GatewAI 2025

<h2>Bergamo Trade Fair – 4 April 2025</h2>

<h3>OPENING SESSION</h3>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 09:30 – 09:45</p>

<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>

<p>Paola Olivari, journalist at <em>Guida Viaggi</em> and moderator of the entire day, opens the event by underlining the historic significance of the first national conference dedicated to the relationship between artificial intelligence and tourism. She defines AI as a “game changer” for society as a whole and presents the conference as an opportunity to explore, with vision and pragmatism, the impact of technology on tourism practices and policies.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Artificial intelligence is not an absolute novelty, but in recent years it has undoubtedly had an extraordinary boost and is truly proving to be a game changer for society, for our everyday lives and therefore also for the world of business and tourism.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Olivari introduces the event’s partners, thanking Repower as main partner, the contribution of Regione Lombardia, and sponsors Mastercard, Almawave and The Data Appeal Company.</p>

<h4>Opening address – Edoardo Colombo, President of Turismi.ai</h4>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>

<p>Edoardo Colombo officially opens the proceedings, outlining the three founding objectives of the Turismi.ai Association and of the conference:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Build a bridge between the world of technological innovation and that of tourism, which often operate in separate silos.</li>
  <li>Share concrete experiences and know-how through dialogue between operators, institutions and companies.</li>
  <li>Offer a useful occasion, without wasting time, focused on impactful solutions, tools and visions.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“This day has three objectives: one is to act as a bridge – the association aims to be a bridge between innovation and tourism. It doesn’t always happen, there are many organizations dealing with innovation, and many dealing with tourism. The second is to share knowledge and experiences, so today we have a series of very relevant contributions. And the third is not to waste your time.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He stresses the Association’s aim to become a regular and structured meeting point to identify technological needs and workable solutions, and hopes that the event will become an annual appointment.</p>

<hr />

<h3>PANEL I – INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC POLICIES</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Panel title:</strong> AI in Tourism: Institutions and Public Policies</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 09:45 – 10:30</p>

<p><strong>Moderator:</strong> Antonio Barreca, Director General of Federturismo Confindustria, Vice President of Turismi.ai</p>

<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Barbara Mazzali, Regional Minister for Tourism, Fashion, Design, Territorial Marketing and Major Events, Regione Lombardia</li>
  <li>Federico Lasco, Director of Promotion, Italian Ministry of Tourism</li>
  <li>Alessandra Priante, President, ENIT</li>
  <li>Marina Lalli, President, Federturismo Confindustria</li>
  <li>Misa Labarile, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission</li>
</ul>

<p>Antonio Barreca introduces the panel by noting how, for the first time in Italy, an entire session is devoted to artificial intelligence applied to travel and tourism. He highlights the epochal change underway: the adoption of AI does not concern only large companies but now extends to small and medium-sized operators, making automation and forecasting tools accessible on an unprecedented scale.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“This is a very important event because it’s the first time that, in our country, we take stock of artificial intelligence dedicated to the travel and tourism sector. […] A transformative process is underway and we see it every day. Even people who previously had no familiarity with these tools are now using their smartphones to plan trips, ask for information or access tools that are increasingly accessible and affordable.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Barreca calls on public bodies to guide and coordinate this change, stressing that digital competition is accelerating and companies that fail to adapt risk being left behind.</p>

<h4>Barbara Mazzali – Regione Lombardia</h4>
<p>The Regional Minister opens the panel with a strategic reflection: although artificial intelligence does not replace human intervention, it has already proved to be an extremely high-performing tool. She describes the experience of the Lombardy Tourism Observatory, where AI is already integrated into the systematic analysis of flows, online reputations, behaviours and visitors’ choices.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“As Regione Lombardia we have an observatory that we are enhancing on a daily and systematic basis, where artificial intelligence applied to tourism is providing us with a whole set of data which we realize can truly make the difference for operators in terms of offer and solutions.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Key points highlighted:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Today, reputation – more than star ratings – is the main factor in choosing accommodation facilities.</li>
  <li>AI enables personalization of services even in smaller destinations, improving both experience and competitiveness.</li>
  <li>So-called “minor” destinations (villages, inland areas) are recording higher performance than provincial capitals.</li>
  <li>Tourism is finally seen as an economic policy: data analysis becomes a tool to guide territorial development.</li>
</ul>

<p>Mazzali presents impressive results for tourism in Lombardy:</p>
<ul>
  <li>2024 closed with almost 10% more tourists compared to 2023</li>
  <li>In 2023 there were already 17% more tourists than in 2019 (pre-Covid)</li>
  <li>The region generates 44% of Italy’s Tax Free shopping</li>
  <li>It welcomes almost 20 million visitors, 75% of whom are international</li>
</ul>

<p>She concludes by recalling the public administration’s responsibility to provide tools to support operators and to sustainably enhance territories, reiterating that the “AI train” has very few stops and we need to get on board now.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“This is definitely one of the issues that will involve us in the coming year, but it’s a train we need to get on because it will make very few stops, very few stations, as it is now moving at an embarrassingly high speed.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Federico Lasco – Italian Ministry of Tourism</h4>
<p>The Director of Promotion at the Ministry of Tourism begins by recognizing the value of building stable coordination between institutions and innovators. He points out that AI is now an accessible commodity, but stresses the need to govern it strategically.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Today we are in a phase where artificial intelligence has become a commodity. […] We must focus on strengthening the ability of the supply side to extract value from demand.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Key points:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>The focus must shift from merely forecasting demand to enhancing the capacity of the supply side to generate value.</li>
  <li>Italian tourism is characterized by a network of micro and small enterprises: AI must serve their flexibility rather than create uniformity.</li>
  <li>It is necessary to move away from price-based competition towards competition based on quality, coordination and added value.</li>
</ul>

<p>His core message is that investing in AI does not mean chasing trends, but equipping the tourism offer with tools to dynamically adapt in a changing geopolitical, economic and cultural context.</p>

<h4>Misa Labarile – European Commission</h4>
<p>Speaking from Brussels, Misa Labarile takes the floor as a representative of the European Commission’s DG Move. After stressing the importance of a common approach among Member States, she explains the guiding principles of the European AI Act: transparency, ethics and risk management.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“When we talk about AI, we’re not just talking about generative AI. In my view there is an even greater potential to be exploited in so-called traditional AI, that is, advanced analytics and machine learning.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Highlights of her speech:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>The AI Act does not aim to hinder innovation, but to channel it into a regulatory framework that prevents harmful or distorted uses.</li>
  <li>The regulation applies only to commercial uses of AI in the European market, not to the research phase.</li>
  <li>Practices such as social scoring of tourists or emotional surveillance of employees are prohibited.</li>
  <li>Conversely, the use of biometrics or AI in booking systems is allowed, but requires transparency and risk assessment.</li>
</ul>

<p>Labarile invites tourism professionals to join the ACT Network, which offers support and training for applying the regulation, and reiterates Europe’s role as a guarantor of sustainable and safe innovation.</p>

