Missouri town plans to use AI to attract, keep tourists

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A Missouri community hopes artificial intelligence will help it attract tourists to town.

Moberly, Missouri, which is northeast of Kansas City, plans to hire a company called Placer AI. The company tracks cell phone data. The city’s Chamber of Commerce says the information collected will be used to help develop tourism campaigns.

Placer AI will track cellphones owned by people who are 18 years and older. The proposal is to track those phones once a day to see where the people go in Moberly. The information is then developed into a geo-fenced footprint. The chamber says Placer AI then uses an algorithm to make certain assumptions based on that data.

Community leaders expect to get information about the number of people who attend events in the city. The chamber hopes to use the information to better estimate economic impact of each event. The data collected will also include a general area of where each person lives, so the town can track how far people travel for different events, and where people go after they end.

ALSO READ: Missouri marijuana microbusinesses selected for licenses in statewide lottery

Moberly’s Chamber of Commerce says it plans to use the data collected to see if a new hotel in the community would be helpful and keep more tourists in town to spend money and help the economy.

The chamber says the plan is past the initial stages and the City Commission will give final approval. If ed, the city’s contract with Placer AI will be for two years.

Copyright 2023 KCTV. All rights reserved.