{
  "id": 10072713,
  "title": "How AI is changing tourist choices and testing Kenya’s digital tourism readiness",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/26/how-ai-is-changing-tourist-choices-and-testing-kenyas-digital-tourism",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-26T21:37:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "People Daily Kenya",
    "slug": "people-daily-kenya",
    "url": "https://peopledaily.digital/business/how-ai-is-changing-tourist-choices-and-testing-kenyas-digital-tourism-readiness"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "AI is reshaping how tourists discover, plan and book vacations, intensifying competition among tourism destinations and businesses, particularly in Kenya and East Africa. The World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Development Index 2026 underscores the growing significance of AI-powered search and recommendation tools, emphasizing the need for enhanced digital infrastructure, accurate destination information, and technological expertise in tourism development. As digital readiness expands globally, 91% of the 110 economies assessed between 2024 and 2026 have shown a 3.2% average improvement in ICT Readiness, which encompasses factors like internet usage, broadband subscriptions, mobile-network coverage, digital payments, online platforms, and electricity reliability. The WEF defines ICT Readiness as shaping how travelers discover destinations, book trips, pay for services, and share experiences. For Kenya's tourism sector, this implies that digital visibility, alongside traditional competitiveness factors, such as air connectivity, accommodations, attractions, and visitor services, must be prioritized. A survey indicates that many American travelers plan to use AI for destination research, activity planning, and trip booking. Additionally, the share of leading travel companies incorporating AI in their annual reports surged from 4% in 2022 to 35% in 2024. This transformation alters the stage at which destinations vie for visitors, shifting from traditional marketing strategies to AI-driven recommendation systems that can significantly influence travelers' planning processes. Consequently, for Kenya, the challenge transcends whether tourism businesses adopt AI. It hinges on the precision, accessibility, and digital structure of information about Kenyan destinations, hotels, attractions, and experiences. Small and medium-sized tourism enterprises, in particular, face significant hurdles due to limited infrastructure, financial resources, technical expertise, and digital capacity. To effectively reach international customers in the era of digital travel, such enterprises must overcome barriers like unreliable digital payments, limited online distribution, inadequate customer-data capabilities, and insufficient technical skills. While improving ICT Readiness can help tourism businesses reach customers more effectively and streamline transactions for smaller enterprises, the WEF cautions that SMEs may require assistance in evaluating digital investment opportunities and selecting suitable technologies. Kenya, with its diverse tourism industry encompassing large international operators and smaller hotels, tour companies, restaurants, and experience providers, is likely to experience an uneven digital transition across the sector. The challenge extends beyond individual tourism businesses to destination management. As AI-powered search and recommendation tools gain prominence, tourism destinations must ensure their information is accurate, \"machine-readable,\" and consistent across digital channels. This shifts the approach to destination marketing, requiring collaboration among multiple stakeholders, including national tourism agencies, county authorities, hotels, attractions, airlines, tour operators, and online platforms. Inconsistent, outdated, or poorly interpreted information can lead to incomplete or inaccurate representations of a destination, complicating the visitor experience. The WEF's insights do not quantify whether Kenya gains or loses tourists due to AI; instead, the Tourism Travel Development Index (TTDI) assesses the conditions and policies supporting sustainable and resilient tourism development. Nevertheless, the report highlights the evolving landscape in which destinations compete, driven by strong global tourism demand and the transition from post-pandemic recovery to a new phase of managing growth. Ultimately, digital visibility has become integral to the tourism value chain, necessitating Kenya to enhance the quality and accessibility of its destination data to remain competitive in the digital age.",
  "summary": "Artificial intelligence is changing how travellers discover, plan and book holidays, creating a new digital battleground for tourism destinations and businesses as Kenya and East Africa compete for international visitors. The World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index 2026 says destinations must now adapt to the growing role of AI-powered search and recommendation tools, […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}