)
What Senior Decision Makers Reveal About CX, EX, AI and Digital Transformation in the Travel and Tourism Sectors
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
Customer experience, employee experience, and digital transformation are closely connected. The tools employees use, the information they have, and the technology supporting them all shape the experience customers receive.
To understand how organisations are approaching these priorities, we surveyed senior decision makers across the Travel and Tourism Sectors responsible for CX, EX, AI, and digital transformation. They shared how their organisations prioritise experience, where the biggest challenges lie, and how technology and data support improvement.
The results highlight different approaches to experience, alongside common barriers such as budget pressure, system complexity, and organisational alignment. This report summarises the findings and explores what they mean for leaders working to improve experience across their organisations.
1 AI Focus Expands Beyond Customer Experience
We asked: Which areas of communications, if any, is your organisation currently exploring the application of AI in?
Travel and Tourism organisations are taking a joined-up approach to AI, with over half already applying it across both customer and employee experience rather than focusing on one area alone. This suggests a growing recognition that internal capabilities directly impact external service delivery.
28% are exploring the application of AI in CX only
18% are exploring the application of AI in EX only
53% are exploring the application of AI in both CX and EX
1% are not exploring the application of AI in either of these areas
Overall, the data shows a clear shift toward integrated experience strategies, with very few organisations yet to begin their AI journey.
What this means for you
Travel leaders need to prioritise end-to-end experience design. AI that supports both frontline staff and customer interactions will be key to delivering seamless, consistent journeys across booking, service, and support.
2 AI Shifts From Exploration To Outcomes
We asked: What, if anything, best describes your organisation's intent for using AI in communications in this area(s)?
Plans are moving beyond experimentation, with a clear focus on delivering measurable improvements and solving real operational challenges.
36% want to drive measurable improvement
29% are looking to solve specific challenges
18% are reshaping experience delivery
17% are in an exploration phase
Overall, the findings show a clear shift toward practical, results-driven AI adoption, with fewer organisations remaining in the exploratory phase.
What this means for you
Success will come from aligning AI to clear operational goals. Focus on solving specific pain points—such as service delays or demand spikes—to unlock immediate and scalable value.
3 Speed And Consistency Drive AI Value
We asked: What type of value, if any, does your organisation most expect AI to deliver
Operational performance is priority, with speed and consistency emerging as the most important benefits of AI adoption.
Improved speed and responsiveness: 29%
Personalisation: 18%
Cost efficiency: 17%
Service consistency: 25%
Competitive differentiation: 10%
This reflects the need to deliver reliable, real-time service in high-pressure environments.
What this means for you
AI presents an opportunity to deliver faster, more consistent service at scale—critical in peak periods. Balancing efficiency with personalisation will be key to improving customer satisfaction while maintaining operational control.
4 Customers Expected to Respond Positively
We asked: How positively or negatively do you believe customers will perceive AI-enabled interactions?
There’s confidence that customers will embrace AI, with strong positive sentiment and limited concern about negative reactions.
Net Positive: 67%, including 27% responding ‘very positive’
Net Negative: 13%
Neutral: 19%
This suggests growing acceptance of AI in travel interactions, particularly where it enhances speed and convenience.
What this means for you
Customer acceptance is not the barrier—execution is. Focus on making AI interactions seamless, helpful, and human-like to build trust and enhance the overall journey.
5 No Single Model For AI Service
We asked: What, if anything, best reflects your organisation's most preferred service model for AI?
Respondents show a clear preference for blended service models, where AI and humans work together rather than AI fully replacing human interaction. This reflects the sector’s need to balance efficiency with personalised, high-touch service.
27% AI supports people during interactions
19% see AI as the primary interface
18% prefer AI to be behind-the-scenes
25% are creating AI-led service models, with escalation
11% retain a human-only service model
Overall, the findings indicate that augmentation—not full automation—is the dominant approach in this sector.
What this means for you
The opportunity lies in designing hybrid service models that combine AI efficiency with human empathy. Getting the balance right will be critical to maintaining service quality while scaling operations effectively.
6 Confidence High in Delivering AI Outcomes
We asked: How confident or not confident are you that your organisation can turn AI ambition into practical outcomes?
Travel and Tourism organisations demonstrate strong confidence in their ability to execute on AI ambitions, with the vast majority believing they can translate strategy into real-world outcomes. However, a smaller group remains cautious or uncertain.
