Consumer readiness to adopt AI applications utilized in the Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality (TTH) industry: An empirical study of Egyptian TTH consumers

The Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality industry (TTH) has been revolutionized by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Key drivers of AI in TTH include enhancing operational efficiency, improving yield, boosting customer experiences, and ensuring sustainable growth in the TTH sector. AI is being used in the travel and tourism sector to provide consumers with personalized recommendations based on past experiences, offer more efficient online booking processes, and employ chatbots for customer service inquiries about tourist attractions and travel tips. Conversational AI systems like Apple’s Siri use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to communicate with customers via speech and text.
AI is also being widely used in the hospitality industry to help customers through service robots, virtual assistance, smart room technologies, and concierge services. In addition, AI can also be recognized in airports through applications such as face recognition, biometrics, service robots, baggage handling, and geofencing for marketing purposes.
Back-office AI applications that support TTH businesses in decision-making include machine and deep learning, neural networks, decision trees, and rule-based systems.  These applications can help businesses make informed business decisions based on real-time data analysis.
         This research relied on the extended TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) model based on the Theory of Reasoned Action to examine the acceptance level and future intentions of Egyptian TTH customers to adopt AI applications. A quantitative approach was adopted wherein an online questionnaire was distributed to examine TTH customers’ intentions to adopt AI, where 438 valid responses were received. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis was used to find relationships between variables of the TAM model such as perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived risk.
         The results showed, that Egyptian TTH customers perceive AI applications as useful, easy to use, and entertaining. However, some customers were skeptical about some AI technologies regarding the security of data and the lack of human touch in some services that robots took over. Based on the analysis, a significant positive relationship was found between the variables Perceived usefulness and Ease of use and variables of Behavioral Intentions. Nevertheless, no significant relationship was found between the variables of Behavioral Intentions and Perceived Risk.