<h4>Alessandra Priante – ENIT</h4>
<p>The President of ENIT takes the floor with an invitation to move beyond the prejudice that technological innovation is the sole prerogative of big digital platforms.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Italy has the opportunity to become an ethical player in artificial intelligence applied to tourism.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>She emphasizes the value of public data and predictive capabilities for more targeted and measurable promotion.</p>

<p>Priante reflects on three key themes:</p>
<ul>
  <li>The importance of creating a reliable public digital ecosystem, as an alternative to private ones, to ensure fairness and control over data.</li>
  <li>The need for a common language between public and private operators to design coherent tools and narratives.</li>
  <li>The necessity of investing in continuous training and technological transfer to territories and tourism SMEs.</li>
</ul>

<p>She closes with a provocation: “AI will not replace us, but it could make us irrelevant if we don’t learn how to use it.”</p>

<h4>Marina Lalli – Federturismo Confindustria</h4>
<p>The President of Federturismo delivers a strongly business-oriented speech. She stresses that artificial intelligence should not be understood as an elite resource, but as an accessible and transformative tool for all components of the tourism system, starting with SMEs.</p>

<p><strong>Main points:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Technological inclusiveness:</strong> public policies must support the adoption of AI, including in micro-enterprises, by offering training tools, incentives and enabling platforms.</li>
  <li><strong>Aggregation and interoperability:</strong> Lalli highlights digital fragmentation and calls for the creation of common spaces for interoperability between systems and data, including shared standards.</li>
  <li><strong>Culture of innovation:</strong> the technological fear that often stops companies must be overcome, creating environments favourable to continuous learning.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I don’t have a ready answer [on where the limit of AI lies], but it is equally true that artificial intelligence is ultimately a projection of what we tell it and what we feed it.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>She concludes with a wish addressed to attendees and organizers: “May this conference not be a one-off event, but the beginning of a structural transformation of Italian tourism, in which artificial intelligence is put at the service of hospitality, sustainability and competitiveness.”</p>

<hr />

<h3>REPOWER WHITE PAPER PRESENTATION – INNOVATION AND TOURISM 2025</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Title:</strong> Scenarios and Opportunities in the Digital Era</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 10:30 – 10:45</p>

<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Davide Damiani, Head of PR and Sales Promotion, Repower</li>
  <li>Edoardo Colombo, President, Turismi.ai</li>
</ul>

<p>The presentation of the White Paper, produced by Repower in collaboration with Turismi.ai, is one of the central moments of the day. The document, the result of interdisciplinary work, aims to offer an overview of the trajectories of innovation in tourism, going beyond technical analysis to embrace the social, environmental, cultural and energy dimensions of change. Particular attention is given to the role of sustainable mobility and energy infrastructure as strategic levers for destination development.</p>

<p>Davide Damiani opens the session by explaining why an energy-sector operator chose to invest in a project dedicated to tourism:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Repower is a B2B company with a history of more than twenty years in Italy. In recent years we have seen, in an organic and progressive way, a closer and closer dialogue between energy and tourism. What initially might have seemed like two distant worlds coming together has actually proved to be fertile ground for developing high-impact projects. Today this segment is a strategic area for us, where the energy transition, sustainable mobility and destination enhancement intersect. We don’t just supply energy: our goal is to enable new opportunities for the territory, becoming a partner that helps accommodation facilities, local authorities and operators build more resilient, sustainable and attractive tourism ecosystems.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Damiani also highlights the centrality of a technology that is not only high-performing, but also human — capable of listening, empathy and trust in relational processes. In a fast-paced world, innovation that remains human becomes the real competitive advantage. In this context, Repower presents itself not just as a provider of energy solutions but as a systemic actor capable of supporting territories in a cultural and infrastructural transformation process.</p>

<p>Edoardo Colombo, co-editor of the document and promoter of the conference, takes the floor with passionate, visionary tones:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Artificial intelligence is not just a technical topic, but a cultural issue. It concerns the way we think about the human being, the community, the journey, the experience.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He reiterates the significance of the collaboration between Repower and Turismi.ai, stressing that the White Paper is a first concrete attempt to open a systemic reflection on innovation in tourism, with particular attention to artificial intelligence.</p>

<p>Colombo explains that the document was conceived not as an abstract exercise, but as a platform for dialogue and a working blueprint for policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers, destinations and operators.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We don’t want to make predictions, but ask questions. Not give answers, but offer scenarios. Because innovation is not something you can manage alone: it is a collective process.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Among the core concepts of his speech, he recalls the idea of “augmented tourism”: a tourism where AI does not replace the human factor but reinforces, amplifies and extends it.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Artificial intelligence is not meant to make tourism less human, but more intelligent, more accessible, more sustainable.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He mentions some examples of how AI can already be applied today: from forecasting tourist flows to optimizing mobility, from managing carrying capacity to real-time multilingual assistance, and building predictive tools for energy resource management.</p>

<p>Another central point concerns the need for a shared vision: Colombo insists that Italy must avoid the risk of passively undergoing innovation and instead take the initiative, becoming a benchmark for ethical, contextual and culturally oriented AI.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We have the opportunity to give our own imprint to artificial intelligence. An Italian, European imprint, made of relationships, beauty, territories that not only want to attract but also listen.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Finally, he emphasizes that the White Paper is not an endpoint but an invitation to dialogue — a document that aims to stimulate proposals, ideas and alliances.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Innovation is not a topic for insiders only. It is something that concerns everyone. And today more than ever we need an open, curious, concrete approach. This document is the first step.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He closes with a reflection:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The challenge is not technological, but narrative. We have to decide which story we want to tell about our tourism for the next ten years. The White Paper is not a destination, but an invitation to build that story together.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="#">Link to download the White Paper</a></p>

<hr />

<h3>PRESENTATION OF JULIA: THE FIRST NEW-GENERATION VIRTUAL ASSISTANT</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 10:45 – 11:00</p>

<p><strong>Speaker:</strong> Antonio N. Preiti, CEO – Fondazione per l’Attrazione Roma &amp; Partners</p>

<h4>Address by Antonio N. Preiti</h4>
<p>Antonio Preiti presents Julia, described as “the first truly operational virtual assistant dedicated to the tourism and cultural sphere”. Preiti goes beyond a technical description of the tool, and narrates the genesis and philosophy behind it: Julia was born as a response to a dual need – efficiency in urban tourism services and relational warmth in a digitalized context.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Julia is not just an improved chatbot. It is a conversational interface that integrates natural language, geolocalized knowledge and access to public and private databases in real time.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The assistant, developed with LLM technologies and semantic customization, can answer complex questions about cultural heritage, events, mobility, local services, accommodation facilities and experiences in the area. Preiti stresses that the interface is multichannel and can be integrated into apps, websites, information totems and voice platforms.</p>

