Too much AI debate in the sightseeing sector relates to generative AI such as text, image & video generation. This article outlines why we should prioritise addressing other forms of AI first, and how we can incorporate decentralised technology approaches within an overall AI strategy. First, why is everyone distracted by generative AI? I believe […]

Publicly available autonomous vehicles (e.g. robotaxis) are here. My Autoura service is available (for early testing) operating tourism experiences in four US cities – San Francisco, Las Vegas, Austin & Phoenix, using publicly available robotaxis. We have no vehicles ourselves. I have been disappointed that the tour bus sector hasn’t grasped the incoming disruption that […]

In the last couple of months there has been a whirlwind of tech news much of it lead by discussion about generative AI such as ChatGPT. But underneath all of that, innovators in our sector have begun to tentatively hint at what they are focussed on. Therefore it is worthwhile documenting what people have said, […]

Generative AI such as ChatGPT is an era defining technology and it merits the number of articles and videos created on this topic. However we are ignoring one core debate, we need to talk about what happens when this and related AI technologies scale, which they will. This article focusses on this important topic with […]

Last week was a big week for autonomous vehicles. Alphabet’s Waymo (Google) showed off their new vehicle for the first time at a Los Angeles launch event. To recap, this is the vehicle that they will use to operate consumer mobility, including sightseeing & airport transfers. This tech is here, this tech is scaling, but […]

I haven’t been to a sightseeing industry conference, physically, for years. I haven’t even travelled outside of the UK for 3 years (!). So it is with some trepidation that I am off to the Arival conference in Las Vegas in October. I will be speaking (more on that below) but beyond that, I thought […]

The project to transition bus owning sightseeing tour operators to autonomous vehicles is no more. I published my original industry transition proposal in 2018 and you can still read it. Fundamentally, since then, I have failed to convince any bus owning tour operators to the point of committed action. This article explains the mistakes I […]

2022 summer, by many accounts, seems to be a blockbuster for bookings. However under the surface the question remains, can this booking volume be carried into 2023 and beyond, or is this just a 2022 post COVID phenomenon? Beyond preparing for the market to go either direction, there are longer term issues bubbling away that […]

If you missed this, last week I was interviewed by PhocusWire about the role of autonomous vehicles within tours & activities. If you are a bus sightseeing operator (or retailer) this is a must listen – however there are wider topics covered, including hotel originated experiences, tour guides etc, and the new industry structure I […]

The in destination travel industry, as a whole, is not ready for the digital assistant future. This article lays out some of the challenges with designing and naming your digital assistant character, including beyond vehicles. Lets cover vehicles first: Vehicles LG with their Omnipod vehicle prominently incorporate a digital assistant into their leisure focussed autonomous […]