Research finds younger travellers continue to lead way with AI trip planning

Gender, age and location said to be a factor

Travellers under 35 are more than twice as likely to use AI tools to plan trips than travellers over 55, according to the Global Rescue Summer 2025 Traveller Safety and Sentiment Survey. 

While AI is making inroads among all age groups, younger respondents are driving adoption, comfort, and experimentation. 

Only 24% of all travellers said they have used AI to help plan a trip, but age was a defining factor as 40% of travellers under 35 said they have used AI tools, compared to 34% of travellers aged 35–54, and just 20% of those 55 and older. 

Non-US respondents were 40% more likely to use AI tools than US respondents (30% vs. 21%). 

Among those using AI, the most popular applications were itinerary planning (75%) and general research (71%). 

Restaurant recommendations (37%) and translation (25%) were also common, particularly among non-US travellers, who were 64% more likely to use AI for translation than Americans (34% vs. 21%). 

Travellers under 35 were also significantly more likely to use AI for lodging (40% vs. 29% average), visa information (38% vs. 19%) and safety advice (35% vs. 20%). 

“AI is transforming how travellers research and prepare for trips, and the next generation of globetrotters is embracing it fully,” said Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies and a member of the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board at the US Department of Commerce. 

“But adoption still depends on trust and reliability, especially in high-stakes situations.” 

When asked whether the AI tools were useful 79% of users said the tools were either ‘very’ or ‘mostly’ useful.

While Younger travellers reported the highest satisfaction, with 85% of those under 35 rating the tools favourably. Women were slightly less satisfied than men, with 26% rating tools “very useful” compared to 32% of men. 

Trust remains a key issue though as it found only 7% of travellers trust AI to provide accurate travel advice “almost always.”

A majority (46%) said they trust it “most of the time,” while 40% said “some of the time.” 

Travellers were split on whether they would trust AI in an emergency while abroad. Just 30% said yes, while 33% said no and 37% were unsure. 

Travellers under 35 were the most confident (28%), while those over 55 were the least (29%). Interestingly, 58% of travellers under 35 said they would not trust AI in an emergency, nearly double the overall average. 

Despite these concerns, interest in using AI for future trips remains high.

89% of all travelers said they were “very likely” or “likely” to use AI again and travellers under 35 were the most likely to say “very likely” (38%), followed by travelers aged 35–54 (36%).

Finally, women were slightly less enthusiastic, with only 28% saying “very likely,” compared to 33% of men. 

When asked whether they prefer AI or human travel recommendations, half of all respondents said they prefer a blend of both. 

Comparatively, only 4% prefer AI alone, while 45% prefer human input. Women were 25% more likely than men to prefer human recommendations (53% vs. 43%), while non-US travellers were more open to combining both sources (56% vs. 48% of US travellers).