<p>The real revolution, he explains, lies in the assistant’s degree of contextual adaptability: Julia learns from dialogue and improves over time.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“It is a dialogic, not static AI. It does not replace operators; it works alongside them. It is a tireless co-worker for those in tourism.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Presenting the pilot project launched in Rome, Preiti highlights the strategic value of an AI capable of representing a city like Rome not only through its monuments, but also through the voices of its inhabitants, daily life, minor events and shared emotions.</p>

<p>During the presentation, he demonstrates Julia’s capabilities, showing how the assistant responds to queries about restaurants, wood-fired pizza and even emergency services such as the nearest ER with waiting times.</p>

<p>He concludes with an ethical reflection:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Building a virtual assistant also means choosing what kind of relationship we want to promote between visitors and the city. If we humanize artificial intelligence, we must also remember to humanize our cities.”</p>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<h3>PANEL II – HOSPITALITY AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Panel title:</strong> How AI Improves Hospitality and Customer Interaction in Accommodation Facilities</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 11:00 – 11:45</p>

<p><strong>Moderator:</strong> Anthony La Salandra, Manager, SMARTLAND – Regional Innovative Network</p>

<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Mariangela Colasanti, Head of Innovation – BWH Hotels Italy and Malta</li>
  <li>Pietro Catello, Head of Amazon Alexa for Hospitality – Italy &amp; EU</li>
  <li>Cristina Spata, Area Manager – Booking.com</li>
  <li>Luca Vescovi, Solution Development Manager – Jampaa</li>
  <li>Alessandro Marin, Co-Founder – Otello AI</li>
</ul>

<h4>Introductory address – Anthony La Salandra</h4>
<p>The panel opens with a reflection by moderator Anthony La Salandra, who underlines how the hospitality sector has become an advanced testing ground for artificial intelligence.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“From voice to data, from automated check-in flows to real-time review analysis, there is no segment of the hospitality experience today that cannot be enhanced – or compromised – by the (un)conscious use of AI.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>La Salandra invites the panelists to share concrete use cases, but also to reveal operational difficulties, technological limits and organizational implications.</p>

<h4>Mariangela Colasanti – BWH Hotels</h4>
<p>Colasanti focuses on BWH’s experience in adopting artificial intelligence to improve customer relationships. The spotlight is on the Alexa for Hospitality project, active in more than 500 rooms across the hotel group.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“BWH Hotels uses artificial intelligence more or less everywhere, but this is the project that has had the greatest impact, because guests interact with a device they already know and are used to using at home. So there is no need to explain anything.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Main innovation areas:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Optimization of front-office processes with voice assistants able to handle information, requests and multilingual assistance.</li>
  <li>Personalization of the hotel offer through algorithms that suggest services and experiences based on the customer profile.</li>
  <li>Sentiment analysis of reviews and digital requests, enabling predictive and targeted interventions.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Results obtained:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>267,000 minutes of music streaming in 6 months</li>
  <li>One in four interactions concerns services or features of the property that guests did not previously know about</li>
  <li>20% of interactions are still managed by staff, optimizing operational processes</li>
</ul>

<p>Colasanti insists on a key point:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Artificial intelligence is not an end in itself, but an enabler. Value is created only if it is integrated into a clear organizational framework shared with all staff.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Pietro Catello – Amazon Alexa for Hospitality</h4>
<p>Catello brings Amazon’s perspective and presents the evolution of the Alexa platform in hospitality. He focuses on voice as a natural interface that allows guests to:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Interact with the room (lights, climate, music)</li>
  <li>Access personalized information (breakfast, spa, opening hours)</li>
  <li>Manage their stay with maximum autonomy</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Alexa is first and foremost a conversational interface, but when integrated with management systems it becomes a true agent that performs actions.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Catello highlights the growing demand for touchless experiences in the post-pandemic period and the role of voice as an empathetic technology that humanizes interactions. He adds that successful adoption depends on the ability to offer localized, relevant content:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“A voice assistant that gives a proper answer is useful. One that understands the context is unforgettable.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Cristina Spata – Booking.com</h4>
<p>Cristina Spata focuses on the use of AI to automate interactions with users, from the booking stage to post-stay.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Today, 20% of consumers already use some form of artificial intelligence, whether it’s ChatGPT or other chatbots. When we look at younger generations, this figure rises to 30%.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>She shares relevant data on AI adoption in the sector:</p>
<ul>
  <li>48% of users would trust an AI system to plan a trip.</li>
  <li>Younger generations display even higher levels of trust.</li>
  <li>Italy is below the European average in AI adoption in hospitality.</li>
</ul>

<p>Booking.com uses predictive models to:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Recommend properties that maximize expected satisfaction.</li>
  <li>Prevent cancellations and manage overbooking dynamics.</li>
  <li>Automatically intervene in case of complaints or mismatches between offer and expectations.</li>
</ul>

<p>Spata emphasizes the importance of transparent and understandable AI that does not generate distrust.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Trust is the real capital of digital hospitality. Without transparency, no automation works.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Luca Vescovi – Jampaa</h4>
<p>Vescovi explains how the Jampaa platform uses AI to build immersive digital experiences before, during and after the stay. Among the solutions presented:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Augmented reality systems to explore hotel services.</li>
  <li>Platforms for smart self check-in.</li>
  <li>Dynamic customer profiling tools to manage real-time offers.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The big difference is not confusing a specialized agent such as Open Rosetta, which does one thing very well, with generic systems such as ChatGPT or many others that rely on data which are often incredibly wrong.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He pays particular attention to differentiating generic AI from tools specialized for hospitality:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The question is not so much whether you use Manu-AI or Gemini, but: are you able to provide value to your travellers? Do I get a benefit from using your application?”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Alessandro Marin – Otello AI</h4>
<p>Marin closes the panel presenting Otello AI, created to simplify the relationship between people and destinations by developing personalized virtual assistants for hotels, resorts and incoming operators.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We are a specialized AI assistant, a vertical agent for accommodation facilities.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The platform is based on generative models trained on customer-specific content and constantly updated. Marin shows how Otello AI allows facilities to:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Reply in real time to frequently asked questions.</li>
  <li>Offer content consistent with the style and brand identity of the property.</li>
  <li>Gather insights and behavioural data for subsequent actions.</li>
</ul>

<p>He shares feedback from hoteliers:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“During demos we see hoteliers are very curious. They test, experiment and even try to ‘trick’ the AI by asking the most bizarre questions.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He concludes by highlighting the value of saved time and operational efficiency:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“When they realize they can engage in a conversation on an equal footing, they start trusting it more and try the system… Once they see it brings real value – time savings, less stress, more satisfied customers – they want more of it.”</p>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<h3>PANEL III – TRAINING AND NEW PROFESSIONAL SKILLS</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Panel title:</strong> How Work in Tourism Changes with Artificial Intelligence</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 11:45 – 12:30</p>

<p><strong>Moderator:</strong> Giancarlo Carniani, Founder – HIA Hospitality Innovation Academy</p>

