An Intelligent Knowledge-Based Chatbot to Mitigate Travel Anxiety

With the emergence of intelligent chatbots, AI-driven conversational agents are increasingly being used to help tourists manage travel challenges and obtain effective solutions. Travel anxiety constitutes a significant impediment to tourism, substantially influencing travelers' future intentions. Given its multifaceted nature, spanning from subjective experiences to complex logistical arrangements, this study developed a fully functional tourism chatbot system using a tourist-centered design method to provide targeted guidance for travel anxiety mitigation. The knowledge-based chatbot implemented user-centered evaluation methods by recruiting seven participants who were randomly assigned to scenarios across six major global travel regions. Results from the participants’ short-answer responses and Likert-scale usability ratings indicated that this knowledge-based system delivers highly informative, context-aware, and expert-level recommendations through multifaceted strategy implementation. The findings suggest that such AI-driven interventions are effective in addressing specific travel challenges, with further implications for user-centered design discussed herein.