This month, Allen Burd, Creative Assets Manager for WOT attended AI4, one of the largest artificial intelligence conferences in North America. While many of the conversations focused on highly technical uses of AI, one thing became clear: AI is quickly changing how people find information, plan trips and interact with businesses and destinations.
For tourism, this creates both opportunities and responsibilities.
One of Allen's biggest takeaways was that AI is only as useful as the information it can access. As travelers increasingly use tools like ChatGPT, Google and other AI-powered services to ask where to go, what to do and how to plan a trip, keeping online information accurate and up to date becomes even more important.
Another major theme was that AI isn't simply about replacing what people do. It's about helping people accomplish certain tasks faster and giving them better information to make decisions. For tourism, that could mean helping a visitor build an itinerary, discover an experience they didn't know existed or better understand what they can do once they arrive.
The conference also looked beyond text-based AI. New technology is learning to understand photos, video, maps and physical places. That could eventually create new opportunities for destinations to help visitors explore and understand places before and during a trip.
There is still a lot to learn, and the technology will continue to change quickly. But one message from AI4 stood out: good AI starts with good information. For Wyoming's tourism industry, continuing to provide accurate, useful and authentic information about our destinations and experiences will be increasingly important as travelers adopt these new tools.
5 AI Takeaways Wyoming Tourism Partners Can Use
1. Keep your website information current, AI is reading it.
Travelers are beginning to ask AI where to stay, what to do, when businesses are open and how to plan their trips. AI relies on information available online to help answer those questions.
What partners can do: Regularly review your website for outdated hours, seasonal closures, addresses, prices, amenities and experience descriptions. Make important information easy to find and clearly written. The better the information available online, the better chance AI-powered tools have of giving travelers useful information about your business or destination.
2. Think about experiences, not just attractions.
AI makes it increasingly easy for travelers to build personalized itineraries. Someone may not search for a specific Wyoming attraction. Instead, they might ask, “What can my family do during a three-day road trip through Wyoming?”
What partners can do: Describe experiences in ways that help travelers understand how they fit into a trip. Include things like how long an experience takes, what else is nearby, the best season to visit, who it is good for and what makes it special. That gives AI and travelers more context to build better trips.
3. Photos and video are becoming information, too.
One major topic at AI4 was the advancement of AI that can understand images, video and physical environments. AI is moving beyond simply understanding written words.
What partners can do: Continue investing in quality, current photos and video that accurately represent your destination or business. Organize and describe those assets clearly when possible. Your digital presence is increasingly more than the words on your website.
4. Use AI to help with tasks, not to replace your expertise.
A recurring message from AI4 was that a job is made up of many different tasks. AI may be useful for some of those tasks without replacing the person doing the job.
What partners can do: Start small. AI might help brainstorm social content, summarize information, organize ideas, draft an FAQ or turn existing information into different formats. People should still review the result for accuracy and add the local knowledge that makes the information valuable.
5. Your unique local knowledge becomes more valuable, not less.
AI systems are very good at working with information, but they don’t automatically possess the knowledge that exists inside a local business or community. One theme at AI4 was the importance of giving AI access to the right information and context.
What partners can do: Think about the questions visitors regularly ask that aren’t easily answered online. Where’s the best place to park? How much time should someone allow? What should visitors bring? What’s different in the winter? What do first-time visitors misunderstand? Putting that knowledge on your website helps both travelers and the technology they increasingly use to plan their trips.
The common thread I’d use when presenting all five is very simple: You don’t need to become an AI expert. Focus on making your digital information accurate, useful and easy to understand. As the technology gets better, that information becomes more valuable - not less.
