Ninety-one per cent of Middle East travel businesses are now piloting or operating AI, and 85 per cent of them report measurable cost savings, according to the ATM Travel Trends Report released around Arabian Travel Market 2026. The figure effectively settles the adoption question for the region's sellers of travel. What remains unsettled — and what dominated conversation among technology executives at the Dubai show — is whether that investment translates into journeys that actually convert and retain customers.

The consumer-side numbers point to why distribution models may shift next: 28 per cent of prospective Middle East visitors have already used an AI chatbot to plan a trip, against 12 per cent among travellers considering other regions. For platforms and DMOs targeting Gulf and broader Middle East demand, the planning funnel is moving into conversational interfaces faster than in any other market.

From 'smart' to useful

Paul Dawalibi, CEO of Innovation City RAK, framed the central test in blunt terms. "Technology for technology's sake is useless," he told Breaking Travel News. "For them, it's about having the most seamless, frictionless experience."

He described the traveller journey as running from the dreaming stage through searching, booking, airport security and hotel arrival — with AI assisting at planning and facial identification, smart gates and automated hotel check-in stripping out friction later in the chain. The operational question, he argued, is accountability: "It's understanding who owns that traveler, who owns that experience, who's responsible, who's accountable end to end."

The data layer underneath

Michael Toedt, CEO and founder of dailypoint, is betting that the value sits below the visible interface. His company operates a central data management platform that pulls information from websites, booking engines, property management systems and guest surveys into a single body of guest knowledge.

The problem it addresses is one hotel groups know well: fragmented technology stacks mean one guest appears as multiple profiles across systems, making personalisation — and the incremental revenue it drives — difficult to execute. Toedt argued the industry has been too transaction-focused in its IT approach. "Essential guest knowledge is not available," he said, positioning centralised data as the foundation for the newer generation of AI tools.

The implication for hoteliers and their vendors is direct: AI may generate the recommendation or automated response the guest sees, but output quality still depends on the structure of the data underneath it.

Value over volume

Yulia Chutaeva, Head of Sales EMEA & APAC at Connect by Price Travel, argued the industry has spent years chasing more connectivity, more products and more rates — and that the next phase is about identifying where customers actually find value. "Technology, AI and correct data processing should help us to understand where the real value for the customer is," she said.

She also flagged a tension relevant to any distributor operating across regions: global platforms must still account for local behaviour, because even sophisticated technology cannot compensate for misunderstanding how travellers in specific markets book and buy.

Destinations as data operations

If AI changes how trips are arranged, destinations must become machine-readable to stay visible. Catalina Carretero, Sales Director at The Data Appeal Company, said that question ran through ATM conversations. "The key point is how AI is going to travel, and it's going to change travel arrangements," she said.

For tourism organisations, data is becoming competitive infrastructure rather than a reporting afterthought. "Data is a must," Carretero said, adding that real-time information lets destinations react "in a more informed and quicker way" — a capability that matters in a region where demand can swing on geopolitical developments, airline capacity, travel advisories or shifting traveller sentiment.

The human layer stays

Despite the automation talk, executives did not frame the end state as removing people. Toedt pointed to individualised service as a growing guest expectation, and the wider hospitality discussion at ATM repeatedly positioned technology as an enabler of human interaction rather than a replacement.

The Middle East's position is structurally distinctive: the region is investing heavily in airports, destinations, hospitality and digital infrastructure simultaneously, allowing technology to be embedded across the journey rather than layered on top of legacy systems.

The question of whether the travel industry will use AI is largely answered. The consequential question for the next cycle — and for vendors competing for travel-seller budgets — is whether connected AI and data systems make journeys measurably easier, and whether that ease shows up in bookings and repeat business.