<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Francesco Felici, Director of Programming and Tourism Policies – Italian Ministry of Tourism</li>
  <li>Pino Italiano, Prorector for Artificial Intelligence – Luiss Guido Carli University</li>
  <li>Valeria Minghetti, Head of Research – CISET – Ca’ Foscari University of Venice</li>
  <li>Giulia Trombin, President – Associazione Startup Turismo</li>
  <li>Gualtiero Carraro, CEO – Carraro LAB</li>
</ul>

<h4>Introduction – Giancarlo Carniani</h4>
<p>Giancarlo Carniani opens the panel with a direct reflection:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Artificial intelligence in tourism is not just one technology among many, but a transformation of the very way we work.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As a trainer and entrepreneur, he draws attention to the growing gap between the speed of technological change and the slowness with which skills are updated.</p>

<p>Carniani invites the speakers to discuss how to train a new generation of tourism professionals able not only to use digital tools, but to govern, adapt and interpret them.</p>

<h4>Francesco Felici – Italian Ministry of Tourism</h4>
<p>Felici offers the institutional vision on skills. He describes the Ministry’s work to redesign tourism labour policies with a future-oriented approach, promoting not only training but also the dignity and attractiveness of jobs in the sector.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I am a strong supporter of natural stupidity and consider myself an excellent example of this school of thought.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>With this provocative opening, Felici starts a reflection on the relationship between technology and the human dimension in tourism.</p>

<p><strong>Key points:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Tourism must be recognized as a knowledge-based value chain, not just a service industry.</li>
  <li>The most sought-after profiles today are transversal: operators are needed who can integrate technology, communication and experience.</li>
  <li>The Ministry is working to create specialized training paths through ITS (higher technical institutes), academies and professional programs.</li>
</ul>

<p>Felici emphasizes the importance of bringing training to where work takes place: in territories, enterprises and destinations. He offers a critical vision of artificial intelligence:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We are in the prehistory of the future […] While AI algorithms are fairly inexpensive, developing a physical system obviously comes at a different cost.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He concludes with a reflection on the distinctive value of the Italian tourism experience:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I want to change my mind, I want to have an itinerary and then change it, I want to stop, I want someone to keep me company at dinner even if I’m travelling for work. […] When I have my tourism experiences, I need my own specificity.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Pino Italiano – Luiss Guido Carli University</h4>
<p>The Prorector for AI at Luiss offers a systemic reading: artificial intelligence not only reshapes course content, but requires a rethinking of educational architectures. It is not enough to teach how to use AI; it is necessary to teach how to live with AI.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Our experience at Luiss is quite unique because from this year we have decided to teach artificial intelligence courses – what we call AI literacy – to everyone, regardless of their future professional trajectory.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Main points:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Develop a culture of data in tourism management programs.</li>
  <li>Introduce interdisciplinary modules combining ethics, economics, technology and experience design.</li>
  <li>Promote critical thinking and adaptive thinking as key skills.</li>
</ul>

<p>Italiano highlights an alarming issue:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“DESI, the indicator the European Union uses to measure the digitalization of member states’ economies and societies, reminds us every year, mercilessly, that only 46% of our population has basic digital skills.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He insists on the responsibility of universities not to chase trends, but to prepare minds for the future, emphasizing the importance of soft skills such as empathy, which “we are partly losing” and which technology can hardly provide.</p>

<h4>Valeria Minghetti – CISET / Ca’ Foscari University of Venice</h4>
<p>The CISET researcher provides an empirical analysis: according to the centre’s surveys, the demand for AI-related skills in tourism is growing strongly, but awareness of training needs remains fragmented.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Artificial intelligence currently has two roles: it is a tool that supports learning, or it is the object of learning.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Identified priorities:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Train managers capable of reading and interpreting data, not just collecting it.</li>
  <li>Develop modular, short and real-time updatable training tools.</li>
  <li>Strengthen the link between academia, startups and accommodation businesses.</li>
</ul>

<p>Minghetti identifies three critical issues in training on AI for tourism:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Avoid turning AI into just a marketing label in training programs.</li>
  <li>Plan training by considering starting skills and targeted learning outcomes.</li>
  <li>Show companies the value of AI along the entire value chain, not only at the front office.</li>
</ul>

<p>She issues a call to action:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We can no longer afford to train generic profiles. We need precision, specialization, and a constant dialogue with the evolution of work.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Giulia Trombin – Associazione Startup Turismo</h4>
<p>Trombin brings the voice of the innovation ecosystem. She notes that tourism startups are an advanced laboratory of digital skills but often struggle to find people trained in AI, APIs, no-code tools and automation.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Talking about skills for a startup means starting from the basics: when you create a startup, founders are the first people with the idea – and we know very well that ideas are worth very little. What matters is execution.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Key themes:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>The need to hybridize training paths: profiles halfway between tourism and technology, between design and data.</li>
  <li>The urgency of continuous, informal, horizontal training: podcasts, workshops, digital communities.</li>
  <li>The value of entrepreneurial culture and experimentation: “Making mistakes is part of training. But the system today does not allow it.”</li>
</ul>

<p>Trombin describes initiatives by Associazione Startup Turismo to bring innovation directly to SMEs:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“As Associazione Startup Turismo, we created the Innovation Startup Tour, which is basically the reverse of trade fairs. […] We physically bring startups to entrepreneurs’ premises to introduce technological and innovative solutions.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Gualtiero Carraro – Carraro LAB</h4>
<p>Carraro closes the panel, drawing on his long-standing experience as an innovator. He brings a design-based approach, developed through years of work with museums, destinations and digital platforms.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I’d like to talk about this through concrete experiences carried out in hospitality and tourism institutes, ITS Tourism Academies and universities. We are talking about at least 400 educational institutions in which we work directly.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He identifies three levers for future-oriented tourism education:</p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Simulation:</strong> use virtual and augmented reality to train on complex scenarios.</li>
  <li><strong>Experiential labs:</strong> hands-on learning in controlled yet realistic environments.</li>
  <li><strong>AI as tutor:</strong> develop personalized learning environments based on interaction with intelligent assistants.</li>
</ul>

<p>He presents concrete projects carried out with educational institutions:</p>
<ul>
  <li>An immersive marketing lab in Scampia with a tourism and hospitality institute in collaboration with the Campi Flegrei archaeological park.</li>
  <li>“Venetia with AI”, an AI agent specialized in guiding more sustainable behaviour in Venice.</li>
  <li>A project with ITS Academy Turismo Puglia where they created “Virgilio” as a guide and digital influencer for the G7.</li>
  <li>The reconstruction of a lesser-known cultural and tourism heritage in Lombardy: “The Comacini, The Masters of Cathedrals”.</li>
</ul>

<p>He concludes with a vision for the future of learning:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“When photography – an artificial tool that immediately captures portraits – arrived in Nadar’s studio in the 19th century, portrait and landscape painters lost their role and felt discouraged. […] What did they do? They invented Impressionism, then Expressionism, Abstract art… […] We must learn to imagine new forms of human intelligence that will interact with and react to artificial intelligence.”</p>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<h3>MASTERCARD ADDRESS: AI AND TOURISM SEASON FORECASTING</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Title:</strong> Forecasting the Tourism Season: Artificial Intelligence Applied to Tourism</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 12:30 – 12:45</p>

