From Prototype to Intelligent Travel Ecosystem

Smart Planner continues to make strong progress in its mission to redefine how travellers connect with destinations, communities, and experiences. Following the momentum shared in the January 2026 update, the project has now reached several key milestones across product development, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, bringing the platform significantly closer to its first public release.

Over the past three months, the team has focused on validating the mobile experience, advancing its AI capabilities, and laying the foundations for a powerful data analytics layer that will differentiate Smart Planner in the global tourism landscape.

Mobile App Progress and User Validation

One of the most important achievements in this phase of the project has been the successful delivery of the first version of the Smart Planner mobile application.

The initial build was completed in February, followed by a period of comprehensive internal testing. This phase allowed the team to validate core workflows, identify usability improvements, and ensure the platform meets the expected quality standards before being placed in the hands of external users.

In early March, Smart Planner engaged a selected group of early users to test the application. This controlled testing phase was critical to understanding how real travellers interact with the platform in practical scenarios. The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive, with users highlighting the simplicity of the workflow, the clarity of the interface, and the uniqueness of the concept.

At the same time, participants provided valuable insights into areas for improvement. These included enhancements to navigation, refinements to how information is presented, and suggestions to make trip planning even more intuitive. The team has incorporated this feedback into its development roadmap and is actively addressing these improvements throughout March and April.

This iterative approach reflects Smart Planner’s commitment to building a product that is not only innovative, but also highly usable and aligned with real traveller needs.

Data Analytics Workstream Kicked Off

In parallel with the mobile app development, Smart Planner officially launched its first data analytics research and development workstream in February.

This initiative is a foundational component of the Smart Planner vision. The objective is to design and define how data flows through the platform, and how that data can be transformed into meaningful insights for both travellers and destinations.

The project is focused on two key areas.

The first is understanding the internal signals generated by users as they interact with the platform. These signals include what travellers search for, the types of experiences they prefer, how they build itineraries, and how their decisions evolve throughout the planning and travel journey.

The second is identifying and integrating external data sources. These may include public datasets, tourism statistics, local information, and other relevant data that can enrich the Smart Planner ecosystem.

By combining internal behavioural data with external datasets, the platform aims to build advanced predictive models capable of answering critical questions such as:

What experiences are most relevant to a specific type of traveller?
How does visitor demand fluctuate across destinations and seasons?
What patterns influence visitor flow within a destination?

This workstream will ultimately power the Smart Planner Engine, enabling a new generation of intelligent travel tools that go beyond static recommendations and move towards predictive, data-driven decision support.

Advancing the AI Trip Assistant

Another major milestone in this period has been the start of development for the Smart Planner AI Trip Assistant.

Work began in early March, with the team focusing on preparing and structuring data to support the training and refinement of large language models. The goal is to create an assistant that is not only conversational, but also deeply knowledgeable about destinations, traveller preferences, and contextual travel needs.

To achieve this, the team evaluated more than a dozen open source and proprietary large language models. This process is helping determine the most suitable technologies to power the assistant, balancing performance, accuracy, scalability, and cost.

In parallel, Smart Planner conducted interviews with travellers and travel agents to better understand the types of questions users ask, the challenges they face during planning and travel, and the kind of support they expect from an AI assistant.

These insights are directly informing the design of the assistant’s knowledge base and fine-tuning strategy. The result will be an AI capability that feels relevant, practical, and genuinely helpful rather than generic.

Two Feature Packages for a Phased Release

To ensure a structured and high-quality rollout, Smart Planner has defined two feature packages for its initial releases.

The first package focuses on delivering the core traveller experience. It is designed to provide users with everything they need to learn about destinations, explore options, and build their trips in a simple and intuitive way.

At the centre of this experience is the Discover Destination feature, which allows travellers to understand the culture, customs, traditions, and local context of a place before they arrive. This reflects Smart Planner’s goal of promoting deeper and more meaningful travel experiences.

The Search and Save functionality enables users to explore accommodation, dining, transport, activities, and tours, while also introducing a unique dimension: the ability to discover community initiatives and regenerative tourism projects. Travellers can save these items into a personalised list, creating a curated collection of experiences.

Suggested Itineraries provide ready-made travel plans built using data and AI, helping users quickly find inspiration and structure. For those who prefer full control, the Manual Trip Planning feature allows travellers to build and customise their itineraries day by day.

Once this foundation is validated, the second package will introduce Smart Planner’s first AI-powered capabilities.

The AI Travel Assistant will support users in real time, answering questions, providing recommendations, and guiding travellers throughout their journey. Alongside this, the AI Trip Itinerary Planner will enable users to generate personalised itineraries on demand, based on their preferences, travel style, and interests.

This phased approach ensures that the platform delivers immediate value while progressively introducing advanced intelligence.

Community Engagement in New Zealand

Beyond product development, Smart Planner has also taken meaningful steps to engage directly with destination communities.

A targeted awareness campaign has been launched in Queenstown and Wanaka, the platform’s initial pilot destinations. The campaign focuses on connecting with local community projects and initiatives that can be featured within the platform.

The objective is to ensure that Smart Planner not only supports travellers, but also creates visibility and opportunities for local organisations, particularly those involved in sustainability, conservation, and community development.

As part of this effort, Smart Planner has engaged with Love Queenstown and Love Wanaka. These initiatives have been selected as key partners and are being supported as part of the project’s commitment to regenerative tourism.

Preparing for Public Beta Release

Looking ahead, the Smart Planner team is preparing for the next major milestone: the public beta release.

The plan is to launch the beta version later May or earlier June, following an additional round of user testing and feedback refinement. This next phase will expand access to a broader audience, allowing the team to further validate the platform at scale and gather deeper insights into user behaviour.

The beta release will mark the transition from controlled testing to real-world usage, providing a critical opportunity to refine the experience, validate assumptions, and strengthen the platform ahead of its full release.

A Platform Taking Shape

The progress made since January demonstrates that Smart Planner is evolving rapidly from concept to a fully realised platform. With a validated mobile experience, a growing AI capability, and a strong data foundation under development, the project is building the key components required to deliver on its vision.

At its core, Smart Planner is not just another travel application. It is an ecosystem designed to connect travellers with destinations in a more intelligent, meaningful, and sustainable way.

As the project moves towards its public beta, the focus remains clear: deliver a seamless user experience, empower better travel decisions, and create real value for both travellers and the communities they visit.

Interested in learning more about Smart Planner? Get in touch with us today.