“Let’s make it personal.”
That’s the headline for a new artificial intelligence-powered travel planner on the Maine Department of Tourism’s website.
The firm partnered with a company called MindTrip to launch the tool in January. Since then, more than 27,000 people have used the feature and more than 3,000 custom travel itineraries have been generated, the tourism bureau reported.
Data from market researchers in the tourism sector shows that travelers are increasingly relying on AI.
Future Partners found this spring that 30% of Americans are using these tools to plan their trips, up from 24% a year ago. According to an article in TravelPulse, an industry publication for travel advisors, another recent study by Phocuswright found an even higher percentage of people used AI on at least one trip in the past 12 months, at 56%.
This trend was one of the inspirations for the Maine Tourism Authority to hire Mindtrip, an AI travel planner that works with more than 70 destinations around the world, including eight states such as California and Florida.
“We also recognized the opportunity for a unique way to go deeper into providing personalized information,” said Carolann Ouellette, the state’s tourism director.
Nationally and in Maine, the tourism industry is finding ways to balance the growth of AI with the demand for authentic experiences.
“Technology is definitely going to transform personalized services. There’s no question about that,” said Ajay Alluri, an associate professor at West Virginia University who studies AI and tourism. “But it is humanity that defines true hospitality.”
“Another tool”
Users can enter VisitMaine.com’s trip planner by asking questions to the chatbot or selecting from a menu of interests and priorities. Users can save itineraries, set budget parameters, upload receipts and confirm reservations, and plan multiple trips at once.
Aruri said people are drawn to AI in part because of information overload.
“To really decide whether to go to a hotel or a restaurant, you have to go to five to seven different websites,” Alluri says. “This is one reason why AI is focused on personalizing digital experiences.”
A search by the Portland Press Herald found travel planners generating statewide recommendations and adjusting itineraries based on answers to questions. However, searches with more parameters may not always return what the user is looking for. For example, while the tool offers the option to prioritize businesses owned by women and people of color, it sometimes showed there wasn’t enough information in those categories to make recommendations.
Ouellette said the tool prioritizes content from the state’s tourism website, so while it may be limited where there are gaps in content, he is confident it is accurate and vetted. He said the office hasn’t received any complaints about errors, but has received some feedback from users saying they couldn’t find what they wanted. The tourism board said it does not use AI to generate articles or images on its website.
Users can’t book hotel rooms, flights or tables through the platform, so the state can’t determine whether those who create itineraries actually follow through.
Ouellette said the state has not yet widely sold the tool and is still figuring out how to do so. She said her contract with MindTrip is for three years and has a total cost of $113,000.
Mindtrip started in 2024 as a consumer-facing travel planner, but quickly expanded to serve destinations directly.
“All of these destinations and tourism boards have great content and can be local experts in their own right, taking inspiration and actually taking action on that inspiration to help consumers plan personalized trips to their destinations,” Chief Marketing Officer Michel Desnogent said.
Ouellette said the state already uses data about Google searches and web traffic to guide marketing decisions. He and Denozian said travel planners will provide state officials with more information to understand what potential visitors are looking for.
Ouellette highlighted survey data showing that two out of five visitors also rely on advice from family and friends when it comes to travel.
“The genuine connections people make with Miners is what keeps them coming back,” she said. “This is just another tool.”
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“Whack-a-mole game”
Many in the tourism industry are grappling with new questions raised by the increased use of AI.
At Craignair Inn by the Sea in Spruce Head, owners Lauren and Greg Soutia considered using AI services to answer reservation calls, but ultimately decided not to implement it.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Lauren Sautiaire said. “I don’t know if our guests, especially our older guests, are ready for that. There’s a reason they call instead of booking online.”
Still, Lauren Soutia said she knows from her own research and personal conversations with guests that some people are finding her coastal inns and restaurants through queries on ChatGPT and other platforms. She and her husband decided to give it a try while planning a June vacation in Maine. He asked ChatGPT for suggestions for outdoorsy couples traveling with their dogs.
“That was a good starting point,” Lauren Sautier said.
Companies and destinations said they are enhancing their websites in recognition of the fact that even people who don’t use a specific platform like Claude will encounter AI overviews in a simple Google search. They said online misinformation is not a new problem, and people don’t always double-check a company’s website to see, for example, that a pet policy has changed or a promotion has ended, but the problem could be amplified as AI mines old data from the depths of the internet.
“It feels like whack-a-mole,” said Amanda Proulx, marketing and communications manager at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath.
Katie Hay, director of marketing and communications at the Maine Coastal Botanical Garden in Boothbay, said one of the biggest concerns is that AI could replace artists, photographers and graphic designers. She said she hires creators rather than generate AI images because she values their work.
“There’s nothing we can do about AI,” Hay said. “But if we can lean back and make sure we’re supporting the community, I think that’s how we’re going to survive.”
Puleo said he’s concerned about what the expanded use of AI could mean for a state where part of its appeal is that some businesses don’t even have a website.
“The AI of everything is putting at risk some of what makes living here, working here and visiting here so special,” she says. “I hear a lot of stories about people coming to Maine for vacation and being so blown away that they thought, ‘Oh, I want to move here.’ I hope that continues, even if they come here and the AI is less intelligent.”
