Diversification of revenue streams was a theme at the opening session of Wednesday afternoon’s Media & Influencer Forum. Attendees heard how having four to five income streams was now common for content creators, with the need to diversify recognised across all types of publishers.

The panel also touched on the use of artificial intelligence. Weather2Travel’s Colin Carter said AI content could not substitute well researched on-the-ground writing from journalists and warned of the technology’s environmental impacts.

But, he added, the site was having to revise existing content to improve its appearance in AI-driven search results.

Meanwhile, Frederic Aouad of Stay22 advised creators: “Optimising affiliate links is a passion of nobody… AI can do that for you.”

Artificial intelligence is not the enemy of travel, according to the result of a lively debate which rounded off the Technology Summit.

Two teams of three argued for and against AI in tourism. Stephen Joyce from Protect Group noted that trips curated by AI “remove the magical human chaos of being somewhere new”.  Advocates of AI pointed out that travellers are already using and enjoying AI, despite its mistakes and limitations.

The show of hands was overwhelmingly in favour of the technology. Christian Watts from Magpie joked that it was “a tough day for the humans” but added that the audience response probably reflected “not where AI is today, but where it’s going to be in the future”.

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