to research departments. Marketing teams have found AI to be valuable for tasks such as copywriting, streamlining internal processes, brainstorming, and testing content formats. In contrast, research teams view AI as an exploratory tool, with its use in desk research, sentiment analysis, translation, coding, and transcriptions.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite positive staff enthusiasm for AI, the study identifies several challenges, including limited AI expertise, sparse training, and the absence of a strategic roadmap. Marketing teams also cite tighter budgets as a barrier to AI adoption. The report suggests that tailored investments and structured experiments could help overcome these challenges, enabling NTOs to unlock the full potential of AI.
Recommendations for AI Adoption
The report offers several recommendations for advancing AI adoption within NTOs:
1. Experimentation Time: Allocate time for hackathons, innovation sprints, and workshops to transform enthusiasm into concrete prototypes.
2. Role-Specific Up-skilling: Provide tailored courses with internal early adopters as peer instructors, rather than generic awareness sessions.
3. Budget Scaling: Tie incremental funding to pilot outcomes to transition proof-of-concepts into sustained operations.
ETC’s Perspective
ETC President Miguel Sanz emphasizes the opportunities AI presents for enhancing NTO operations, particularly in marketing and research. He emphasizes the importance of creating shared learning spaces, developing practical skills, and fostering structured innovation to navigate the evolving AI landscape with confidence.
Future Outlook
The report provides European NTOs with practical tools for maximizing AI use, including roadmaps for marketing, research, and organizational functions, as well as guidelines, case studies, and an overview of upcoming regulations, such as the EU AI Act. It also reviews future trends and scenarios for knowledge work in the next decade. ETC plans to continue supporting its members with hands-on workshops and peer-learning labs.
The full report is available for download at the ETC’s website.
