Tourism Beyond AI

Smart Destinations, Immersive Technologies and Digital Futures

Roya Rahimi, Muharrem Tuna, Hasan Kilic

ISBN: 9781911964186 Hbk; 9781911964377 Pbk; 9781911964193 eBook; 9781911964209 ePub

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Tourism Beyond AI provides a research-led examination of how digital technologies are reshaping tourism and hospitality, and how they are transforming the ways organisations work, tourists experience destinations, and heritage and destinations are managed.

Moving beyond a catalogue of emerging technologies, this volume develops a coherent framework connecting human-AI collaboration, digital platforms, immersive experiences, smart destinations, heritage, and responsible digital and green governance. It brings together technologies including generative AI, robotics, chatbots, augmented and virtual reality, gamification and the metaverse while examining their implications for judgement, agency, visibility, inclusion and accountability.

Drawing on international research and cases from Spain, Italy, France and Türkiye, it introduces original concepts and frameworks including appropriate reliance, the platform-mediated gaze, Smart Detox, AI curatorship, the Immersive Digital Tourist, the DTI Knowledge Spiral and the Cappadocia Heritage Digital Twin.

Balancing conceptual depth with practical relevance, Tourism Beyond AI offers students, tourism and hospitality professionals, heritage practitioners and policymakers a critical framework for evaluating digital transformation and understanding how technology can create sustainable value for visitors, employees, destinations and communities.

Publication: January 2027

Introduction: From Digital Adoption to Responsible Socio-Technical Transformation; Part I: Governing Smart and Platformised Destinations: Ch 1. The Smart Destination Knowledge Spiral: Evidence, Practice and Policy Learning in Spain (Giovana Goretti Feijó Almeida, José Luis Jiménez Caballero and Paulo Almeida); Ch 2. The Platform-Mediated Tourist Gaze: Visibility, Experience and Polysemic Heritage at Rumi’s Mausoleum (Atefeh Jamaloo and Neriman Gonca Güzel ?ahin); Ch 3. The Smart Tourism–Digital Detox Paradox: Designing for Connectivity and Digital Well-Being (Aziz Mert Sayan, Burhan Sevim and Cansen Can; Part II: Human–AI Work and Organisational Capability: Ch 4. Generative AI, Robotics and the Hospitality Workforce: Intellectual Structure and a Policy Agenda (Nurgül Boz); Ch 5. Tourism Employees’ Chatbot Use: Demographic Differences and Digital Inclusion (Filiz Arslan and Gülseren Yurcu); Ch 6. From Algorithmic Transparency to Appropriate Reliance: Hospitality Employees’ AI-Supported Decision-Making (Mina Milani, Victor Oluwafemi Olorunsola and Niusha Talebzadeh); Part III: Designing Generative and Immersive Tourism Experiences: Ch 7. Generative AI in Destination Storytelling: Human Curatorship and the “Türkiye: The Eternal Bridge” Case (Murat Yurtlu); Ch 8. From Virtual Worlds to Physical Travel: Video Games, Immersion and Tourist Behaviour (Ziyad Guliyev); Ch 9. The Immersive Digital Tourist: Comparing the Colosseum, Eiffel Tower and Château de Versailles (Giovana Goretti Feijó Almeida, José Marques Pereira and Paulo Almeida); Ch 10. Augmented and Virtual Reality in Cultural Heritage Tourism: Experience, Access, Conservation and Guiding (Emrullah Cansu); Part IV: Responsible Digital–Green Futures: Ch 11. Heritage Digital Twins for Fragile Destinations: A Sustainable Management Model for Cappadocia (Selcen Balki and Burcu Gülsevil Belber); Ch 12. Wellness Tourism in the Twin Transition: AI Ethics, Regenerative Sustainability and Human-Centred Service Ecosystems (Dilbar Guliyeva, Mithat Zeki Dinçer and Fatma Füsun ?stanbullu Dinçer); Conclusion: Principles and Research Agenda for Intelligent, Immersive and Responsible Tourism; Index

About the authors

Roya Rahimi is a Professor in Marketing and Leisure Management at the University of Wolverhampton UK. Muharrem Tuna is Professor in the Department of Tourism Management, Faculty of Tourism, Gazi University, Turkey. Hasan K?l?ç is Professor in the Faculty of Tourism, Eastern Mediterranean University, Turkey