AI solves overtourism’s ‘concentration problem’ by helping people find hidden gems, says Klook cofounder Ethan Lin

Asia’s tourist destinations are overrun with visitors, testing the patience of residents in hotspots like Kyoto and Bali. Some governments are trying to limit the influx of visitors through measures like taxes or reduced visa stays. 

Ethan Lin, co-founder of the Asia-based travel platform Klook, argued at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on Sept. 8 that thinking of overtourism as a pure numbers problem misses the real source of the issue.

“Overtourism is a concentration problem, not a volume problem,” Lin said. In other words, too many tourists are going to the same small number of places within a country, rather than experiencing everything a destination has to offer. 

AI may help tourists find something new to do or see. In Klook’s Travel Pulse survey of Gen Z and millennial travelers across Asia, 57% said they had used AI to find new destinations or experiences. “Technology and AI help to diversify [tourism] traffic into different and lesser-known........

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