Is travel planning the next space AI is taking over?
A new survey shows that younger Americans are relying on AI and ChatGPT more and more to construct their vacation itineraries.
The survey of 2,000 Americans (split evenly by generation) by Talker Research found that only 29% of millennials have never used AI for this reason, with just 33% of Gen Z saying the same.
This is a stark contrast to older generations that still rely on old-school, traditional methods to sort their travel plans. Seven in ten baby boomers also say they have never used AI for their travel plans.
So exactly how are people utilizing AI in this way? The interesting results emerged in Talker Research’s new travel trend report.
The top application for AI in travel planning was found to be asking it to compare flight prices for wherever they’re headed, with 29% of all those polled saying they’ve done this.
A similar amount says AI comes in even before that: Twenty-nine percent of respondents have even asked it where they should go for their trip.
Another one in five even lets AI complete a detailed plan for their whole trip, complete with sights to see, local things to do, and museums to tick off.
While word of mouth and recommendations from loved ones have always been the most common way to learn about fun places to travel, the survey revealed that there’s a new contender.
YouTube (34%) was crowned as the top resource people use for travel inspo, officially topping recommendations from family (30%) and friends (28%).
The generations were split on this, as unsurprisingly, younger generations were a lot more reliant on social media than older generations.
While YouTube was the most popular when accounting for every survey-taker, Gen Z was overwhelmingly using TikTok for travel inspiration (52%).
In comparison, just 27% of millennials and only 2% of boomers said they use TikTok for this purpose.
While AI is still fairly new, it’s easy to see this trend growing as the technology becomes more sophisticated.
Methodology:
This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 Americans (500 Gen Z, 500 millennials, 500 Gen X, 500 baby boomers) was conducted between May 5 and May 8, 2025 by market research company Talker Research, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).
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