Decent work and tourism workers in the age of intelligent automation and digital surveillance

Technology is shifting not only how the tourism industry is run but also the nature of work, working conditions and management control. This article examines the potential implications of technology-driven transformations on lower-paid lower-skilled tourism workers. With tourism expected to be the sector most affected by intelligent automation, greater attention needs to be given to the variegated impact on the workforce. Drawing on the concepts of surveillance capitalism, disruptive innovation and techno-solutionism, the article problematises these transformations and unpacks the rhetoric used by tourism and technology companies. Situating the discussion within UN Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG8), the article explores how – without proactive regulatory measures and worker-centric approaches – the expansion of intelligent automation in tourism workplaces risks exacerbating inequalities and precarisation of lower-skilled workers, exposing them to job losses and dislocation, dehumanising their role and gradually automating them out. Additionally, digital surveillance may shift power further towards employers, reducing worker agency and impacting on worker wellbeing. Overall, despite clear benefits, unfettered intelligent automation and digital surveillance risk disrupting established worker rights and protections and inadvertently moving the tourism sector away from the ideals of decent work for all.