Beyond Smart Marketing: Integrating Emotional and Ethical AI Into the Tourism Experience

Regalado-Pezua O.; Christofle S. · AI for Sustainable Digital Transformation: Governance and Innovation (2026) · DOI: 10.4018/979-8-2600-3930-4.ch012

Resumen

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reshaped the tourism paradigm, moving from mere operational automation to the creation of hyper-personalised service ecosystems. However, current literature reveals a critical tension: as technical efficiency advances, significant gaps emerge around emotional engagement and ethical integrity. This chapter analyses the transition from “smart marketing” to the integration of emotional AI, evaluating how recommendation systems, affective chatbots, and immersive technologies influence tourist behaviour and destination sustainability. Through a comprehensive review of secondary sources, the study proposes adopting the “hetero-intelligence” framework, which combines the analytical capacity of algorithms with human contextual and ethical judgment. It concludes that, to ensure the long-term viability of the sector, it is imperative to balance technological innovation with principles of transparency, responsibility, and humanised design, thus mitigating the risks of bias and dehumanisation in the tourist experience.

Instituciones: Universidad ESAN