Confident (net): 83% including 52% responding ‘very confident’
Neutral: 12%
Not confident: 5%
Overall, the findings suggest that while confidence is high, there is still some hesitation that may reflect execution challenges ahead.
What this means for you
Confidence must now translate into results. Focus on execution, integration, and governance to ensure AI delivers measurable business impact.
7 Data And Systems Remain Major Barriers
We asked: To what extent, if at all, are the following limiting what you can do with AI today in terms of ambitions and communications?
Travel and Tourism organisations face significant barriers to AI adoption, with both data quality and existing systems widely seen as major constraints. These foundational challenges are limiting the ability to scale AI effectively
87%: Data availability and quality
84% Existing communication and experience systems
Overall, the findings show that structural and technical limitations remain the biggest obstacles to AI progress.
What this means for you
Unlocking AI value starts with fixing the fundamentals. Investing in better data management and modernising systems will be critical to enabling scalable, effective AI deployment and avoiding stalled or underperforming initiatives.
8 Change Seen as Major Challenge
We asked: How challenging or not challenging do you expect organisational and people change to be when introducing AI into the organisation?
Transformation is as much about culture and ways of working as it is about technology.
Challenging (net): 92% combined
Extremely/very challenging: 57% combined
Not challenging: 8%
The findings show that change management could be one of the biggest hurdles in successfully adopting AI.
What this means for you
Clear communication, training, and leadership alignment will be essential to ensure teams are engaged, confident, and ready to embrace new ways of working.
9 Control Models Reflect Cautious Adoption
We asked: What, if anything, best reflects your organisation's view on control in AI-led interactions?
Travel and Tourism organisations are leaning toward balanced control models, favouring collaboration between AI and humans rather than full automation. This suggests a cautious approach, particularly in customer-facing scenarios where trust and accuracy are critical.
Full automation acceptable: 20%
Shared control: 30%
Light oversight: 23%
Human-led models: 17%
Overall, the findings indicate that most organisations are not yet ready to fully relinquish control to AI.
What this means for you
For leaders, striking the right balance between automation and oversight is key. Blended control models can help deliver efficiency while maintaining trust, particularly in complex or high-value customer interactions.
10 Risk Sensitivity Shapes AI Adoption
We asked: How sensitive, if at all, is your organisation to AI-related risks in communications (e.g. trust, compliance, employee impact)?
Respondents demonstrate very high sensitivity to AI-related risks, with most recognising the potential impact on trust, compliance, and employee experience. This indicates that risk management is a central consideration in AI adoption.
Sensitive (net): 92%
Highly sensitive: 41%
Moderately sensitive: 32%
Overall, the findings show that while AI adoption is progressing, it is being approached with careful consideration of potential risks.
What this means for you
Building trust into AI strategies is essential. Strong governance, transparency, and compliance frameworks will help mitigate risk while enabling innovation, ensuring AI enhances rather than undermines customer and employee confidence.
11 Significant Investment Underway
We asked: To what extent, if at all, is your organisation investing/planning to invest in AI?
Significant investment to AI is already committed, with only 2% reporting no current investment.
What this means for you
AI should be viewed as a strategic investment, not a short-term experiment. Align spend to clear outcomes and prioritise scalable use cases that deliver measurable business impact.
12 Impact Expected Within Three Years
We asked: When, if at all, do you anticipate seeing impact from AI investment in your organisation?
AI is expected to deliver impact over a medium-term horizon.
1–2 years: 43%
3–4 years: 55%
Mean time to impact: ~31 months
The average time to impact is approximately 31 months, reflecting the complexity of implementation across large, interconnected systems.
What this means for you
AI is a medium-term transformation, not a quick fix. Plan for AI as a phased transformation rather than a quick win. Balancing short-term improvements with long-term capability building will be key to sustaining momentum and demonstrating value.
From Momentum to Meaningful Transformation
Travel and tourism organisations are advancing AI adoption with strong confidence and growing investment, but execution remains a challenge. Data quality and legacy systems are key barriers, while organisational change adds further complexity. With customer sentiment largely positive, the focus must shift to delivery. Prioritising data, aligning AI to clear outcomes, and supporting teams through change will be critical.
NFON can help bridge the gap between ambition and delivery—ensuring AI drives real, measurable impact.
If you’d like to explore what these findings mean for your organisation, get in touch with the NFON UK team at hello-uk@nfon.com, or call 0330 383 8000.
Let’s start the conversation.
)
)