<p><strong>Speaker:</strong> Saverio Mucci, Vice President Government Industry Lead – Mastercard</p>

<h4>Address by Saverio Mucci</h4>
<p>In his speech, Saverio Mucci presents Mastercard’s approach to applying artificial intelligence in the tourism sector, focusing on AI’s ability to extract predictive meaning from large volumes of transactional data.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“In this very quick speech, we want to show you what we are working on, with artificial intelligence at its core, with the goal of giving territories the tools they need to forecast spending in the upcoming season.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Mucci explains that, thanks to the anonymous and aggregated analysis of electronic payments, Mastercard is now able to:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Anticipate tourist flows weeks or months in advance.</li>
  <li>Identify new emerging types of travellers in different markets.</li>
  <li>Compare performance between similar destinations.</li>
  <li>Offer reliable indicators for both public and private planning.</li>
</ul>

<p>In this context, AI is not only used to produce numerical forecasts but to build strategic scenarios capable of guiding investments and operational decisions.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Data are no longer just an archive of the past, but a map of possible futures.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Mucci illustrates a concrete example: Mastercard’s collaboration with H-Benchmark to develop a predictive model of tourism spending by correlating the hotel sector’s RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) index with Mastercard spending data.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“By correlating the two sets of information, we found a 90% correlation between trends. […] So, knowing the bookings already made for the next three months and using the AI model, I can estimate how spending will change.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This predictive model provides detailed, practical information to local operators, for example:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Summer spending in municipality XY will increase by 15% for German visitors, mainly in July.</li>
  <li>American tourists will increase by 10%, with visits concentrated in June.</li>
</ul>

<p>These insights can be used to optimize:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Procurement of goods and services.</li>
  <li>Temporary hiring of staff with specific language skills.</li>
  <li>Personalization of the offer based on preferences in different source markets.</li>
</ul>

<p>Mucci concludes by expressing Mastercard’s willingness to collaborate with public bodies, DMOs and tourism businesses to develop customized predictive tools that combine scientific rigour with decision-making immediacy.</p>

<hr />

<h3>GOOGLE FOR TOURISM</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 12:45 – 13:00</p>

<p><strong>Speaker:</strong> Luigi Delfino, Head of Travel &amp; Tourism – Google Italy</p>

<h4>Address by Luigi Delfino</h4>
<p>Delfino closes the morning session by sharing Google’s vision of the role of artificial intelligence in travel and digital tourist behaviour.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Every journey begins with a search. And more and more often, the one answering that search is an artificial intelligence.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He outlines recent developments in the Google Travel ecosystem, where AI is integrated into:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Dynamic suggestions for flights and hotels.</li>
  <li>Forecasting prices and availability.</li>
  <li>Automatic itinerary organization.</li>
  <li>Real-time translation and language accessibility.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Main points:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Evolution of AI at Google:</strong> Delfino recalls that Google has been investing in AI for more than 10 years, culminating in the recent launch of Gemini 2.5. He stresses how search is evolving towards a more conversational, multimodal experience (text, images, video).</li>
  <li><strong>AI Overviews:</strong> he presents AI Overviews, recently released in Italy, which brings AI into the search engine to answer more complex questions.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Applications in tourism:</strong> Delfino shows how AI can support the entire customer journey:</p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Inspiration:</strong> with models such as Gemini to explore destinations and personalized itineraries.</li>
  <li><strong>Planning:</strong> with features such as Price Tracking to monitor hotel price fluctuations.</li>
  <li><strong>During the trip:</strong> with tools such as Google Lens to translate menus or identify monuments.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Challenges for companies:</strong> Delfino shares the results of a study carried out with McKinsey, highlighting the main obstacles companies face in adopting AI:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Lack of skills.</li>
  <li>Need for adequate technological infrastructure.</li>
  <li>Need to respond to new consumer expectations.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“You saw the slide about the e-self concept, an almost fully automated outlet in Barcelona airport, a project by Arias and Iberia. What we see are operations that combine human teams with advanced software and robotics.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Delfino concludes by presenting the “AI for Made in Italy” portal, a Google initiative to help SMEs develop AI-related digital skills. He invites attendees to use the AI Smart Rebor, a tool for an initial assessment of AI-related skills and potential areas of development.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We turned it into a QR code that allows companies to make a preliminary assessment of their skills and status in AI, already providing some ideas on what to do and what to implement to advance on this journey in the world of AI.”</p>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<h3>PANEL IV – DATA AND OFFER PERSONALIZATION</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Title:</strong> How Data Analysis and AI Personalize the Tourism Offer and Optimize Communication Strategies</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 14:00 – 15:00</p>

<p><strong>Moderator:</strong> Mirko Lalli, CEO – The Data Appeal Company, Founder and Vice President – Turismi.ai</p>

<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Vincenzo Sciacca, Head of Product – Almawave</li>
  <li>Francesco Ciuccarelli, Chief Innovation &amp; Technology Officer – Alpitour World</li>
  <li>Francesca Benati, SVP Travel Seller Europe and Managing Director Italy – Amadeus</li>
</ul>

<h4>Introduction – Mirko Lalli</h4>
<p>Mirko Lalli opens the session by emphasizing that data have become the beating heart of modern tourism strategy, and that artificial intelligence is now the key tool to turn these data into real value.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“It’s no longer enough to collect data. We must learn to read them at the right time, in the right context, and above all to return them in a meaningful form to public and private decision-makers.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Lalli presents a significant figure: 67% of travellers report having felt frustration during the trip planning phase, while 79% of users are open to using artificial intelligence to plan their travels.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“According to Phocuswright research, 67% of travellers say they experienced some frustration while organizing their trip. […] You see? Any technology that can solve this problem falls on very fertile ground.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He focuses on the need for intelligent interfaces to help destinations, DMOs and tourism businesses tailor communication and offers to real behaviours, not just stated intentions.</p>

<h4>Francesca Benati – Amadeus</h4>
<p>Benati explains Amadeus’s approach to generative artificial intelligence, stressing the importance of understanding its practical applications in the travel sector.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I took the microphone and looked at the timer; this will be a challenge because I speak fast but I speak a lot.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>She explains that Amadeus has a turnover of about €6 billion and a forward-looking approach to AI, starting from the conviction that this technology must be an enabler, not an end in itself.</p>

<p><strong>Main use cases presented:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Conversational Search for Travel Inspiration:</strong> a chatbot system powered by AI agents that helps travellers in the inspiration phase by suggesting destinations in a conversational, personalized way.</li>
  <li><strong>Amadeus Discovera:</strong> a solution that personalizes the choice of experiences in destination, avoiding the information overload typical of current platforms.</li>
  <li><strong>Amadeus Io:</strong> a virtual concierge assisting travellers throughout the journey, providing real-time information and support in the event of disruptions, as shown during the recent closure of Heathrow Airport.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The app rebooked them completely. […] As soon as they received the alert that Heathrow airport was closed, they found on their iPhones a whole series of rebooked travel options, including hotel and transfers.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Benati also shows how Amadeus uses AI internally to:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Improve multilingual communication via Microsoft Copilot.</li>
  <li>Optimize call centers, allowing human resources to focus on more complex issues.</li>
  <li>Reduce marketing costs through automated campaign generation.</li>
</ul>

