The majority of US travelers now use AI for travel, marking the fastest behavioral change in a decade | News
More than half of American leisure travelers now use artificial intelligence to plan, book or navigate their trips, according to new research from Phocuswright. This marks the fastest behavioral change the travel industry has seen in a decade.
Phocuswright’s new report – The AI Surge: Travel’s Fastest Behavioral Shift in a Decade – shows that 56% of travelers have used AI for at least one trip in the past 12 months, a sharp increase from 43% at the end of 2025 and more than double the share in 2024. Overall AI use among travelers – not limited to travel tasks – has also risen to 59%.
“AI has crossed the threshold from curiosity to utility,” said Pete Comeau, managing director of Phocuswright. “Travelers are now beyond the point of experimentation: they are integrating AI into the core of how they research and design their trips. This is a structural shift, and it is happening faster than anything we have tracked in the last decade.”
The report shows that generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini have risen to 33% of travel research use, a fivefold increase since 2024 and are closing in on general search engines, which hold 35%. Yet travelers still verify what they see: Only 8% said AI answers alone were enough, and 51% typically clicked through to source websites after receiving AI-generated results.
“Half of travelers who used AI in search engines told us they still clicked through to source websites after seeing AI answers in search results,” said Mike Coletta, senior manager of research and innovation at Phocuswright. “This goes against the general narrative of a zero-click world. AI certainly reduces click-through rates in search results overall, but travel is much more resilient because the stakes are higher and a lot of verification is required, especially at the transaction stage. This helps explain why Google and the OTAs continue to report solid financial results.”
Standalone AI platforms remain the most used and most appreciated, with 64% of AI travelers using them, and 81% saying they were the most useful environment for AI travel planning.
Acceleration between generations
Although millennials are leading the adoption (74%), the growth is broad-based. Usage among Generation Z reached 72%, Generation X 50%, and Baby Boomers more than doubled their adoption in six months, from 13% to 27%.
The role of AI is expanding from planning to destination support
Travelers increasingly rely on AI once they arrive at their destination. More than half (51%) used AI for real-time recommendations on what to do, and 95% rated it useful for destination tasks such as navigation, learning about neighborhoods, and managing reservations.
The publication of this research comes as Phocuswright prepares for its Phocuswright Europe conference, which takes place in June. The conference will bring together leaders from the travel, technology and investment communities to explore how AI is reshaping traveler expectations, supplier strategies and the competitive landscape.
“This is the fastest behavioral change we have measured in more than a decade of tracking consumer travel behavior,” Comeau said. “At Phocuswright Europe we are exploring the strongest role of AI in today’s travel, reducing friction at the times when travelers need context, comparison and trust.”
