Tourism Industry Increases Focus and Investment in AI, Ushering in Important Strategic Opportunities During the '14th Five-Year Plan' Period
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Data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows that in the first three quarters of 2023, domestic tourism reached 3.674 billion trips, an increase of 1.58 billion compared to the same period last year, representing a year-on-year growth of 75.5%. Among these, urban residents accounted for 2.846 billion domestic tourism trips, up 78.0% year-on-year, while rural residents contributed 828 million trips, a 67.6% increase.
On November 13, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the formulation of the Domestic Tourism Enhancement Plan (2023–2025) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) to further unleash tourism consumption potential and promote high-quality development in the tourism industry.
The Plan sets clear goals for 2025: maintaining reasonable growth in the domestic tourism market while improving quality. It aims to enhance the effectiveness of domestic tourism promotion, enrich high-quality tourism offerings, improve tourist consumption experiences and satisfaction, boost public service efficiency, achieve breakthroughs in key reforms, strengthen comprehensive market supervision mechanisms, and further modernize governance capabilities. The domestic tourism market is expected to play a more prominent role in stimulating consumption and driving economic growth.
Notably, the Plan also supports business transformation and upgrading, guiding online travel platforms to integrate resources such as transportation, accommodation, dining, sightseeing, and entertainment, thereby helping various tourism businesses share development benefits. Additionally, it promotes relaxed market access for homestays, fosters outstanding homestay hosts and managers, and cultivates and certifies high-quality homestays to ensure sustainable and standardized development.
In 2023, AI large models have sparked transformative waves globally. Data shows that over 80 large-scale models with more than 1 billion parameters were released in China in the first half of the year, gradually being applied across industries. In tourism, AI large models are expected to enhance smart Q&A, personalized recommendations, and improve supply-demand matching and transaction efficiency.
The Tourism Industry Is Increasing Its Focus and Investment in AI
The tourism industry is ramping up its attention and investment in AI. On November 15 (Beijing time), Airbnb announced its acquisition of GamePlanner.AI, an AI startup with a team of about 12 people, for an undisclosed amount. This marks Airbnb’s first acquisition since going public. Reports citing informed sources suggest the deal was valued at slightly under $200 million.
Public information shows that GamePlanner.AI was co-founded by Adam Cheyer (known as the 'Father of Siri') and Siamak Hodjat. Adam Cheyer is one of the founders of Apple's voice assistant Siri and later co-founded Viv Labs, an AI and virtual assistant company acquired by Samsung, which became the basis for Samsung's voice assistant Bixby. Siamak worked alongside Adam to lead Apple Siri's natural language processing team and later headed the largest engineering team at Samsung Viv Labs.
Adam Cheyer, co-founder and CEO of GamePlanner.AI, stated, 'A significant part of Airbnb's appeal to us is our shared commitment to using AI to connect people. I believe that without excellent design and community-based intelligence, AI can only realize a fraction of its potential, but with them, the possibilities are limitless.'
While tourism promotes human innovation, innovation also drives growth and expansion in the tourism sector. For example, during the first three quarters of this year, Trip.com Group achieved over three times the growth in new customers through marketing innovations such as new traffic, new demographics, and new content, adding endogenous strength to the tourism industry and accelerating its recovery.
'The 14th Five-Year Plan period remains a critical strategic opportunity for tourism development.'
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China will fully enter the era of mass tourism, with the industry still in an important phase of strategic opportunities, though both opportunities and challenges have evolved. In this new development stage, the tourism sector faces new demands for high-quality growth. After the comprehensive establishment of a moderately prosperous society, public demand for tourism will shift from low-level to high-quality and diversified experiences, transitioning from sightseeing-focused to a balance of sightseeing and leisure vacations. Mass tourism travel and consumption preferences are undergoing profound changes, with accelerated integration of online and offline tourism products and services.
Within the broader tourism market, Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, believes that inbound and outbound tourism will offer vast market potential. Sun stated that 2024 will see a global recovery in the tourism industry, presenting new development opportunities.
In terms of outbound tourism, the global tourism industry is recovering from the pandemic. Data from Trip.com's platform shows that overseas hotel bookings in the first half of 2023 reached 40% of 2019 levels. Sun is confident that with further restoration of international flight routes, hotel bookings in the second half of the year will recover more rapidly. Singapore, as one of Southeast Asia's popular tourist destinations, has renewed a three-year strategic partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board, reflecting Trip.com's emphasis on the outbound tourism market.
For inbound tourism, data from the China Tourism Academy shows that in 2019, foreign inbound tourism revenue accounted for only 0.5% of China's GDP, indicating significant growth potential for the future.
Regarding future innovations, James Liang, co-founder and chairman of Ctrip Group, stated that sustainable development should focus on three aspects: "AI + Content + ESG". In terms of AI (Artificial Intelligence), they will actively explore innovative natural language-based interaction interfaces to further enhance user experience. For content, they aim to establish the travel industry's "Reliable Answer Database" through authoritative rankings, providing users with more efficient product and itinerary recommendations. Regarding ESG [Environmental, Social, and Governance sustainability], while maintaining the most friendly and reassuring customer experience, they will introduce quantifiable low-carbon hotel standards and comprehensively promote environmental friendliness, family friendliness, and community friendliness to improve sustainable development capabilities.