Agentic AI in Hospitality and Tourism: Opportunities, Risks, and Research Pathways

Abstract

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is ushering in a new era of service innovation, with agentic AI systems, characterized by autonomy, contextual reasoning, and adaptive decision-making, poised to transform the hospitality and tourism industry. Grounded in socio-technical systems theory, this conceptual paper examines the technical foundations of agentic AI and proposes a typology of five functional roles: service agents, planning agents, monitoring agents, engagement agents, and meta-agents. These systems offer opportunities for enhanced personalization, efficiency, and guest engagement. However, their adoption introduces critical risks, including data privacy concerns, algorithmic bias, cultural misinterpretation, and workforce displacement. The paper outlines governance strategies emphasizing ethical design, human–AI collaboration, and regulatory adaptation. It concludes with a research agenda to guide empirical inquiry into the social, cultural, and psychological impacts of agentic AI across hospitality and tourism contexts.