<p>She concludes by highlighting six ethical principles that guide AI development at Amadeus:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Quality, including fairness, with 3 million fake photos generated to train facial recognition systems without ethnic bias.</li>
  <li>Transparency in the use of AI technologies.</li>
  <li>Sustainability, with close monitoring of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“AI is not magic, it doesn’t solve all our problems. […] The opportunities are enormous, but it depends on how we use it. We must not bypass the legal and ethical aspects.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Francesco Ciuccarelli – Alpitour World</h4>
<p>Ciuccarelli shares the experience of a large integrated tourism operator, explaining how Alpitour is evolving towards a data-driven model, where product, pricing and promotion choices are guided by predictive models.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Adopting artificial intelligence requires technological enablers and skills to capture the benefits that have been widely discussed since this morning.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He describes Alpitour’s digital transformation journey, which has led to:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Doubling the number of employees in technology compared to pre-Covid.</li>
  <li>Launching two transformation programs: one digital and one AI-based.</li>
  <li>Reaching 200 professionals dedicated to technological innovation within the group.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We have a run rate of investment, aside from transformation programs, of around €14 million per year.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Key points of his speech:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>The need to complete digital transformation (cloud, data platforms, big data) as a prerequisite for adopting AI.</li>
  <li>The importance of partnerships through open innovation.</li>
  <li>The adoption of governance standards such as ISO 42001 certification for AI systems.</li>
</ul>

<p>Ciuccarelli describes Alpitour’s AI adoption journey, begun in 2018 with early NLP experiments and culminating in the release of AlpiGPT, an internal assistant based on LLMs, in 2023, and Amelia, the first customer-facing assistant on turisanda.it, in 2024.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“In 2024 two things happened: the first is that we released Amelia, AlpiGPT’s sister and our first assistant for the public, for the end customer.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Areas with the greatest AI impact for Alpitour:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Personalization:</strong> through analytics and machine learning for profiling, and for generating personalized content.</li>
  <li><strong>Contact center:</strong> assistants supporting internal booking, travel agencies and end customers.</li>
  <li><strong>Voice:</strong> progress towards increasingly natural and conversational voice assistants.</li>
  <li><strong>B2B:</strong> support for travel agencies with tools such as CasaBook.</li>
  <li><strong>Software development:</strong> using AI to automate and optimize code writing.</li>
</ul>

<p>He concludes with two considerations:</p>
<ul>
  <li>The need for AI governance addressing ethical, legal, technological and business aspects in an integrated way.</li>
  <li>The importance of creating a shared tourism ontology to standardize the entities cooperating along tourism value chains and produce interoperable data.</li>
</ul>

<p>He ends with a call for collaboration:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The Tourism Digital Hub was conceived before the acceleration of GenAI and left us with the ambition of building, together, a shared tourism ontology that can feed AI models, systems and applications used by individual companies in the sector. Fully and jointly realizing that ambition would greatly help accelerate the diffusion and adoption of generative artificial intelligence in Italian tourism companies, especially SMEs: we need to join forces.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Vincenzo Sciacca – Almawave</h4>
<p>Sciacca presents Almawave’s approach as an Italian company specialized in AI applied to voice, natural language and big data analysis. His speech focuses on Almawave’s decision to develop its own Italian proprietary Large Language Model.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We started working on natural language processing, and specifically on artificial intelligence, well before 2010. Before people spoke about ontologies, we were already working precisely with ontologies.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He explains why Almawave invested in its own language model, Velvet:</p>
<ul>
  <li>To maintain control over technology and the data used.</li>
  <li>To ensure an ethical AI that respects privacy.</li>
  <li>To develop a model specialized in the needs of Italian companies.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Velvet’s features:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>14 billion parameters (compared to 70+ for GPT).</li>
  <li>Trained on 4 trillion tokens.</li>
  <li>128K token context window (equivalent to a 400-page book).</li>
  <li>Supports six languages, with a strong focus on Italian (50% of the dataset).</li>
  <li>Dataset curated with special attention to filtering out toxic data.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We discarded more than half [of the data] because it was toxic. And to do that we used other AI algorithms we had developed over time. This allowed us to obtain a clean dataset.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Sciacca highlights Velvet’s unique ability to be customized for specific business tasks, making it more efficient and sustainable than larger generic models:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Today GPT-4o – if I’m not mistaken – they published the number of parameters, and we’re beyond the billion mark. […] We need to solve tasks, not make clones of ChatGPT. We have automation tasks within companies and we need to solve those.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>An additional distinctive feature is the ability to remove sensitive data from the model, a function that is not available in other systems. The model is available free of charge on HuggingFace and Ollama as well as via cloud providers such as Oracle and AWS.</p>

<p>Sciacca concludes by highlighting how generative AI is often overestimated in terms of capabilities, yet underutilized in its practical potential:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“There’s a lot of talk, but in the end 90% of usage is for personal productivity, even inside companies – writing documents, speeding up drafting, creating slides… Thankfully today we’ve seen many enterprise use cases, but in reality there are still many difficulties.”</p>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<h3>PANEL V – ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES: ALGORETHICS AND ROBOTICS</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Title:</strong> How Algorithm Ethics and Robotics Can Revolutionize Tourism Services and Visitor Assistance, Enhancing Efficiency, Personalization and Staff Selection</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 15:00 – 15:45</p>

<p><strong>Moderator:</strong> Paola Olivari, Journalist – Guida Viaggi</p>

<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Rodolfo Baggio, Bocconi University</li>
  <li>Bruno Siciliano, Professor of Robotics – University of Naples Federico II</li>
  <li>Mons. Giulio Dellavite, Episcopal Delegate – Diocese of Bergamo</li>
  <li>Claudia Ferrero, CEO &amp; Founder – HorecaJob</li>
  <li>Francisco Javier Martin Romo, Country Manager – KEENON Robotics</li>
</ul>

<h4>Introduction – Paola Olivari</h4>
<p>Paola Olivari opens the panel with a provocative question:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Can we trust algorithms? And can we welcome robots as part of our tourist experience without feeling depersonalized?”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Her introduction strikes a balance: on one hand, the extraordinary potential of advanced technologies to improve services, accessibility and labour management; on the other, the need for an ethical, cultural and social reflection to accompany this transformation.</p>

