Central America and The Dominican Republic Lead the Way in
AI-Driven Tourism Offering More Personalised Travel
Experiences

  • The Central America Tourism Agency (CATA) stands out as a pioneer in digital tourism, introducing advanced technological solutions and artificial intelligence to provide personalised tourist experiences.
  • CATA receives the Tourism Excellence Award at FITUR 2024 for its focus on Artificial Intelligence following an innovative summit for travel companies, the Central America and Dominican Republic Innovation Tourism Talk (CAITT). With a forward-thinking vision, CATA was rewarded thanks to its strategic effort in enhancing traveller satisfaction using AI technology.
  • With a new generation of experiences available in 2024, CATA is driving an innovative tourism offering, adapted to the changing demands of travellers, integrating the Dominican Republic, and promoting collaborations among tour operators to create unique and multi-destination offers.

29 February 2024 – The Central America Tourism Agency (CATA) is proudly leading the way in AI-driven tourism, introducing significant innovative advancements in the digitalisation of the travel sector.

CATA’s focus marks a milestone in the digital transformation of the industry and has raised industry standards through events such as the Central America and Dominican Republic Innovation Tourism Talk (CAITT) which brought together experts from Europe, USA and Mexico to show how advanced technological solutions such as AI can improve services and processes for their reservation and sales teams.

This push has been especially crucial since the pandemic, where adaptation and innovation have become essential in helping the tourism industry recover.

Boris Iraheta, Secretary General of CATA said, “CATA has played a crucial role in the digitalisation and innovation of the tourism industry by introducing advanced technological solutions that optimise processes, improve efficiency, and enhance decision-making. Our commitment to incorporating digital technology has marked a key moment in the promotion and digital transformation of the tourism industry, elevating industry standards. In close collaboration with Tourism Authorities and the Federation of Tourism Chambers of Central America (FEDECATUR), CATA has trained over 4,000 industry representatives during the role-out of this pioneering technology.”

CATA’S CONTRIBUTION TO DIGITALISATION AND INNOVATION:

CATA is at the forefront of creating a new generation of tourist products adapted to the changing demands of travellers. Furthermore, the inclusion of the Dominican Republic as a full CATA member in 2019, has facilitated the integration of both tourist regions, innovatively complementing them.

Examples include developing the first Summit to showcase how brands can create tourist products with artificial intelligence in 2023. This event, which brought together more than 30 tour operator companies, has achieved the International Tourism Excellence Award at FITUR in January 2024.

In 2021, CATA organised the first HACKATHON, an event for the creation of multi-destination tourist products, promoting collaboration among 40 tour operator companies in the region: Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Belize, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. This event generated the first catalogue of multi-destination offers, marking a milestone in the evolution of regional tourism. “The strategic application of artificial intelligence in tourist products has been adapted to personalise offers and optimise experiences. Through the analysis of large amounts of data, artificial intelligence identifies traveller behaviour patterns, offering proposals aligned with their individual preferences,” Boris Iraheta, Secretary General of CATA, points out.

CATA’s digital commitment has included creating the first catalogue of tourist experiences available on the Visit Central America website (www.visitCentralamerica.com), providing travellers with a wide range of options tailored to their preferences.

CATA will also soon take centre stage and host Central America Travel Market Fair – El Salvador 2024. From April 16 to 18, the fair is an international platform for meeting and building relationships with key industry partners and promoting innovation in the travel sector. Travel industry representatives will also be able to discover unique experiences and unexplored destinations around Central America through pre- and post-tours available with partners.

CATA reaffirms its commitment to innovation, digitalisation, and collaboration, positioning itself as the link between the public and private sectors of the region. The focus on artificial intelligence reflects CATA’s vision to remain a benchmark in world tourism.

For more information on Central America, visit https://www.visitcentroamerica.com/en/.
ENDS

Image Captions

  • Image 1: CATA hosted the Central America and Dominican Republic Innovation Tourism Talk (CAITT) 2023 in El Salvador
  • Image 2: The strategic application of artificial intelligence in tourist products has been adapted to offer more personalised experiences to travellers including visiting the Dominican Republic.
  • Image 3: CATA hosted the Central America and Dominican Republic Innovation Tourism Talk (CAITT) including experts from Europe, the USA, and Mexico to show the industry how to use AI to improve their services and processes for their reservations and sales.
  • High-res images can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1nyw3nfabc9zupyxg5ahu/h?rlkey=j87zshntin2rtq2jz6f1vkdvt&dl=0

Media Contact
Sarah Salord / Fiona Anderson
CATA / GEC PR
Email [email protected]
T. 44 (0) 20 3907 6824