TIA is excited to introduce a brand-new Education Series in April: AI Essentials for Tourism.

Designed specifically for tourism operators across Aotearoa New Zealand, from owner-operated tourism businesses through to larger organisations, this four-part weekly webinar series explores the rapidly growing relevance of AI in tourism and how you can harness its potential.

Each session will be hosted by C.A. Clark, VP Digital Marketing and South Pacific General Manager at Miles Partnership; a global strategic marketing agency focused exclusively on travel and tourism.

AI Essentials for Tourism will take participants from foundational understanding all the way to strategic implementation, building your AI fluency to a high level.

This programme will:

• Equip tourism operators with a clear practical understanding of AI, using simple frameworks that support adoption across businesses of all sizes.
• Addresses rapidly growing expectations from visitors who already use AI tools for travel planning; helping operators understand how AI-enhanced search tools affect online presence, how they can improve discoverability for their business.
• Build awareness of emerging AI trends, evolving visitor behaviours, and their implications for the future of tourism in New Zealand.
• Establish fit-for-purpose governance, policies and ethical considerations for safe and responsible AI use with your organisation.

Registration is $295+GST per person for TIA members and $495+GST per person for non-members, which includes access to all four sessions. Spaces are limited, so we encourage you to secure your place early!

Session Details

All sessions will be held online via Zoom. Registered participants will receive their Zoom link ahead of each session, and a video recording of each session will be shared at the conclusion of the programme.

The programme is broken down into four sessions:

AI Foundation – Thursday 16 April, 2pm-3.30pm

This 90 minute session covers how visitors are using AI to plan and book travel, how AI systems are created, key players in the space, essential functions and features, and prioritisation frameworks for tourism businesses. Establishing this shared foundation early, enables meaningful participation in all subsequent sessions.

AI in Practice – Thursday 23 April, 2pm-3.30pm

Moving from understanding AI to actually using it requires more than enthusiasm—it requires intentional decisions about tools, policies, and people. This 90 minute session covers the practical steps to enable AI adoption within your organisation: selecting and committing to tools, building team capability through education and practice, and creating the conditions for AI to become part of everyday workflows. Worksheets will be provided to help participants work through these decisions at a pace and scale suited to their business, whether that's a two-person operation or a larger team.

AI Lab – Thursday 30 April, 2pm-4pm

With foundational knowledge and enablement decisions in place, participants will explore AI tools, use cases, and solutions in a hands-on environment. This two-hour session demonstrates 10-15 tools with tourism-specific applications — focusing on accessible, low-cost or free options suited to SME budgets. Participants will see tools in action, try them alongside the session, and leave with practical ideas they can implement quickly.

AI Future – Thursday 7 May, 2pm-3pm

This 60 minute session recaps key learnings from the series before examining a timeline of expected developments in the coming months and years. We explore implications of the latest AI developments and how tourism businesses should prepare — including considerations around visitor expectations, operational efficiency, and maintaining the authentic human connections that make New Zealand tourism distinctive.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the TIA events team at events@tia.org.nz