Here’s How An AI Travel Website Sent People To A Non-Existent Tourist Attraction

AI is everywhere. Whether it be on our smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, websites, and cars, developers are sticking AI into everything humanly possible, because it’s the in thing to do. Unfortunately, many people have become just as overly reliant on AI, trusting the output without doing any form of verification.

Just ask the owner of travel booking website Tasmania Tours. The marketing team responsible for managing the website inadvertently published a number of AI-generated articles without fact checking them, leading to tourists being sent on a wild goose chase around Tasmania, looking for points of interests that do not exist in real life.

According to Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), the website marketed a number of bogus tourist attractions, even including AI-generated images to add to the authenticity of the posts. One of the posts talked about the “Weldborough Hot Springs”, even showing images of steam coming from various cropped-in pools along a real walking trail.

With barely any additional details, tourists traveled hundreds of miles, many ending up at the Weldborough Hotel to ask for directions, only to find out that the supposed springs mentioned in the posts simply do not exist in real life.

In a CNN interview, Kristy Probert, a bar owner in the area also shared a similar story, saying that numerous travelers call and visit daily asking for information about the non-existent springs. Probert said that the closest thing to a spring might be the Weld River, but mentioned that it was freezing cold.

The offending website also published other articles talking about a number of landmarks and attractions around Tasmania that all turned out to the completely AI-generated. The website’s owner admitted that some of the content published is artificially generated, but is reviewed before publication.

They said their use of AI is simply to help them compete with bigger travel agencies, and they did not intend on deceiving their readers. They also explained that some of their content is generated by a third-party marketing firm, and only missed these problematic articles as they were published without review while the owners were on vacation.

Whether or not we like it, AI is making a significant impact globally, and it sometimes does feel like a game of cat and mouse. Even in the publishing space, many top tier media organizations have significantly shifted their operations towards AI-based models to keep on top of the news.

From a travel perspective, more than 40% of would-be tourists are relying on AI tools to generated end-to-end plans. Unfortunately, many of these itineraries are still riddled with errors, sometimes resulting in what was talked about above.

What can prospective travelers do to avoid situations like this? Double check everything. If you’re looking up a new tourist attraction, check multiple websites and get different perspectives, and look for as many reviews and photos as possible. Given that the supposed hot springs were listed on a travel website, it’s fair to say there’s a good chance quite a few people would know about it already, making it easy to look up (assuming it exists).

I do feel empathetic towards to travel tour operator as it is indeed an extremely competitive business given that AI bots can churn out new articles in seconds, but if you’re building a reputable business, it is still in your best interest to do the due diligence and verify your content before publishing.

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