Transforming Festival Experiences with Artificial Intelligence: A Stakeholder's Perspective

Festivals are evolving rapidly as artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes how events are designed, managed, and experienced. Transforming Festival Experiences with Artificial Intelligence: A Stakeholders' Perspective explores the transformative role of AI across the festival ecosystem, from planning and crowd management to marketing, personalization, sustainability, and cultural preservation. This edited book brings together insights to examine how key stakeholders perceive and engage with intelligent technologies. Combining theory, empirical studies, and international case examples, the book highlights both the opportunities and ethical challenges of AI adoption in festivals. It serves as a valuable resource for scholars, festival professionals, destination managers, and students seeking to understand the future of festivals in the era of digital intelligence.

Swati Sharma Ph.D. (ORCID: 0000-0003-2949-2363) is currently Associate Professor at Amity Institute of Travel & Tourism, Amity University, Noida. She earned her doctoral qualification from Kurukshetra University, India and has qualified UGC NET twice. With 18 years of experience in travel & tourism academia and industry, she has made significant contributions to the area of tourism. Dr Sharma has a strong interest in MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) Tourism and Destination Image and has published extensively on related topics.

Narendra Kumar Ph.D. (ORCID: 0000-0002-3325-3448) is currently associated with Amity Institute of Travel and Tourism, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, India. He holds total 21 years of industry and academic experience out of which 4 years is the industry experience and 17 years is the academic experience. He is also associated with many journals as an advisory member and regularly holds interactive sessions on various issues related to tourism and hospitality industry. He is the reviewer of many scientific conferences and international journals including Current Issues in Tourism.

Prof. Erdogan H Ekiz (ORCID: 0000-0002-9643-6663) is a Full Professor and Founding Dean of Tourism and Hospitality Management School at Central Asian University in Tashkent. Prof. Ekiz has two key areas of interest. The first is services marketing, more specifically service failure, customer complaint and service recovery activities in tourism and hospitality. The second is investigating the effect of tourism's unique characteristics on tourist complaining behaviour and related processes.

Dr Karen Miranda-Fernandez (ORCID: 0000-0002-1626-193X) is an educator, author, practitioner, and international speaker in the field of events, tourism, and hospitality. She was a postdoctoral scholar at School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality in Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom. She holds a doctoral degree in Business Management specialized in Hospitality Management and master's degree in Business Administration major in Hotel and Restaurant Management both earned at Philippine Women's University, Manila. Her research interests include events management, sustainable tourism, and hospitality management.

Dr. Anukrati Sharma is the Associate Professor of the Department of Commerce and Management at the University of Kota (A State Govt. University) in Kota, Rajasthan, India. She is the Director of the Skill Development Centre of the same University. She is also Dean (Honorary) of Tourism and Hospitality at Vishwakarma Skills University, Jaipur (A Govt. State University). She worked three years( 06 Jan.2021- 06 Jan.24) as the Head of the Department of Commerce and Management, University of Kota. In 2015, she received a Research Award from the University Grants Commission(UGC), New Delhi, for her project "Analysis of the Status of Tourism in Hadoti and Shekhawati Region/Circuit (Rajasthan): Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Prospects." Her doctorate from the University of Rajasthan is in Tourism Marketing, and she completed her dissertation research on Tourism in Rajasthan--Progress &Prospects. She has two postgraduate degree specialties --one in International Business (Master of International Business) and the other in Business Administration (Master of Commerce). Her special interest areas are Tourism, Tourism Marketing, Strategic Management, and International Business Management. She is appointed as the Official Partner of the BRICS (DUT) Funded Project for the years 2022-2024 i.e. (BRICS Research Institute Grant Project Ref: BRI22/1215) titled " Growth and Sustainability of Livelihoods in the BRICS Countries : Knowledge Sharing in Social Justice, Governance, Multilateralism". Dr. Sharma is a Routledge featured author. Dr. Sharma is the Book Series Editor for "Building the Future of Tourism" published by Emerald Publishing. U.K. She is also the Book Series Editor of " Routledge Insights in Tourism Series", Routledge, U.K. She also serves as Book Series Editor for " CABI Festival and Event Tourism and Hospitality Series(FETHS) and " Perspectives and Anthropology in Tourism and Hospitality (PATH)", Apple Academic Press (CRC Press a Taylor and Francis Group). She has edited books on Tourism--Opportunities and Ventures, on Maximizing Business Performance and Efficiency through Intelligent Systems, under IGI Global( Scopus Indexded) , Tourism Sustainable Tourism Development Futuristic Approaches under Apple Academic Press (CRC Press a Taylor and Francis Group), USA under the series Advances in Hospitality and Tourism and book titled Tourism Events in Asia Marketing and Development Routledge, USA under Advances in Events Research Series, Sustainable Destination Branding and Marketing: Strategies for Tourism Development under CABI, UK, Future of Tourism: An Asian Perspective, under Springer, Singapore, Over-tourism as Destination Risk: Impacts and Solutions Emerald Publishing U.K. ( Scopus Indexded) under the Tourism Security - Safety Series , Over-tourism, Technology Solutions and Decimated Destinations, Springer, Singapore, Event Tourism in Asian Countries: Challenges and Prospects under Apple Academic Press ( Taylor and Francis Group), USA ( Scopus Indexded) and The Emerald Handbook of ICT in Tourism and Hospitality under Emerald Publishing U.K. She also authored a book entitled "Event Management and Marketing Theory, Practical Approaches and Planning." Another book she wrote is entitled "International Best Practice in Event Management" and it was published by United Kingdom Event Industry Academy Ltd and Prasetiya Mulya Publishing, Indonesia. Her current projects include editing a book on "COVID-19 and Tourism Sustainability: Ethics, Responsibilities, Challenges and New Directions" for Routledge, USA, "Festivals and Event Tourism: Building Resilience and Promoting Sustainability" for CABI, UK , The Emerald Handbook of Destination Recovery in Tourism and Hospitality, Emerald Publishing, UK, COVID-19 and the Tourism Industry: Sustainability, Resilience & New Directions Routledge, UK ( Scopus Indexded),Event Tourism & Sustainable Community Development: Advances, Effects and Implications, Apple Academic Press, USA, Crisis, Resilience and Recovery in Tourism and Hospitality Springer Nature, Singapore , Strategic Tourism Planning for Communities: Restructuring and Rebranding, Emerald Publishing, Dynamics of Tourism Industry Post-Pandemic and Disasters, Apple Academic Press, USA and Resilient and Sustainable Destinations after Disaster: Challenges and Strategies, Emerald Publishing, UK. She is also working on a Major Research Project under Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India. A member of 7 professional bodies, she has attended a number of national and international conferences and presented 45 papers. She has been invited as Keynote , Speaker , Panel member by different countries such as Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, South Africa, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey. She has been invited as Visiting Professor at Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.