Gilly’s view on AI…
Artificial intelligence is everywhere whether we realise it or not, most of us are already using it in one way or another. We ask it to write emails, explain complicated topics, suggest recipes, solve problems and, increasingly, help us plan our holidays.
I have to admit, I think it’s brilliant.
As someone who has spent more than 7 years helping people see the world, you might expect me to be slightly wary of a computer planning holidays. The truth is quite the opposite. I use AI myself and I’m constantly amazed by what it can do. It can suggest destinations I hadn’t considered, help pull together ideas in seconds and answer questions that would once have meant hours of research.
Used well, it’s an extraordinary tool.
But I’ve also realised that to get the best from AI, we need to understand how it works. Once you do, it becomes much easier to see both its strengths and its limitations.
Why knowing how AI works is important…
AI doesn’t think like we do. It doesn’t have personal memories of watching the sun rise over the Serengeti or stumbling across a tiny family-run taverna on a Greek island. It doesn’t have favourite hotels or favourite beaches. Instead, it learns by recognising patterns from enormous amounts of information. It looks at books, articles, reviews, websites and countless other sources to understand how people write and talk about places. When you ask it a question, it doesn’t search for the perfect answer. It predicts the answer that is most likely to be useful based on everything it has learnt.
That is exactly what makes it so clever.
If you ask AI to plan a luxury holiday in Italy, there’s a good chance Florence, the Amalfi Coast, Lake Como and Tuscany will feature somewhere in the itinerary. Ask it about Japan and you’ll almost certainly be introduced to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. If you’re dreaming of Greece, don’t be surprised if Santorini and Mykonos appear before you’ve even finished reading the first paragraph.
Those aren’t bad recommendations. Quite the opposite. They’re some of the world’s most wonderful destinations, and they’re recommended time and time again because millions of people have visited them and loved them.
But here’s the thought that has been nagging away at me.
If thousands of people ask AI the same question, and AI is designed to produce the answer that is most likely to satisfy that question, aren’t thousands of people going to receive remarkably similar itineraries?
Perhaps that’s one of the unintended consequences of technology. The more a destination is written about, photographed, reviewed and recommended, the more likely it is to be suggested. The more often it is suggested, the more visitors it attracts. Before long, the places that once felt undiscovered become the places where everyone is standing in the same queue, taking the same photograph and posting it on the same social media platform.
That’s not a criticism of AI. It’s simply doing what it has been designed to do.
Holidays are personal…
The problem is that holidays aren’t mathematical equations. They are deeply personal.
Over the years I’ve learnt that two couples celebrating the same wedding anniversary can want completely different experiences. One dreams of a lively resort with fabulous restaurants and cocktails overlooking the sea. The other wants nothing more than a quiet boutique hotel where breakfast is served on the terrace and the loudest sound is the church bells in the distance.
Both holidays are perfect. Just not for the same people.
That’s why I believe travel has always been about more than finding the ‘best’ destination. It’s about finding the destination that feels right for you.
Some of the most memorable places I’ve recommended over the years have never appeared on anyone’s bucket list until we started talking. They weren’t chosen because they were trending or because they had thousands of five-star reviews. They were chosen because they suited the person sitting in front of me.
Sometimes it’s a hotel that doesn’t spend a fortune on marketing but has the warmest welcome imaginable. Sometimes it’s a guide who knows the quiet paths everyone else walks past. Sometimes it’s a beach that’s just a little harder to reach, meaning most visitors never make the effort. Those are often the moments people remember long after they’ve forgotten how many landmarks they visited.
The more I think about it, the more I realise that AI and travel experts aren’t really competitors at all. In fact, they’re rather good partners.
AI is brilliant at inspiring ideas, introducing destinations, comparing options and helping us explore the world from our sofa. It can make planning quicker, easier and far more accessible than ever before.
What it can’t do is understand the tiny details that make each traveller different. It doesn’t know that one member of the family hates flying, that another has always dreamed of seeing whales, or that this holiday is the first one you’ve taken since retiring. It doesn’t know that you secretly prefer wandering through local markets to ticking famous landmarks off a list, or that you value character over marble bathrooms.
Those are the things that only emerge through conversation.
As AI becomes more sophisticated, it will undoubtedly become even better at helping us plan our travels. I genuinely welcome that. Technology has always changed the way we explore the world, from online booking to digital boarding passes and mobile travel apps.
But I hope one thing never changes. The best holidays are rarely defined by the places everyone else has visited. They’re defined by the moments that feel as though they were created just for you.
And that’s why, wonderful though AI is, I still believe the most valuable part of planning a holiday is understanding the person who’s taking it.