The travel and tourism sector is worth an estimated $1 trillion globally and employs 348 million people – more than the entire population of the United States. Right now, artificial intelligence (AI) and technology are rewiring the sector, creating new opportunities and driving cost savings as it continues to grow.
At Aviation Festival Asia 2025, Julia Simpson, President & CEO of WTTC joined Bloomberg’s Danny Lee onstage for a keynote interview titled: “Why sustainability and digitisation are key to Travel & Tourism’s plans for growth and impact.”
Speaking on the impact of AI, Simpson debated it as a cost saver vs revenue generator, shared innovative use cases, and shared predictions for the APAC’s dominance of AI in the near future:
“I’ve been talking to some leading experts and one of the things they’re saying [about AI] is over the next five years or even before, there will emerge about four or five AI tech giants and, at that moment, we’re going to have to back a horse. Whether we get the right one or not will be very, very interesting. But I think, probably the best AI tech giant is going to come out of Asia-Pac. […] This is one of the fastest areas we’ve seen with AI developments and it is very quick to innovate.”
In tandem with this development, the travel and tourism sector must address sustainability, ESG, and diversity to support long-term growth. Watch the full interview below to find out more.
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For more onsite at Aviation Festival Asia 2025 see:
- How Emirates Skywards transformed loyalty members into active users
- Offer and order, dynamic pricing, and Agentic AI
- Why Cebu’s CEO thinks ancillary fee bans will be overturned
