New Australian research reveals why travellers are putting their holidays in AI’s hands, what could go wrong, and why the humble travel agent may yet have the last laugh.
AI can plan a ten-day holiday in the time it takes to find your passport. It can pick hotels, plot a route and suggest where to eat. It may even sound as if it has been there. But can you trust it when real money is at stake?
That is the question behind a new study led by Edith Cowan University (ECU). The team asked 421 Australian travellers what would make them hand over trip plans to an AI tool. The answer was not flashy tech or a long sales pitch. It was trust, backed by proof.
And there is a catch. The more an AI system tries to explain itself, the less likely some people are to let it take charge.
Everyone wants an easy getaway
AI has turned the hard work of trip planning into a chat. Tell it your dates, budget and tastes, and it can draft a route within seconds. It saves time. It may also save you a long night reading hotel reviews that seem written by the hotels themselves.
Many Aussies are already keen. A 2025 survey by Compare the Market found that 28.8 per cent of those polled had used AI to help plan a holiday. Uses ranged from finding deals to picking places to visit. A separate federal study found that 30 per cent of Gen Z travellers use AI tools to plan trips abroad. The surveys cover different groups, so their results should not be treated as one trend.
ECU’s Professor Sanjit Roy sees real value in AI, but says care is vital.
“Responsible use of AI not only gives more certainty that trips will be smooth sailing, but holidaymakers need to ensure they aren’t left out of pocket or on the backfoot when something goes wrong,” Professor Roy said.
That is the rub. A neat plan on a screen is not a booked flight. Nor is it a valid visa, a room key or a promise of a refund.
What makes travellers trust AI?
The ECU team tested five traits: reliability, accountability, trustworthiness, fairness and transparency. Of these, sound advice and clear lines of blame were key. Travellers were more willing to hand over decisions when they felt an AI tool was reliable and its provider could be held to account.
“Accountability of AI plays a significant role in building trust among travellers,” Professor Roy said.
The study looked at three levels of choice. AI might help set the features people want in a holiday. It might sort a shortlist. Or it might make the final pick. Those are not the same thing. Asking a bot for beach towns is one matter. Trusting it to select a costly, non-refundable hotel is another.
The study has limits. It looks at what makes people willing to use AI. It does not test whether a given tool gets more facts right than a trained travel adviser.
Too much detail can spoil the trip
The oddest result was about how much AI should reveal. Travellers want clear facts, but too much detail can feel like extra work. After all, the point was to save time, not earn a second degree in hotel selection.
“We found that excessive transparency reduces our willingness to delegate travel planning to GenAI meaning the mental burden of processing, cross-checking and translating information is not worth it,” Professor Roy said.
That is no excuse for firms to hide key facts. The smart approach is simple: give the best options, state the risks, show the sources and let people dig deeper if they wish. Useful proof should be easy to find. It should not arrive as a small novel.
The hotel that has shut its doors
Australia’s Smartraveller service warns anyone who hands an entire trip to a chatbot. AI can give old flight or train times, wrong visa rules and hotel tips that lead to closed doors. It can also miss key safety advice.
For a traveller, the cost can be far more than a ruined afternoon. Bad advice on entry rules can mean missing a flight. Wrong advice on local laws or safety can have much worse results.
The fix is not hard, even if it takes a few minutes. Check flights with the airline and rooms with the hotel. Check visa rules with official border agencies and read Smartraveller’s advice for each country. Read the terms before you pay. If the trip is complex, a good travel adviser is still worth a call.
Travel agents may have the last laugh
The findings carry a message for airlines, hotels and tour firms. As more customers ask AI for ideas, firms need to keep rates, opening hours, room details and booking terms clear and up to date. If a bot cannot find the right facts, the traveller may never find the business.
Travel agents have a good reason not to panic. Their value was never just printing an itinerary. It is knowing which deal is sound, which transfer is too tight and whom to ring when a flight goes astray. A chat tool can be fast. It is less clear who will answer the phone at midnight.
AI can be a fine first draft of a holiday. It can find new ideas and help sort a busy plan. But it shouldn’t get the final vote on fares, border rules, or your money. Use the machine for the map. Keep a human hand on the wheel.
By: Sandra Jones – © 2026.
Read Time: 5 minutes.
Author Bio:
Sandra has spent a working lifetime quietly rescuing journeys, one itinerary, one anxious caller, one impossible connection at a time. Years at Australia’s finest travel agencies taught her the art of calm: how to find a flight in a fog of cancellations, soothe a traveller when luggage wanders, and turn nine frantic days in Europe into something resembling sense. Qualified, seasoned, and endlessly patient, she learned that good travel advice is part logistics and part listening.
But the storyteller in her was always waiting its turn. Writing offered a new map, a way to turn experience into reflection, detail into delight. At EGT Media, Sandra now writes the truths only insiders know: the mishaps, the laughter, the grace found between gates and goodbyes. She reminds us that travel, for all its fuss, is still one of life’s better ideas.
