BNFR Joins the Vibe Coding Bootcamp to Test AI’s Role in Tourism Innovation

What if testing a new tourism tool didn’t take years of funding and reports, but just a few weeks with AI? For developing destinations in particular, this is where the promise of AI feels most powerful: speed and accessibility. It means ideas can be tested quickly, costs stay low, and innovation doesn’t have to wait for large systems to be in place.

This week, Peter and Dom joined the Founders Institute’s Vibe Coding Bootcamp to explore this shift firsthand.

The two-week online programme brings together entrepreneurs from around the world to see how AI tools can be used to scope, build, and test prototypes of new products. The focus is not necessarily on creating market–ready apps, but on proving concepts quickly and learning from them in real time.

How This Connects to Our Work

At BNFR, we see our role not only as applying AI to tourism development programmes and projects we’re involved in, but also as explorers: testing, learning, and asking the questions that matter. How can AI speed up innovation while keeping the playing field fair for small businesses? How can we use these tools without creating more digital divides? And how can donor programmes embrace AI in ways that are sustainable, practical, and inclusive?

By joining this Bootcamp, we aim to:

• Investigate how AI can help DMOs and programme managers shorten the time it takes to test new digital solutions

• Lower the risk and cost for SMEs in developing markets to experiment with business ideas

• Explore how to balance AI’s potential with fair and sustainable practices in tourism development

We see this Bootcamp as a lab. Each sprint will give us a chance to test new product concepts, and in future posts we’ll share what worked, what didn’t, and what this means for donor programmes and SMEs.

Less fluff. More fire. 🔥