Artificial intelligence in tourism: what TUI research shows

Artificial intelligence images could negatively affect people's trust, as most people are unable to distinguish the difference between real images and those created using artificial intelligence (AI).
This striking conclusion is highlighted by research by TUI Musement, which is the tours and activities division of the TUI Group. The research was conducted by Appinio in June 2024 among 1,200 adults in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

That’s why Peter Ulwahn, CEO of TUI Musement, said it’s important to “develop a better way to integrate advanced technologies into our systems, while also strengthening customer trust.” TUI’s goal is to achieve a “balanced relationship between innovation and transparency.” It’s important to ensure that AI enriches the travel experience without compromising trust. “We continue to focus on authenticity,” emphasizes Peter Ulwahn.

As AI permeates the daily lives of citizens and businesses, TUI is emphasizing “ethical criteria” and a high level of transparency in the use of AI.

Real-life photo (source: TUI)

Key findings

AI vs Real Images: 22% of UK respondents said they could “easily distinguish” between AI and real images, but this dropped to 9% in Germany and Spain. On average, Gen Z and Millennials were more likely to claim they could “easily distinguish” between the two (17%), compared to Gen X (11%) and Baby Boomers (6%). However, the tests revealed that all groups struggled to accurately distinguish between AI-generated images and real images.

Impact on trust: While AI-generated images elicited feelings of “interest” in many respondents, they also led to widespread “skepticism.” Spanish respondents, Baby Boomers, and women expressed greater skepticism about AI-generated imagery, while those from the UK, as well as Gen Z, younger Millennials, and men, were more positive.

Influence on purchase decisions Although AI-generated imagery was twice as likely to “spark curiosity”, it was not considered more captivating or persuasive in terms of purchase decisions. Spanish consumers were particularly wary of AI’s influence, with most believing that AI-generated imagery would negatively influence their purchase decisions. In contrast, respondents from the UK and Germany expressed either neutral or positive attitudes.

Preferred images: When asked about online shopping, the majority of respondents said they prefer a combination of “high-quality professional photos” and “authentic user-generated content.” This combination, especially with user-generated images, was identified by 88% of respondents as crucial to building trust and influencing purchasing behavior.

TUI uses AI

TUI is already using AI technologies to automate and improve image selection. The volume of data is huge, with more than 35 million images in internal databases. This mainly concerns hotel and room images that are sorted and filtered using artificial intelligence.

The technology also supports tagging and categorization by automatically adding keywords such as “summer”, “winter” or “swimming pool” to images.

In sales, artificial intelligence is intended to make travel agency services more targeted and faster and therefore more efficient.

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