When, in 2018, Alex Bainbridge Founder & CEO of Autoura presented at ITB Berlin about artificial intelligence on the e-travel stage, as it was then, there was an audience of about twenty. Seven years later Mr Bainbridge was back at ITB, this time on the main stage, and his was one of 22 sessions at the world’s biggest travel fair dedicated to the subject of AI.
Ai is the new normal, how Ai knows consumers see your brand, Ai and travel agents, how Ai is changing loyalty systems, AI and hotels, learning from Ai automation, AI and aviation, a and blockchain (the perfect storm for travel disruption), Ai and company structure, Ai and destination marketing, Ai and data, two sessions on how Google’s take on how ai is transforming every journey, how AI can transform travel, and most intriguing “how AI based personas can become an authentic destination ambassador.” Apparently artificially created AI influencers, led by the German Tourist board’s Emma, will be generating $46bn worth of marketing bang by 2030.
It would be hard to imagine there would be room for any other serious discussion at ITB Belrin but there was. Trump and tariffs were not explicitly mentioned, but referenced in several sessions.
The 400 speakers came from different industries with different agendas, some were blatantly promoting a commercial product, others were nervously challenging the consensus, and there were 170 government ministers in town, including Caoimhe Archibald, many of them (not Caoimhe) demanding hotel suites and limousines.
Tourism Ireland brought 28 tourism enterprises to the show, promoting Ireland to a record attendance of 100,000 visitors.
Five takeaways from ITB Berlin 2025
- The organised travel market, which includes package tours and link travel arrangements offered by tour operators and travel agency is developing particularly strongly. It is growing faster than the individual bookings. In total nearly €40bn an increase of 7pc were spent in this sector. As a result, organised travel is now nearly on par with privately planned and arranged holidays.
- Booking early is the new last minute, especially encouraging the demand for package tours is steadily rising. Compared to the previous year, 6pc more people have booked a holiday with a tour operator and opt for the well-protected classic package tour, including transportation in most cases, including flights.
- People love cruises. Almost the fifth of the summer revenue from organized trips comes from holidays on board of cruise vessels. Revenue is up by 14pc and the number of travelers has increased even by 18pc.
- Social media is empowering video. YouTube is on par with Facebook and Instagram when it comes to decision making on choosing holidays.
- when it comes to paying extra to support sustainable practices generally travelers are most willing to pay for meals with locally sourced ingredients as opposed to paying a premium for other things such as eco friendly lodging or flying an airline that uses sustainable aviation fuels or using local tour guides.
