The news: Travelers are becoming more comfortable with AI and incorporating it into their trip discovery and planning processes, presenting an opportunity for travel companies to apply the technology for decision-making and customer experiences.

• 46% of US travelers who took a trip in the past year included AI in the planning process, per Beach.com.
• Meanwhile, 51% of hotels, airlines, agencies, airports, and cruise companies are using AI but report room for improvement, per London Research’s Data and AI report.

Although travelers’ adoption remains temperate, it’s higher than use cases for generic AI search —US consumers spend just 3.3% of their online discovery time using genAI search engines, per Comscore.

Digging into the data: US travelers are applying the technology to streamline trip planning, find unique vacation opportunities, and spend less.

• 39% of Gen Zers who travel at least once per year have found a “hidden gem” because of AI, per Beach.com, and 31% have gone somewhere specifically because of an AI recommendation.
• 44% would let AI, rather than a travel agent, plan their trip, and a whopping 79% think AI travel agents can save them money.

The opportunity: Despite consumer enthusiasm around AI’s trip-planning potential, travel companies remain muted in their use of the technology. Only 21% say they’re fully taking advantage of the technology for predictive modeling and decision-making, per London Research.

This underinvestment suggests that the travel industry is still in an experimental phase and could be missing user and revenue gains. With value being left on the table and traveler behavior shifting toward AI discovery, brands that operationalize AI at scale will gain an edge.

The caveat: One of the top hindrances to broader AI adoption among travel companies is data quality and fragmentation. Nearly half (44%) of travel companies cite limitations in customer data—including poor quality, silos, and accessibility—as a barrier to AI advancement, per London Research.

If travel brands can close data-quality gaps, like by improving accessibility and integrating first-party data sets, they can capture both operational efficiencies and loyalty among consumers who turn to AI to organize their trips and find deals.

What travel companies should do: To capitalize on travelers’ use of and confidence in AI, travel companies need to move from testing the technology to fully integrating it. That includes:

• Building traveler trust through transparency: Be up front about when and how AI is used and explain the benefits—such as time savings or more personalized recommendations—to ease skepticism.
• Investing in data infrastructure: Unify customer data across channels, partners, and systems to improve accuracy.
• Exploring agentic solutions: Consider offering branded AI travel agents or web solutions to leverage consumers’ interest in the technology saving them money.