Holiday Planning with AI

While AI may be a capable travel planner, not everyone is ready to put their holiday solely in the hands of a digital text-based travel agent. It’s understandable: AI is an emerging technology, and depending on the AI you use not all information will be up to date. Based on our survey, people are using AI tools in different ways. 35% of people who have used AI for travel planning are using it to generate ideas and recommendations. The same number of people are using it to plan out travel routes between points of interest, including flight plans and return dates.

It doesn’t end there – one in three people who use AI for travel are capitalising on AI’s ability to assist with booking holidays, ensuring they get great deals and a personalised experience, without the middleman. 32% of people who utilise AI said they used it to choose their next destination. AI could even be used for simpler tasks – for example, you could use it to check the weather for a specific region and date (as 31% of people using AI chose to).

AI’s ability to scour publicly available data could make it a useful resource for gathering information. 34% of Brits who used AI leveraged this by having their travel planner create an itinerary for them. In theory, it’s a holiday plan, without the time-consuming nature of planning. Though, be aware – you may want to check the results a planner gives you as you can’t always guarantee the data is accurate.

Over 90% of UK travellers who are already using AI said they believed that AI enhanced their experience of organising a holiday, and 34% said that it did so very much.

• Personal details. Don’t share financial or personal information with AI – there’s no reason why an AI module would need these things. This is especially true if you’re uncertain of how an AI tool will use or store your data. In addition, some personalised AI companions require access to travel history and preferences to offer their services, which you may not want to provide.
• Beware of AI hallucinations. We aren’t the only ones who get things wrong sometimes – AI is trained on data; AI models learn to make predictions and find patterns in data. If the data it finds is biased or incomplete, it may come up with nonsensical results. It’s always worth double-checking the information an AI puts out.
• Prompts. Learning to write clear prompts can get you better results in your search. For example, searching “find good holidays for water sports” may not turn out the best results compared to “find good windsurfing holiday destination ideas for a party of four in May.” You can always fine-tune search results too by giving the AI feedback. Treat it like a conversation by asking follow-up prompts to get more detailed answers.
• Outdated information. Until recently, ChatGPT, the most used AI tool for travel planning, used data from September 2021 to form its responses. This meant that it didn’t know about any recent travel trends or important events. As of 2024, it’s accurate up to April 20232. Cross-referencing information provided by AI with your own research is essential. Depending on the tool you use, you’ll get different results – so understand the pros and cons and use them appropriately.
• Use as a starting point. Using AI as a launch pad for suggestions and ideas could be an easy way to discover things to do for some, and it may be more efficient than searching for things to do through Google. AI could point you towards horizons you might not have considered, but it seems best to use it to inform your own research.

While AI isn’t perfect – just like any tool – it could make your travel a bit easier, and more enriching if used smartly. However, not everyone is ready to entrust an algorithm with their holiday plans. One in three people stated that if they were going to use an AI tool, they would prefer to do so with access to human support or assistance, demonstrating the importance of hands-on information and a human touch in holiday planning.