Saudi Arabia deploys AI agents in air cargo and tourism

Saudi Arabia has taken a new step in using artificial intelligence, moving from answering questions and generating content to executing full operational tasks. Saudia Cargo has begun employing AI agents to prepare air cargo price quotes, while tourism initiatives are testing agents representing different destinations that coordinate among themselves to build the visitor's itinerary.

Hisham Malakah, Vice President of Shared Services at Saudia Cargo, stated that the agents categorize incoming email quote requests in multiple languages, maintain the context of the request, access capacity data, schedules, and each customer's rates, compare multi-leg flight options, select appropriate service categories such as pharmaceuticals or fresh cargo, and prepare a customized quote in seconds. Unusual or high-value requests are referred to human sales teams, as reported by Arab News.

In tourism, Globant and Tourise developed a protocol to organize the work of tourism agents, which has begun implementation through Red Sea Global and AlUla. A destination agent, such as the Red Sea, can suggest extending a visitor's stay and communicate with the AlUla agent to check availability and build an itinerary that includes transfers, heritage site visits, and a stargazing experience, then present it to the visitor as a single trip for approval.

Federico Pienovi, CEO for APAC and MENA at Globant, said that permissions are clearly defined: agents handle dialogue, planning, and recommendations, while bookings, payments, and compliance remain in separate rule-based systems. Every step is logged for auditing, and any new participant undergoes testing and approval before accessing visitor data. Saudia Cargo expects to expand usage to demand forecasting, capacity planning, dynamic pricing, revenue optimization, and shipment tracking, while tourism initiatives plan to add more destinations and airlines.

What do these terms mean?

AI Agent: Autonomous software operating on multi-step tasks, capable of reading requests, accessing company systems, and taking action within operator-defined boundaries.

Multi-leg Flights: Cargo options passing through more than one flight or stop before reaching the destination, requiring comparison of capacity, pricing, and connection schedules.

Agentic Tourism Protocol: A framework allowing agents representing different destinations to exchange information and coordinate to build a single trip, while each destination retains control over its data.