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It was a destination too good to be true.
An Australian travel company has admitted that its use of artificial intelligence accidentally caused tourists to trek to hot springs that didn’t exist
Tasmania Tours published a blog post on the country’s best hot springs — and Weldborough Hot Springs placed in fourth spot.
“Its reputation as a tranquil haven has made it a favorite among local hiking groups, wellness retreat organizers and anyone wanting to experience one of the more untouched hot springs Tasmania has to offer,” the AI-generated post purportedly proclaimed, per the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
The post from Tasmania Tours, operated by Australian Tours and Cruises, prompted readers to travel to the rural town of Weldborough, Tasmania, to experience the springs for themselves.
The owner of the real Weldoborough Hotel said she was baffled by calls about an attraction that didn’t exist.
“It was only a couple of calls to start with,” Kristy Probert told CNN. “But then people began turning up in droves. I was receiving probably five phone calls a day, and at least two to three people arriving at the hotel looking for them.”
“We’re in a very remote location, so it was very random.”
“I actually had a group of 24 drivers turn up there two days ago that were on a trip from the mainland, and they’d actually taken a detour to come to the hot springs,” she added to ABC.
The small town runs along the Weld River, but there are no hot springs in sight.
Instead, the river water “is freezing cold” and is typically only visited by people looking for sapphire and tin.
“They wear wetsuits,” Provert explained. “There’s a sauna in a nearby town. I guess you could jump into the freezing river after you’ve been over there.”
Probert started to make a promise to visitors and inquiring tourists: “If you can find these hot springs, beers are on me.”
Eventually, the Weldborough Hotel posted on their Facebook page to share that the mystery was solved.
“I’ve had a lovely chat with Scott Hennessy this morning from the Tasmania Tours website and I can confirm he’s not a bot but a great guy who runs a small Tassie touring business with his wife Sally,” the Jan. 21 post said.
“They did, however, make the mistake of going on an overseas trip and hired a third party to look after their website and advertising,” it continued. “So I can confirm there is no Weldborough Hot Springs sadly.”
Hennessy told ABC that, typically, he looks over all content before it’s published, but he was out of the country when the article advertising the non-existent hot springs was posted to his company’s blog.
“Our AI has messed up completely,” he admitted.
“We don’t have enough horsepower to write enough content on our own, and that’s why we outsource part of this function,” he said. “Sometimes it’s perfect and really good and does what you hope it would do, and sometimes it gets it completely wrong.”
All of the AI-generated posts have since been removed from the site, and Hennessy said that anyone thinking about booking through their company can be assured that it’s a real company with real tours.
“We’re not a scam, we’re a married couple trying to do the right thing by people,” he said. “We are legit, we are real people, we employ sales staff.”
The Post has reached out to Australian Tours and Cruises for comment.
However, the company told CNN that “the online hate and damage to our business reputation has been absolutely soul-destroying.”
“We are just trying to get on with our lives and put the whole thing behind us.”
