Marc Vidal urges at the Ibiza Tourism Forum to balance technology and the human factor to face the future of the industry

The XII Ibiza Tourism Forum, held at the Cultural Center of Jesus under the theme ‘Tourism in positive: local benefits and challenges’, had the special participation of Marc Vidal, economic analyst and expert in digital transformation. Vidal offered a global vision on the challenges of the tourism sector, addressing the influence of technology and the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The expert, who spoke with Raúl García López and José Godoy, emphasized that the key to technology in the sector lies in “how to share space between technology and humanity” and in the ability to give “a final meaning to technology”.

• Vicent Marí: “Tourism is not fought, it is managed through control and regulation”.

Artificial intelligence is an “antechamber

During his presentation, Vidal qualified the current state of Artificial Intelligence. He stated emphatically that “AI does not exist yet”, but that what we have is an “anteroom”. He explained that, for the moment, AI “only manages data” and “is not capable of thinking anything”.

Despite the technological relevance, Vidal stressed that the “first layer depends on people”. According to the analyst, technology is designed to ask questions, but “it is never going to ask us anything”. Therefore, the difference between any business in the sector, whether it is a retailer, a small hotel or a rental company that has technology, is fundamentally “the person”.

• Carmen Ferrer at the Ibiza Tourism Forum: “We cannot fall into the error of blaming tourism”.

Vidal stressed that the key to success will lie in the quality of human interactions with the technology: “The better the questioner, the better the answer ends up being”.

Challenges: privacy and labor respect

The expert also addressed the challenges and risks brought about by digitalization. He warned about the “risk of aggression to privacy” posed by the application of technology.

Vidal pointed out the need to “make tourism smarter”, urging that technological tools be used to offer not only what the tourist wants, but also “what the destination needs”.

Finally, he stated that the tourism sector faces two major challenges: “respect for the environment” and “respect for those who make up tourism”. In this sense, he suggested that “the fact of reflecting on how to improve the labor environment can solve other important problems”.