Speaking to Poland’s PAP news agency, Jan Mazurczak. said traditional tools such as printed guidebooks or static audio tours will be quickly replaced by AI-powered apps on smartphones.
These apps will adjust their pace and tone based on a traveller’s age, interests and expertise, and could even recognise landmarks via smartphone cameras to provide instant commentary in any language.
"Personalisation is the key word," said Mazurczak, who heads the Local Tourism Organization in the western city of Poznań.
“AI can already tailor information it finds online to the user’s abilities, knowledge and interests. It will talk to a child differently than to a senior, or to a historian," he added.
This wave of technology will eventually render even professionally produced audio tours obsolete, according to Mazurczak.
AI-generated guides will soon be able to offer themed walking routes, explain historical monuments in detail, and recommend nearby restaurants when prompted by the user.
But despite the advance of digital guides, Mazurczak believes human guides will remain relevant.
“In an increasingly digital world, the value of real human contact will only grow,” he said. “Having a live guide is already a kind of premium service, not just because of the cost, but because nothing can replace direct interaction with another person.”
Joanna Kiewisz-Wojciechowska, a licensed guide from the northeastern city of Olsztyn and regional correspondent for PAP, agrees. She recently released a series of audio guides for individual visitors to the Warmia and Masuria region.
Her narrations take tourists through the historical sites of Olsztyn, Frombork and Lidzbark Warmiński, including locations tied to the life of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance polymath responsible for the correct interpretation of the heliocentric structure of the solar system, among many other scientific achievements.
“These recordings are designed to feel like a live guide is walking beside you,” Kiewisz-Wojciechowska said. “I present places the way I would during a real tour: avoiding data overload, keeping things engaging and understandable.”
All the scripts for her recordings were prepared by her personally and are up to date. “It took three months to produce them, but they’re based on years of experience. I know what makes people’s eyes light up, and what makes them zone out. I know how to explain complex architectural terms in plain language,” she said.
Kiewisz-Wojciechowska acknowledged the advantages of AI, saying that it helped her create versions of her guides in English, German and French. But she is not worried about AI taking her job.
"We made these guides because they simply didn’t exist in our region," she said. "They’re meant for travellers who like to explore on their own terms."
Kiewisz-Wojciechowska also said that the new guides provide a solution to a common problem: individual tourists trying to eavesdrop on organised group tours.
"That’s a real nuisance," she said. "Some ask politely first, but others just tag along. Not all groups are okay with that – it can cause conflict. I often get emails from people saying, 'We’ll be in Frombork tomorrow – can we join a tour?' Now, they don’t have to wait around hoping to catch a group."
The town of Frombork in northern Poland preserves the legacy of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance astronomer who revolutionized how we view the cosmos. Photo: Anna Zadrożna/Redakcja Białoruska/PRdZ
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP