AI and virtual influencers: Tourism enters a new era
Tourism contributes 10% to EU GDP. DES2025 in Malaga will showcase how AI and tech enhance operations, personalization, sustainability, and data security in tourism.
MADRID – According to WTTC data, tourism represents 10% of the European Union's GDP, contributing 1.5 billion euros a year to its economy and employing around 23 million people. These figures highlight the importance of the industry in the social development and growth of the EU territory, being one of the main drivers of its progress. However, in order to maintain its leadership and respond to new consumer demands, the sector is embracing the digital revolution with which it is creating more personalized experiences, improving management, increasing the well-being of teams and stimulating the quality of destinations. In this sense, DES – Digital Enterprise Show 2025, the reference event in Europe on exponential technologies to be held from June 10 to 12 in Malaga, Spain, will present the latest innovations like AI, that are transforming the field of travel and that allow automating processes, raising the quality of services, forecasting demand or increasing energy efficiency, among other possibilities.
Mateo Ramón Sastre, Chief Technology & Transformation at Grupo Piñero, and Luis Miguel Martín, CIO at Sercotel Hotel Group, will discuss the capabilities of these technological tools. Both leaders will share real cases of how they have incorporated intelligent solutions that have allowed them to optimize operations and improve travelers' experiences in their respective accommodations. Along the same lines, Marc Planas, CIO at Catalonia Hotels & Resorts; Lucía Martínez, CIO at AR Hotels and Resorts; Joaquín Janer, CEO at BlueBay Hotels & Resorts Group; and Diego Rodríguez, Business Leader Automation & AI at IBM, will share the digital trends, such as AI or chatbots, that are redrawing the way in which customers are being attracted and retained.
In turn, Lukas Schack, Principal Machine Learning Engineer at TUI; Isabel Járrega, Director of Customer Experience and Business Transformation at Toyota; Nanes Martínez, Director at the Association for the Development of Customer Experience; and Federico López, Head of AI at VoiceMOD, a company that has developed a real-time voice modulator using artificial intelligence, will analyze the opportunities arising from AI in the way brands interact with their consumers.
Similarly, this issue will be addressed by Enrique Ruiz, Global CMO at Turespaña, who will also explore sustainable technological practices, the rise of immersive experiences with Virtual and Augmented Reality, the emergence of digital influencers or the metaverse as new promotional channels. Ruiz will also unveil the potential of innovation to reinforce the image of destinations.
Ethics and safety
The rapid advent and democratization of artificial intelligence in tourism has brought with it new ethical challenges. Therefore, DES2025 will look at the balance that TUI and Beko Europe are making to incorporate AI, among other exponential technologies, without compromising data security and ensuring social responsibility. In parallel, leaders from the same company providing tourism services, Westcon Iberia, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and the Observatory of Military Life of the Congress of Deputies will discuss the relevance of cybersecurity solutions today to preserve the protection of sensitive information in the face of cyber offensives led by AI or quantum computing.
The tourism industry at the Retail Tech Fest
This new edition of DES2025 will host the Retail Tech Fest, the space dedicated to the retail and ecommerce ecosystem. In it, executives from well-known brands in the industry will discuss AI and technological innovation to build a more resilient, efficient and competitive environment. César Tello, CEO at Adigital; and Ricardo Fernández, CEO at Destinia, will present the keys to build a tourism model better prepared for the future, taking into account the saturation of destinations, the environmental impact and the need to personalize experiences.
Likewise, Cristina Cartes, Public Policy Manager at Amazon, and Lucía Martínez, CIO at AR Hotels and Resorts, will explore strategies to combine service automation without losing human authenticity in a world of increasingly intelligent customer interaction.
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