<h4>Bruno Siciliano – University of Naples Federico II</h4>
<p>Professor Siciliano speaks as a robotics scholar, explaining the fundamental difference between artificial intelligence and robotics:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“What distinguishes robotics from artificial intelligence? The fact that, in addition to a cognitive component and a perceptive component, the robot provides a physical dimension, it gives a body to artificial intelligence, therefore adding an actuating component.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He explains that the hospitality sector, together with logistics, has the highest growth rate in the adoption of professional service robotics. He points out that technology should “raise the bar” by freeing human beings from routine tasks:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“If we are able to entrust to technology all the routine parts of our days, whether professionally or socially, we can raise standards and free ourselves from some tasks, gaining greater clarity of mind and expressing our most natural intelligence: creativity and emotionality.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He then discusses empathy with machines, explaining the concept of the “Uncanny Valley”:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“At a certain point, if we keep racing to build machines that increasingly resemble living beings, we risk people not knowing whether they are interacting with a machine or a human being.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Siciliano describes design solutions that generate empathy without entering the uncanny valley, such as robots that are not overly humanoid but have expressive elements (moving ears, constant movement) that facilitate social interaction.</p>

<h4>Francisco Javier Martin Romo – KEENON Robotics</h4>
<p>Romo explains KEENON Robotics’ approach as an international company specialized in robotics for the hotel and restaurant industry.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“What we are seeing is a sector – robotics in service industries, especially hospitality – with extremely high growth.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He highlights three main areas of development for robotics in hospitality:</p>
<ul>
  <li><strong>Delivery:</strong> transporting items from point A to point B (dishes, luggage, objects).</li>
  <li><strong>Cleaning:</strong> robotics specialized in sanitation and maintenance.</li>
  <li><strong>Interaction:</strong> robots that provide information and assistance to customers.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Today we are dealing with a new generation of robots that interact in public spaces with people who – on the operator side – have no specific training in robotics.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Romo stresses the importance of non-verbal communication by robots in public spaces:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“All aspects of safety and communication are no longer the responsibility of a human being who needs training, but of the robot, which must preserve people’s safety and learn to communicate its intentions to those around it through movements, body language, colours…”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Mons. Giulio Dellavite – Diocese of Bergamo</h4>
<p>Monsignor Dellavite offers a deep ethical reflection on the relationship between technology and humanity. He immediately clarifies that there can be no ethics of machines, only human ethics applied to machines:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The machine, artificial intelligence, like any tool, is neither positive nor negative – it is a tool; it depends on the hand that uses it. And the hand that uses it can be positive or negative.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He introduces the concept of algorethics, a neologism that combines “algorithm” and “ethics”:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Algorethics presupposes that there is a person who reflects on an algorithm. Paradoxically, in Italian the letters are the same, because the IA of intelligenza artificiale divides into two areas: there is an ‘io’ (self) and there is an algoritmo. Ethics plays out on the ‘io’ that uses the algorithm.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Dellavite expresses concern that the “I” might become increasingly small, while “A” (for AI) becomes more and more capitalized. His view is that both letters should be capital and balanced: the human I using the algorithm and the algorithm at the service of the I.</p>

<p>He uses a powerful metaphor to describe our current relationship with AI:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Is artificial intelligence the light at the end of the tunnel? Yes, but it’s the light of a train coming towards us. It depends on how you see the train: you can decide to stand aside and let it pass and decorate the tunnel; you can stand in front of it to stop it, but you will be crushed; some will cling to the back of the train to be pulled by AI; others will jump onto the train while it is moving, but someone else will decide where that train is going.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He concludes with an invitation to “get on that train and start driving it”, recalling that the word “cybernetics” means “to have the helm in hand”.</p>

<h4>Claudia Ferrero – HorecaJob</h4>
<p>Ferrero presents the experience of HorecaJob, a female-founded innovative startup that uses AI to improve recruitment processes in the HORECA sector (Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Café).</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We founded a female-led innovative startup and benefit corporation based on my experience and my co-founder’s. I worked for over 20 years in Travel Hospitality, she in Human Resources, and both of us unfortunately experienced discrimination in our careers.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Ferrero explains how AI can be used to combat bias and discrimination in recruitment:</p>
<ul>
  <li>They replaced the CV with a smartphone chat that removes potentially discriminatory questions (age, sex, nationality).</li>
  <li>They developed algorithms that focus recruitment on merit and soft skills.</li>
  <li>They mainly target frontline positions (waiters, dishwashers, cleaners), often occupied by foreigners or low-educated workers.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“80% of our searches concern frontline staff, about 30% of whom are foreign, often with low schooling, sometimes without a CV or a computer at home and with no idea how to write a CV.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Ferrero concludes by stressing technology’s role in modernizing a recruitment process that has relied for over 60 years on a tool (the CV) that is no longer suited to current needs, while providing crucial support for small businesses:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We mustn’t forget that 95% of companies in the HORECA sector are small, family-run businesses where there is no HR manager.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Rodolfo Baggio – Bocconi University</h4>
<p>Baggio brings an academic perspective on the reliability of artificial intelligence and how to manage its limits.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Joking aside, yes, there are reliability risks. First of all, we need to define exactly which type of artificial intelligence we are talking about.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He distinguishes between “traditional” AI (machine learning and deep learning algorithms), where we already have substantial experience and understanding of both potential and limitations, and generative AI, which is more recent.</p>

<p>On generative AI, Baggio mentions a phenomenon called “collapse”:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Recent studies have started to highlight the phenomenon you mentioned, which they call ‘collapse’. Basically, the early versions were trained on human-generated content, which we can consider to be, on average, reliable. Their huge success has meant that a lot of material is now generated by AI, with all the problems we’ve seen – like the fake Tom Cruise. So at some point these systems become self-referential and their reliability and accuracy are declining in a worrying way.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The solution, in his view, is to put humans back at the centre:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The Americans call it ‘human in the loop’. We must put humans back in the central position, empowering them to understand, assess, fix and correct.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He concludes with a reflection on the risk of cultural homogenization:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“To be optimistic, I see a risk of flattening. […] If you remove creativity, you always play with the same pieces, the same topics, the same information. […] What distinguishes us, in my opinion, is creativity, and being creative is something that no machine will ever do.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Baggio also cites Ada Lovelace, the first programmer in history:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Don’t expect things from machines that they cannot provide, because machines can only give you what you have taught them to do. And that means creativity does not exist [in machines].”</p>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<h3>PANEL VI – SMART AND SUSTAINABLE DESTINATIONS</h3>
<p><em>Watch the video</em></p>
<p><strong>Title:</strong> Transforming Destinations into “Smart Destinations” and the Contribution of AI to Sustainable Management</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 15:45 – 16:30</p>

<p><strong>Moderator:</strong> Paola Olivari, Journalist – Guida Viaggi</p>

<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Bruno Pellegrini, Founder &amp; CEO – Loquis</li>
  <li>Francesco Tapinassi, Director – Toscana Promozione Turistica, Scientific Director – BTO Be Travel Onlife</li>
  <li>Marco Orlandi, Digital &amp; Consumer Experience Director – Bluvacanze</li>
</ul>

<h4>Introduction – Paola Olivari</h4>
<p>Paola Olivari introduces the final panel by clarifying that the concept of “smart destination” is often misunderstood.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Being smart does not simply mean using technology, but using it to improve life – for visitors and residents alike.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>She invites speakers to show concrete examples of how AI can become a lever for sustainability, inclusiveness and quality of experience.</p>

