World Tourism Day Focuses on AI Reshaping Tourism

Key points

• Global international tourist arrivals reached 1.52 billion in 2025, up about 4% year on year, with international tourism receipts of about US$1.9 trillion, up about 5%.
• WTTC data show tourism's contribution to global GDP rose to 6.7% in 2025.
• China issued the Smart Tourism Innovation Development Action Plan in May 2024, targeting a larger smart-tourism economy and better infrastructure by 2027.
• The 15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Tourism Power devotes a chapter to smart tourism, stressing full-chain technology and large-model service capability for culture and tourism.
• The article flags four issues: a widening digital divide, inconsistent cross-border service standards, over-digitalization eroding authenticity, and AI ethics and employment impacts.
• ITU data show about 2.2 billion people were fully offline in 2025; internet penetration was 94% in high-income countries versus 23% in low-income countries.
• Four recommendations: coordination via APEC, standards for interoperability, assistance for inclusiveness, and regulation for safety.