In tourism—Artificial intelligence, robot or human being? What do I prefer? To answer this research question our study involved two bibliometric analyses, which revealed that artificial intelligence (AI) is also a main keyword in the literature today and linked to tourism. Additionally, tourism in Portugal is linked to cultural tourism, ecotourism, sustainable tourism, augmented virtual reality, and experience. Our fieldwork was qualitative in nature, and we performed nine personal semi-structured interviews and two focus groups, in Portugal. All the material was audio-recorded and transcribed in full by the research team. The participants were tourism students, teachers, policy makers, consultants and experts. Keywords mentioned and their frequency were analyzed using webQDA software. Are human relations and the human element here to stay, in the tourism sector, despite advances in technology? It seems so, according to our study. The paradigm shift towards AI is not without its risks, and if exaggerated, in tourism, will frighten human resources away from the industry. According to our field work, there are business models and hotels that almost go without direct human intervention—and the number of hotels that will increasingly have technology is going to rise. Albeit there is still very much the factor of the customer wanting to go to the hotel specifically due to the person who represents the hotel. Tourism is a relationship industry, one of contact and interaction. And it is this interaction between the visitor and, for example, the local community, that leads to greater satisfaction and more memorable experiences. Cross-cultural expertise and knowledge are also deemed essential for the best empathetic interaction to occur between tourism professionals and their customers. Finally, our fieldwork alerts us to beware of greenwashing entities in tourism.