Client story AI Trip Planner - Redefining the tourist experience in the Northern Territory

Tourism and Events NT is dedicated to promoting the Northern Territory as a premier travel destination, is committed to showcasing the region’s unique history and culture. As part of this mission, Tourism and Events NT sought to enhance the visitor experience by integrating advanced AI capabilities into its digital offerings. In November 2025, Tourism and Events NT launched the AI Trip Planner, an innovative agentic AI platform developed in collaboration with Insight. The platform leverages Microsoft’s AI technologies, including Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Search, to deliver personalised travel itineraries and expert local advice through natural conversation.

The AI Trip Planner is designed to help visitors explore the Northern Territory’s rich military history and other attractions by providing tailored recommendations, local insights, and seamless itinerary planning - all within a single digital experience. Drawing on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse and local business expertise, the platform has been integrated into Tourism NT’s digital platforms, ensuring a consistent and accessible experience for travellers across web and mobile. Visitors consistently express that they struggle to find trustworthy, locally informed advice online. Tourism and Events NT wanted a single, unified solution where travellers could access expert recommendations, tailored itineraries, and practical tips that reflect the real conditions of travelling in the NT. 

The AI Trip Planner bridges this gap by providing: 

• Hyper-local guidance Itinerary logic grounded in real travel constraints 
• Recommendations that promote and support NT operators 
• A digital experience that scales expert Territory knowledge to thousands of visitors 

When selecting a partner for the project, Tourism and Events NT turned to Insight for its proven expertise in deploying commercial, AI-driven solutions with Microsoft technologies. 

The AI Trip Planner stands out for its seamless integration into the visitor journey. Unlike some digital tools that require sign-ups or subscriptions, the planner is freely accessible to all users, ensuring every traveller can benefit from expert guidance - whether browsing the website or planning on the go. 

The assistant’s ability to provide contextual, relevant recommendations has significantly enhanced visitor engagement and is already helping travellers discover military history sites, plan efficient routes, and connect with local businesses. This level of personalisation has improved visitor satisfaction and is expected to drive increased tourism and economic growth for the region.  

However, the true value of the AI Trip Planner lies in empowering visitors to experience the Territory like a local, with confidence and ease.

The AI Trip Planner is distinctive in its simplicity and accessibility: there are no forced logins, no paywalls, and no friction. Any visitor can receive expert, locally relevant guidance instantly. In under five months, Tourism and Events NT moved from initial exploration to a fully functional solution, enabling rapid validation and user testing. This accelerated cycle provided critical insights into content readiness, retrieval performance, and user expectations, shaping the roadmap for future enhancements. 

Foundational work on data and operations ensured long-term scalability. By implementing end-to-end pipelines and a canonical schema, the team made tourism content consistently AI-ready. This repeatable and scalable knowledge layer now supports expansion into new domains such as nature, cultural experiences, and events, creating a robust platform for growth. 

Beyond immediate benefits, the solution positioned Tourism and Events NT for sustainable growth. A clear roadmap now exists to scale beyond the initial military history focus, onboard partners, and automate content enrichment.