Phocuswright Research Explores Travelers' Comfort Using GenAI

Given the widespread knowledge and interest in using technologies like generative artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality among today's travelers, travel brands should continue down the path toward integrating them into the ways in which travel can be planned, booked and experienced. In doing so, they should make a concerted effort to ensure that all interactions are safe, private and as convenient as possible.

In addition to travelers' broad awareness of generative AI - and despite some of the "doom and gloom" scenarios about the potential dangers of the technology - a significant share of those who are aware of it report they would be extremely or somewhat comfortable using a generative AI tool to help them plan a trip.

For example, according to Phocuswright’s latest travel research report GenAI and Emerging Tech Use Among Travelers, nearly half of travelers would be comfortable in a chatbot interaction where they provide their trip preferences and the AI platform offers a range of recommendations (see figure below). French and German travelers were the least likely to be comfortable with this application.

As with all nascent technology, early adopters for travel skew younger.

When it comes to comfort level with using generative AI to help plan a trip, those most comfortable are more likely to be under 55 in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, or under 35 in France, Germany and Spain (see figure below).

Overall, the youngest travelers seem the most comfortable, with the exceptions being the U.S. and U.K., where the 35-54 cohort express the greatest comfort. Notably, young Spaniards are by far the most likely to indicate ease/comfort in incorporating AI into their travel planning process.