MAM
JWT elevates Tista Sen and Priya Shivakumar
MUMBAI: J Walter Thompson's (JWT) Tista Sen has been elevated as the regional creative director of India with the additional responsibility of JWT Sri Lanka. Sen is currently national creative director (NCD) at the agency.
In addition to this, Priya Shivakumar, currently the executive creative director of JWT Bangalore, has been promoted to NCD. She will now drive creative excellence for clients across Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
JWT CEO Tarun Rai said; “Both Tista and Priya are exceptional creative professionals and their promotions are richly deserved. They have helped build so many brands and have been true ambassadors of JWT.”
“This is surely the sign of things to come as geography becomes history all over again. Tista and Priya are two of our best creative leaders, now empowered to lead from the front and drive creativity across the country and beyond,” added J Walter Thompson CCO Senthil Kumar.
Sen has been involved in crafting memorable and well-loved campaigns for some of the most iconic brands in India. Her deep understanding of the advertising landscape empowers her to orchestrate integrated communications that build future-ready brands and businesses. Over the years she has served as jury at several advertising festivals in India and abroad.
Shivakumar brings both traditional media and digital media together with her ideas and has led the Bangalore office of JWT successfully for over seven years now as ECD. Her work cuts across categories like fashion, beauty, luxury, travel and technology.
Brands
AI becomes key tool for Indian travellers, Agoda report finds
68 per cent plan to use AI for trips as 33 per cent already rely on it.
MUMBAI: Holiday planning is getting a software upgrade less “Where should we go?” and more “What does the algorithm say?” Indian travellers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to map their journeys, with new data from Agoda’s 2026 Travel Outlook Report suggesting that AI is fast becoming central to how trips are imagined, planned and booked.
While 33 per cent of respondents said they already use AI tools for travel planning, a far larger 68 per cent indicated they are likely to rely on it for their next trip pointing to a sharp acceleration in adoption in a market already comfortable with digital-first travel.
What travellers want from AI, however, goes well beyond basic search. The report shows 38 per cent are looking for recommendations on local attractions and activities, while 37 per cent expect personalised itineraries. Destination discovery remains a key use case at 29 per cent, with dining suggestions (23 per cent) and budget management (22 per cent) also emerging as practical applications.
The shift reflects a broader change in expectations AI is no longer a novelty but a planning companion expected to work across every stage of the journey, from inspiration to execution.
Trust levels appear to be keeping pace. Nearly 88 per cent of respondents said they either trust or feel neutral about AI-generated recommendations, including 53 per cent who expressed clear confidence. This builds on earlier trends, with Agoda’s 2025 survey showing nine in ten Indian travellers already using apps to book travel suggesting AI adoption is more evolution than disruption.
The company has been testing this appetite through initiatives such as its 2025 AI-powered Vacation Planner campaign, which generated customised itineraries and visuals based on user inputs, delivered with a layer of celebrity-led engagement.
For platforms like Agoda, which aggregates more than 6 million properties, over 130,000 flight routes and 300,000 travel activities, AI offers a way to navigate scale without overwhelming users turning abundance into relevance.
As AI continues to embed itself into everyday decision-making, India is emerging as a market where travel planning is not just going digital, but decisively intelligent.