<h4>Bruno Pellegrini – Loquis</h4>
<p>Pellegrini opens the panel presenting Loquis, a platform of geolocated podcasts, as a new form of territorial intelligence: a tool that allows users to “listen to places” in a personalized, intimate and immersive way.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We are no longer a startup, because we’ve been on the market for five years. We are active in Italy and Spain, and thanks to artificial intelligence, our partners and our users, we have created about 1.6 million stories around the world.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Pellegrini speaks of augmented environmental storytelling: AI helps select, contextualize and suggest stories based on the user’s profile, location, time of day and weather conditions.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“A destination becomes smart when it can tell its story, not just show itself.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Loquis is already used by cities, tourism boards and museums to promote alternative routes, encourage seasonality shifts and disseminate content in multiple languages, increasing cultural accessibility.</p>

<p>Pellegrini explains how AI has enabled the company to reduce operating costs by 90% and achieve global coverage in one year instead of the four originally projected using traditional methods. He looks to the future with a vision of increasingly fluid listening experiences:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Everything will become much more fluid within the next three to five years, meaning the story itself can be re-told in real time based on the style that best suits the user.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Francesco Tapinassi – Toscana Promozione Turistica / BTO</h4>
<p>Tapinassi brings the viewpoint of a public body that has been working on innovation in tourism governance for years. His reflection focuses on how destinations can use AI to make more conscious, timely and participatory decisions.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The work we are trying to do now is to shift the focus from general, generic public promotion to promotion based on the region’s real product. This necessarily requires a demanding, close public-private partnership.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Main points:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Use of predictive dashboards to manage flows.</li>
  <li>Tools to monitor digital sentiment and improve perceived quality.</li>
  <li>AI applications to tailor promotion according to sustainability indicators.</li>
</ul>

<p>Tapinassi insists on the need to measure the balance between attractiveness, liveability and carrying capacity:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Tourism is not an end in itself. It is a means to improve the lives of local communities. And AI can help us understand when we are achieving that – and when we are not.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He addresses the topic of overtourism with a critical perspective:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Overtourism is a ‘Tafazzi-like’ conversation that admits the total incapacity to govern a territory. When things reach that point, it means that something is not working in terms of a forward-looking development vision.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Tapinassi proposes concrete solutions:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Real-time information to help visitors manage their time (e.g. less crowded time slots).</li>
  <li>Dynamic pricing to encourage visits during less congested hours.</li>
  <li>Closer coordination with tour operators, who know flows well in advance.</li>
  <li>Better knowledge and promotion of alternative attractions within the region.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>“We practically have a medal table for wine that is impressive – we are the most-loved region – but we don’t know how many visitable wineries there are in Tuscany. […] If you go on Airbnb Experience Food &amp; Wine you will find more than 200 experiences that can be booked in one click. Those are Tuscany’s wine tourism product, not our slides or our medal table.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Marco Orlandi – Bluvacanze</h4>
<p>Orlandi closes the panel with a business perspective on the relationship between data, distribution and personalization. He explains how Bluvacanze is developing enhanced consultancy platforms, in which travel agents are supported by intelligent systems.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“In a market with high value but very low margins, and with a very fragmented value chain, understanding the customer and his behaviour is crucial.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He stresses the value of human relationships enriched, not replaced, by technology:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Our digitalization process, which fortunately started late – so paradoxically Bluvacanze embarked on its digital transformation at the very end – has turned out to be a good thing, because today we have the capabilities and in-house resources to thoroughly analyse the process.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Orlandi calls for an alliance between tour operators, DMOs and technology platforms to build a more interconnected system focused on relational and environmental sustainability:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The interaction model includes a margin model. Because the interaction model includes knowledge of the customer, and what does knowing the customer allow you to do? You deliver content based on the consumer’s needs. So you’re no longer just proposing content; you are presenting content that the consumer already wants.”</p>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<h3>CLOSING REMARKS AND THANKS</h3>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 16:30 – 16:45</p>

<p><strong>By:</strong></p>
<ul>
  <li>Edoardo Colombo, President – Turismi.ai</li>
  <li>Paola Olivari, Journalist – Guida Viaggi</li>
</ul>

<h4>Paola Olivari – Final remarks</h4>
<p>Paola Olivari offers one last reflection capturing the spirit of the day:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“What we experienced today is not just a conference: it has been a laboratory of ideas, a shared exploration of possibilities. Here, artificial intelligence has not been presented as a fad but as a transformation that forces us to question who we want to be – as professionals, as communities, as destinations.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>She thanks the speakers, the participants and in particular Turismi.ai for having the courage to organize a cutting-edge event that successfully combines vision and concreteness.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“This is only the beginning. GATEWAI has shown that Italian tourism is ready to think, design and act intelligently – both human and artificial.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h4>Edoardo Colombo – Official closing and the “four-handed” farewell</h4>
<p>In his final remarks, Edoardo Colombo thanks everyone present – both in the room and online – for their active and generous participation. He energetically summarizes the key themes that emerged: the need for an alliance between technology and humanism, the urgency of training new skills, and the value of an Italian, inclusive vision of AI in tourism.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I truly hope that this will become, over time, an important date for Italian tourism – the beginning of a new journey into artificial intelligence, a moment that, one day, we may call the prehistory of the future.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He closes with a symbolic gesture: instead of reading his final speech in full, he records a spontaneous voice message and entrusts it to ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence, asking it to interpret and return it as text for the official proceedings.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I don’t want the final remarks to be written by a human pen alone. I want AI to gather my words and synthesize what has been said today, as a witness of our trust in this possible dialogue between mind and machine.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The result – the text you are reading now – is the first closing statement of an Italian conference co-authored by a President and a generative artificial intelligence.</p>

<p>This gesture encapsulates the core of GATEWAI: not only talking about AI, but talking <em>with</em> AI, recognizing it as a tool for interpretation, synthesis and collaboration. A bridge, not a boundary.</p>

<p>Colombo announces that the Ministry intends to set up an incubator dedicated to artificial intelligence in tourism, underlining the strategic importance of this first conference.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“I hope that 4 April 2025 will be remembered as an important date for our sector.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He closes with a simple yet powerful call to action:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Let’s not allow GATEWAI to be an isolated event. Let’s turn it into a regular appointment, a community of thought, a collective endeavour. Tourism needs intelligence – and intelligence, today, needs vision.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Colombo officially announces the second edition of the conference, confirming Turismi.ai’s commitment to making GATEWAI an annual benchmark event for innovation in Italian tourism.</p>

<hr />

<h3>PARTNERS AND SPONSORS</h3>
<p><strong>Main Partner:</strong> Repower</p>
<p><strong>With the contribution of:</strong> Regione Lombardia</p>
<p><strong>Sponsors:</strong> Mastercard, Almawave, The Data Appeal Company</p>
<p><strong>Organized by:</strong> Turismi.AI and Guida Viaggi</p>