For all the chest-beating about artificial intelligence “revolutionising” travel, most experienced travellers have already reached a quiet, unglamorous conclusion: they don’t want a machine planning their holiday.
Not the flights. Not the hotels. And certainly not the decisions that matter when something goes wrong at 11 pm in a foreign airport.
That reality is laid bare in the latest Global Rescue Fall 2025 Traveller Sentiment and Safety Survey, which, stripped of its percentages and polite phrasing, says something rather simple. Travellers are happy for AI to help with bargains. They are not remotely interested in letting it take charge.
Only 22 per cent of respondents said they would consider using so-called “Agentic AI” autonomous systems designed to plan, book and manage trips without human oversight for their next international journey. Forty per cent said no outright. The rest hovered in familiar traveller territory: sceptical, cautious and unconvinced.
Which is hardly shocking. Anyone who has travelled lately knows how personal and how brittle travel decisions can be. Flights are missed. Plans unravel. Hotels overbook. Apps crash. When that happens, travellers don’t want an algorithm explaining its reasoning. They want control.
That instinct becomes clear once the questions move beyond theory. Ask travellers if they’re comfortable letting AI design an entire itinerary, and enthusiasm evaporates. Only one in five said yes. Ask whether AI should book flights or hotels without approval, and resistance becomes near universal. Nearly 80 per cent said they would be uncomfortable with that level of autonomy.
The reaction is even stronger among women, a detail that matters, not because it flatters demographics, but because it reinforces a long-standing truth in travel: the more risk involved, the less patience there is for black-box decision-making.
“Travellers are curious but cautious,” said Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue. “They want to understand how these systems make decisions before they’re comfortable handing over control.”
That line could double as the entire story.
Awareness of Agentic AI remains low, with fewer than one in five travellers having even heard of it before the survey, which may explain some of the hesitation. But familiarity alone won’t fix the problem. Travellers aren’t rejecting AI because they don’t understand it. They’re rejecting it because they do.
They know that travel is not a spreadsheet exercise. It involves judgement calls, trade-offs and occasionally instinct. No matter how advanced the software, people remain reluctant to outsource those moments to something that cannot argue back, bend a rule, or take responsibility when things go sideways.
There is, however, one exception. Money.
When AI stays firmly in the lane of discounts, promo codes and fare monitoring, resistance softens. Around 38 per cent of travellers said they would be comfortable with AI adjusting their bookings to secure better deals. Savings, as ever, remain persuasive.
But even here, the boundary is clear. Travellers are willing to let AI assist. They are not prepared to let it decide.
The travel industry’s mistake is assuming this is a temporary trust gap, something that will disappear once the technology improves or the marketing sharpens. It isn’t. It’s a philosophical line, drawn by people who have learned the hard way that travel rewards scepticism.
AI may yet become a powerful tool behind the scenes. But for now, most travellers want it done the maths not running the trip.
More information is available at www.globalrescue.com.
by Michelle Warner – (c) 2026.
Read Time: 4 minutes.
About the Writer.
Michelle Warner is a storyteller with jet fuel in her veins — the sort of woman who could turn a long-haul delay into a lesson in patience and prose. She began her career in media publications, learning the craft of sharp sentences and honest storytelling, before trading deadlines for departures as a flight attendant with several major airlines. Years spent at thirty thousand feet gave her a keen eye for human nature and a deep affection for the grace and grit of travellers everywhere.
Now happily grounded, Michelle has returned to her first love, writing, with the same composure she once brought to a turbulent cabin. Her work combines an editor’s precision with a traveller’s curiosity, weaving vivid scenes and subtle humour into stories that honour the golden age of travel writing. Every line is a small act of civility, polished, poised, and unmistakably human.
