TIS2025 highlights agentic AI as a driver of tourism growth

Agentic AI – that designed to act autonomously based on objectives or specific goals – is already revolutionizing the sector, transforming the complexity of planning a trip into an agile, simple and intuitive experience. This has become evident on the first day of TIS-Tourism Innovation Summit 2025which opened the doors of its sixth edition this Wednesday in Seville.

Experts from the tourism and technology industry have debated the role of innovation in the reinvention of the traveler experience, who increasingly opts for authentic experiences, personalized proposals and sustainable options that minimize their impact on the territory.

According to a report, developed by Google and Deloitte, It is estimated that by 2040 the number of trips will continue to increasereaching 2,400 million, evidencing the great development of the sector. Zuriñe EguizábalSenior Industry Manager Travel at Google, highlighted at TIS2025 the importance of agentic Artificial Intelligence in the sector. “The future of searches will be agentic. AI will not only provide us with information, but will also help complete certain processes. The AI ​​agent will not only assist us in the search, but also when booking experiences, sending us appointment reminders,” he says.

In this sense, Eguizábal specifies that “the traveler does not do simple searches and spends more than 5 hours planning a trip, resorting to more complex and personalized searches. In addition, users are searching for new ways: through voice, videos and images. We have observed that 20% of these searches have a very high commercial intention.”

New strategies based on the traveler’s experience

Faced with this evolution of the traveler, companies in the sector are adapting their strategies to adapt to the new needs of the market and creating experiences just as the traveler demands. Andrea D’amicoCEO of WeRoad, explained that from his company “we create real-life and immersive experiences which also serve, if you want, to get to know yourself.” D’amico also added that “we offer the opportunity to live these experiences on longer or shorter trips. The shorter ones give users the opportunity to decide if they liked the experience and try the longer experiences. And vice versa with clients who have had a longer experience and just want to spend a weekend away. Our repetition rate is very high.”

In this line, Alessandro PetazziCEO of lastminute.comhas assured that since joining the company “I realized that customer repetition was high” and that by creating, as is the case, “a brand from scratch, an important opportunity to create a consumer brand is also generated.” As Petazzi recalled, “historically we started selling hotels and now 70% of our sales are complete vacation package experiences.”

For its part, Pere VallesCEO of Exoticca, has highlighted that the largest driver growth for the company is customer satisfaction. “In our case, the people who work at the destination are really a ‘franchise’ of Exoticca. This means that we not only have the control over pricesbut also on the satisfaction of our customers,” he explained.

Regenerative tourism, key to more sustainable tourism

Sustainability has also had great prominence during the first day of TIS2025. Guy BigwoodCEO of Global Destinations Sustainability Movement, has put on the table the need to adapt the tourism model to climate changefostering a ‘regenerative revolution’. “These types of strategies create economic, financial and human capital and seek to change a linear system that only remains to accelerate a new system of thinking. We need to connect with the transition and modify our way of thinking. We have to change our mentality to build together.”

Something that shows that the paradigm shift is already here. It begins with an initial phase, continues with an integrated phase and ends with a consolidation phase. “We live in a world in constant changeand I believe that the destinations that exist tomorrow are those that are regenerated today. It is clear that tourism is a reflection of our reality, but my question is: do we want to create value or do we want to extract it? Let’s be the generation that made tourism on par with the places we love,” Bigwood concluded.