Study: More Travelers Expected to Use AI for Trip Planning

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies including the highly talked about ChatGPT are set to take the travel and tourism industry by storm, according to data released this week UK-based market research firm Euromonitor International.

More specifically, Euromonitor International predicts a “boom” in the use of AI tools, such as ChatGPT by travelers plan their trips. This forecast is backed by 97.8 percent of travel executives polled for the “Voice of the Industry: Travel Survey”, who said they believe AI will impact the industry in the next five years.

The report’s analysts attribute the expected increase to the convenience and 24/7 accessibility offered by AI tools.

However, there is a downside, Euromonitor says AI could disrupt the travel bookings industry which is already highly digitalized.

“With travel highly digitalized where 66 percent of all bookings are conducted online in 2023 and mobile accounts for 35 percent of all online sales, disruption from generative AI is already rife,” said Caroline Bremner, head of Travel and Tourism Research at Euromonitor International.

In view of the developments, the travel and tourism industry is adapting with brands entering deals with AI companies for new products.

“The path of AI adoption will not run entirely smoothly as there are major concerns over consumer privacy with countries like Italy temporarily banning ChatGPT,” said Bremner.

She goes on to note that travel agents faced mass disruption due to the rise of online travel three decades ago which led to mass store closures and job losses.

“Now, the sector is ripe for more disruption as generative AI accelerates automation of tasks across every stage of the customer journey, before, during and after the trip,” she said.