The news: As summer travel season and major events like the FIFA World Cup approach, many travelers are getting comfortable with using AI to plan their adventures. However, hangups on privacy and potential mistakes persist.

• Over half (54%) of US adults would be okay with AI planning a trip from start to finish, per HUMAN Security, but only 12% would be comfortable with an AI assistant booking travel without their final approval, even if the assistant stayed within preset preferences and budget.
• Top concerns about AI trip planning are expensive mistakes (46%) and a lack of human oversight (36%).
• 43% would be comfortable with AI remembering and using trip history, preferences, and spending activity to personalize bookings, but almost an equal number, 39%, would be uncomfortable with that.

What it means: AI-assisted travel planning has broad appeal, but consumers want to stay in control of key decisions. In addition, the gap between willingness to let AI plan a trip and willingness to let it book on its own suggests travelers see AI more as a recommendation engine than a fully capable travel agent.

The findings also show an opportunity for differentiation.

• Since 43% of US consumers worry AI could make trips feel generic, travel brands should offer tools that make recommendations based on zero-party data about user interests, rather than by optimizing for the most popular or highest-rated options.
• As major travel moments drive demand, user trust can be earned through AI-powered convenience, keeping human customer service available, and offering consumers options to maintain oversight of transactions.

Recommendations for travel brands: Position AI as a tool that simplifies research, itinerary building, and deal discovery while keeping humans in the driver’s seat.

• Emphasize transparency around data usage, explain how recommendations are generated, and make it easy for users to review and modify AI-generated plans.
• Establish clear value exchanges—such as personalization, loyalty perks, or time savings—to persuade consumers to share data.
• Offer AI-free tools to those who remain wary of the tech rather than going all in to avoid alienating that customer base.

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