VANCOUVER, BC – September 25, 2025 – TravelAI, a global leader in applied artificial intelligence for travel, announced today the launch of Smartours.com, and the acquisition of the IP and US trademarks from the bankruptcy trustee for smarTours LLC. The acquisition and launch commences TravelAI’s entry into the packaged travel market, a market that is projected to reach $1.2 trillion globally by 2033. The move represents both a revival of a respected legacy brand and a bold rethinking of how tours and vacation packages will be discovered, curated, and booked in the age of AI.
“With Smartours, we see an opportunity to reinvent packaged travel from the ground up,” said John Lyotier, CEO and Co-founder of TravelAI. “Traditional packages are often rigid and one-size-fits-all. Our vision is to use AI to build dynamically personalized itineraries—Smarter Tours, if you will—where every trip is designed for the individual traveler in real time. Personalization is at the heart of AI, and the more you can interpret a traveler’s hopes, dreams, and desires, the better experience you can offer them.”
Honoring the Legacy of Smartours
Founded decades ago, Smartours introduced hundreds of thousands of travelers to guided experiences worldwide. While the company ultimately fell into bankruptcy, its name remains synonymous with trusted group travel.
TravelAI expressed sadness at the loss of a once-proud operator who had a strong presence across North America, while also recognizing the opportunity to carry its spirit forward with new technology and purpose.
“By securing the Smartours trademarks and intellectual property as well as the Smartours.com domain name via a separate transaction, we’re not simply launching a new site, we’re giving a respected brand a second life,” Lyotier added. “Travelers who once trusted Smartours can now look forward to a rebirth of that legacy, reimagined for the AI era.”
A Story of Resilience
TravelAI’s own history mirrors the Smartours journey. The company itself emerged from bankruptcy from the predecessor Left Travel brand in 2021, rebuilt with resilience over the past 4 years, and has since grown into a portfolio of more than 440 consumer-facing travel brands powered by AI, yet doing so profitably from the very start.
“We know firsthand what it means to go through bankruptcy and come back stronger,” said Lyotier. “That experience makes us especially proud to steward the Smartours brand into its next chapter.”
Building the Future While Driving Demand Today
The company stressed that what is live on Smartours.com today is only the beginning. By launching now and building in public, TravelAI is already feeding demand and awareness into its platform — a critical step, since AI models must be “trained” with real traveler interactions to optimize recommendations and scale over time.
“When we acquired Casai.com last year, we proved that pairing a powerful brand with intelligent infrastructure leads to remarkable growth,” said Lyotier, referring to TravelAI’s earlier revival of the luxury, private vacation rental site, which has since generated over $23 million in bookings and $600,000 in net profits. “Smartours is our next frontier, and while today’s experience is just the first chapter, it’s critical we start building momentum now.”
Reinventing Packaged Travel for the AI Era
Unlike static, pre-set tours of the past, Smartours will evolve into an AI-orchestrated platform capable of:
- Designing personalized itineraries based on traveler style, budget, pace, and interests.
- Assembling trips in real time using data signals, pricing intelligence, and live availability.
- Creating unique experiences by blending lodging, transit, activities, and local expertise into a seamless journey.
This vision transforms packaged travel into a “segment of one” market, where no two trips need to be identical. Smartours will act as a trusted AI concierge that curates, negotiates, and adapts each itinerary to deliver more value and better experiences while still providing travelers with the trust and assurances they need to create better travel. The past 30 years has seen an unbundling of the travel experience, but now with the help of AI Agents and applied AI, a re-bundling in new and creative ways can occur to the betterment of the travelers.
Market Momentum
The packaged travel sector is experiencing strong global growth:
- In the U.S., tour operators generated $24.4 billion in packaged sales in 2024, serving 3.8 million travelers (USTOA).
- Broader U.S. outbound travel is projected to reach $293.3 billion in 2025, climbing to nearly $500 billion by 2035 (FMI).
- Globally, the packaged travel market is forecast to reach $1.2 trillion by 2033 (Strategic Revenue Insights).
These trends highlight both the scale of opportunity and the shift toward personalization: a shift TravelAI is uniquely positioned to lead under the Smartours brand.
Part of TravelAI’s Expansive Ecosystem
Smartours joins TravelAI’s broader network of consumer brands, including RentByOwner.com, Hotala.com, Casai.com, BedroomVillas.com, SkiHotels.com, and VacationCottage.com. Together, these brands form the foundation of TravelAI’s strategy: creating “The Web of One” — hyper-personalized travel from first click to checkout — and ultimately “The Web of None,” where AI agents transact and negotiate seamlessly on behalf of travelers and suppliers.
About TravelAI
TravelAI, part of the UpNext Group of Companies, is a Vancouver-based travel technology company pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to personalize and optimize travel experiences and is building out an AI infrastructure layer for the world’s largest market. Operating hundreds of branded travel sites, TravelAI specializes in applied AI for the travel vertical, including content personalization at scale and AI-driven traveler engagement.
For more information, visit www.travelai.com
Media Contact:
media@travelai.com
