Advances in technology, especially in the application of artificial intelligence or known as AI, have made people increasingly addicted to using it on various occasions, including when traveling.
Various platforms provide information and promote favorite tourist destinations to hidden gem hotels and restaurants.
In a recent report by hospitality management platform SiteMinder, Indonesian travelers are the most ready to adopt AI in hotels.
This is evidenced by tourism and hospitality service providers that have begun to utilize AI to improve services to tourists.
Chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Hariyadi B. Sukamdani, has also collaborated with TemplarX, a company engaged in artificial intelligence and technology-based legal services. This was done by PHRI as an effort to utilize AI-based technology to support governance and improve service effectiveness.
"We are currently collaborating with TemplarX, which is an AI service provider for legal matters, so we use it, because legal matters are many and too broad, so we use it to make it easier for our legal department to specify," Hariyadi said in Jakarta, Tuesday (25/11/2025).
He noted that travelers often use AI to search for personalized and detailed information.
"The application of AI itself in tourism is more for example for translation, and then looking specifically for places of interest. If like that, yes, in Indonesia the penetration for digital isquite good," he said.
He said AI is useful in improving operational efficiency, personalizing the guest experience, and optimizing revenue.
Most often
Based on SiteMinder's Changing Traveler Report 2026, Indonesian travelers are said to be the most prepared globally to utilize AI technology for the hotel experience.
The report involved 12,000 travelers from 14 countries such as the US, UK, Spain, India, Thailand, and Indonesia.
In the report, 59% of Indonesian traveler respondents rated the most attractive AI features to improve their hotel experience as instant recommendations, tourist attraction information, and booking hotel facilities through AI-powered concierge.
SiteMinder's Country Manager Indonesia, Fifin Prapmasari, explained that this opportunity needs to be utilized to improve services to tourists in order to stimulate national tourism.
"With artificial intelligence (AI) now a part of everyday life, including in the travel industry, it is encouraging to see Indonesia leading the way in the use of new technologies to make hotel stays in 2026 smarter, more efficient and more enjoyable," said Fifin.
Another finding is that Indonesian travelers have a much stronger desire to travel in the next year, which is the highest in the world.
In 2026, 34% of Indonesian tourists said they plan to travel abroad, 17% will travel domestically, and 49% will do both.
Indonesian travelers in the survey said AI-based hotel summaries would be the most useful feature going forward. Room price monitoring, information, and personal planning also followed.
"SiteMinder's research shows that technology will always be at the core of a smooth ride, and will continue to provide benefits to those who are ready to adopt it," he continued.
The report also found that 38% of Indonesian travelers would prefer to find accommodation or travel referrals in 2026 by using an online travel agency (OTA), which is an increase from last year's 25%. 59% of Indonesian travelers are also said to remain the most likely in the world to use OTAs to book accommodation.
Impact
In response, Hariyadi continued that the presence of OTAs has an impact on the hotel industry. With the existence of OTAs, people can more easily find hotel accommodation, and also business actors can easily introduce their business.
But on the one hand, OTAs have also introduced the hospitality industry to another challenge.
"It does help in terms of introduction to the community. But on the other hand, the OTAs are getting bigger and bigger commissions, which is not healthy for hotels, because on average now they ask for 17% from the initial 10%. Even standalone hotels can be up to 20%, that's a huge commission," said Hariyadi.
Hotels are also already tracing travelers and their travel preferences, in an effort to improve advertising efficiency and attract them to stay at the hotel.
"Tracing for data, for example people who search for data about Indonesia anywhere, we can track it until we convert it into transactions and deals to make them come to Indonesia. The hotels themselves always direct to theirrespective websites, if we are a hotel chain, we use AI to trace people looking for information," he explained.
Google Reviews also have a huge impact on the hotel industry as they increase visibility in search results and influence travelers' decisions in finding accommodation. Therefore, building a good online reputation plays an important role in increasing traveler trust.
"It is very influential, but we have to be careful too, because everyone can write and it is dangerous, for example if someone wants to drop it, we have to build alertness, there are people who are nosy who want to drop our business through google reviews," he said.
As Indonesians become more willing to travel in 2026 and their readiness to adopt and use AI technology, travel and hospitality businesses can anticipate and respond to changes to maximize their services.
One of the other findings in the report is that 84% of Indonesian tourists support hotels to use their data to personalize their stay. This figure is the second highest globally after Thailand whose percentage reached 86%. Other Indonesian traveler respondents emphasized the importance of transparency on how the data is used.
Responding to this, Vaksin.com cybersecurity and information technology expert Alfons Tanujaya, emphasized the importance of maintaining the security of data privacy from tourist guests and hotels.
"Guest data for personalization can improve services. But in terms of data privacy security, yes as long as the hotel can be trusted I think they will run it responsibly, and the data management must meet good standards, not to leak," said Alfons.
The legal basis for data protection has also been stated in the Personal Data Protection Law (PDP). The challenge is that there needs to be more concrete regulations and good implementation.
"The PDP and ITE Laws can basically protect well in case of misuse, but what is very important is the implementation in the field. So the government needs to pay attention to implementation and educate so that this tourism ecosystem can adjust and protect data," he continued.
Technological advancements have brought about a significant transformation in the tourism industry in Indonesia by changing the way travelers plan their trips and the way industry players operate. The development of this technology is inevitable, but it is the people and businesses that need to quickly adapt and utilize it well.
Tourism expert and former lecturer from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Myra Puspasari Gunawan, added that the public and tourism businesses need to intelligently utilize technology in creating tourism content and business.
"I think the technology itself is unstoppable, but how we utilize it, that's what we have to learn. But I also see that the important thing is actually not the technology, the technology already has functions that can be utilized, but how to create content that will be used by the technology," Myra added.
Although global conditions are still shrouded in uncertainty, the passion for traveling among Indonesians is considered by Myra to still be high. However, compared to traveling abroad, Myra also emphasized the importance of building a good ecosystem so that people prefer to travel within the country so as to have an impact on the surrounding local communities and also the Indonesian economy.
"Yes, in my opinion, it is still a bit tough, but if there is interest abroad, in my mind it does not benefit our economy, if I am frank before we bother to get tourists from outside, I will pay more attention to how we encourage tourists to travel within the country," he concluded.
