AI-Powered Virtual Assistant: To Enhance Saudi Arabia Travel Experience and Support Tourism Growth

Saudi Arabia has accomplished global progress in the tourism sector as part of its 2030 vision. The noteworthy progress demonstrates that Saudi Arabia is now among the most popular global destinations for international travelers, with 16.6 million visitors in 2022 and 7.8 million during the first quarter of 2023. Saudi Arabia has implemented several initiatives, including art and culture, that promote the nation as a travel destination. However, language limitations may make it difficult for travelers to customize their travel plans based on their needs. Moreover, the existing generic recommendations may not align with their unique interests. This paper aims to improve tourists’ experiences in Saudi Arabia. By using the innovative and practical approach to help travelers plan their trip, provide tailored guidance, and find activities through a user-friendly, multilingual chatbot powered by AI and fine-tuned with ChatGPT. Meanwhile, this chatbot integrates tasks, including trip planning, currency conversion, and frequently asked questions. The methodology guarantees optimal performance and delivery of valuable responses, starting with a critical data set and preprocessing phases for training a chatbot. The overall effectiveness of the chatbot was measured by evaluating the criteria through a survey that measured user satisfaction with accuracy, ease of use, overall satisfaction, relevance of recommendations, language understanding, and user feedback. The result indicated that most participants were satisfied and would use the chatbot again, with a percentage of 95.2%. The highest factor indicating the user’s satisfaction with the chatbot was ease of use and overall satisfaction; their percentage was 93%.