A major project has been launched to enable the South West's tourism and hospitality industry to develop practical ways to benefit from advances in artificial intelligence (AI).
The South West Visitor Economy AI Skills Accelerator will enable students and graduates from the University of Plymouth and people working in the local tourism sector to collaborate with companies on a range of exciting initiatives.
The aim will be to provide hands-on experience of some of the challenges facing the sector, while offering companies customer insights, targeted marketing, visitor-data analysis and improvements to the visitor experience that they can use to boost their businesses.
Led by academics from the University of Plymouth's
[SCHOOL]
"> Plymouth Business School, the £275,000 project is being supported through the TechLocal AI Professional Degree and Traineeship Accelerator competition delivered by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.
It is being developed in collaboration with partners spanning the tourism, marketing, AI and business development sectors, including: the Institute of Travel and Tourism (ITT); Destination Plymouth; Women in Travel CIC; Building Brands; Brand Biscuit (AI Hub South West);
Together, they will create an AI Professional Practice pathway that will be available across programmes offered in the Plymouth Business School and open to working professionals, and through which participants will undertake structured employer-linked activities including paid graduate traineeships, internships, live AI consultancy projects and applied work-experience modules.
The project will also develop an AI-enabled Visitor Journey Transformation Framework that will connect learning to practical challenges across the customer journey, from initial inspiration and booking to on-site service and repeat visits.
[STAFFMEMBER]
"> Dr Rong Huang, Programme Lead in Tourism and Hospitality Management at Plymouth Business School, is the project's Principal Investigator. The project team also includes [STAFFMEMBER]
"> Dr Ben Siu (Associate Professor in Marketing), [STAFFMEMBER]
"> Dr John White (Associate Professor in Marketing), and [STAFFMEMBER]
"> Dr Xiazhao Chen (Programme Lead of the BSc (Hons) Marketing degree)
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