Artificial Intelligence: The rise of the all-rounders

Anyone who relies exclusively on the capabilities of artificial intelligence when planning their holiday still needs to be a little daring at the moment. The information generated by the technology based on individualised booking requests is not always perfect, but in many cases it already offers an alternative to conventional booking methods. An author for the trade journal Wired, who relied on ChatGPT's operator to book a weekend trip to Bruges, comes to an overall positive conclusion. The AI-based compilation of her trip, including train bookings, hotel reservations, restaurant and cultural tips, did not always produce the desired results, but ultimately proved to be an attractive alternative to the laborious process of researching booking platforms and search engines herself. In other words, adventurous holidaymakers can already save a lot of time and hassle, and often money, when booking by using AI.

The findings show the direction in which the tourism business will develop in the near future. As in other industries, AI is also setting new standards in the travel market. AI agents are now not only able to put together holiday trips on behalf of their customers, but also to book them autonomously. These new all-rounders are changing consumer habits and competitive structures, making them the next big game changer for the industry.

Consumer acceptance is growing steadily

According to a survey by the market research institute YouGov, 58 percent of Germans can now imagine using AI when planning their holidays. This applies, for example, to searching for activities and sights or for support with communication and translations. Around one in four holidaymakers can also imagine using AI to create an individual travel plan or to help them decide on their destination.

Not all players in the tourism industry are prepared for this radical change. According to a study commissioned by ITB as part of the ITB Berlin Congress 2025, medium-sized providers in particular face considerable obstacles in this area. One in three of the companies surveyed stated that they do not have sufficient specialist staff to implement AI structures. Data protection and security concerns, ethical aspects and psychological barriers such as fear and uncertainty are contributing to a lack of necessary investment in AI technology. In many places, the existing IT infrastructure still seems to be functioning, so restructuring is being postponed to the distant future.

This hesitation could prove fatal. The number of powerful AI agents is constantly growing. The dynamic provider market is bustling with ambitious newcomers such as OneAir and Mindtrip, but also developments from large companies such as Chat GPT operators or Google's Gemini Agent Mode. Some of these tools are now capable of booking even complex and individual requests.

Dynamic development in Asia and North America

A look at the travel markets in North America and Asia also shows the pace at which AI is revolutionising the rules of the tourism business. While data and consumer protection regulations are still slowing down the pace of investment within the EU, AI applications are already part of everyday tourism in large parts of Asia, partly due to a younger and more adaptable population. Against this backdrop, industry observers advise increasing investment immediately: ‘It's about understanding and testing the opportunities associated with AI,’ emphasises Mitra Sorrels, senior vice president at the market research company Phocuswright.

Europe's largest tourism group, TUI, demonstrates how to successfully introduce AI to its own workforce: for some time now, employees there have had the opportunity to build their own personal AI assistants without any expert knowledge of their own and to utilise the potential of the new technology in their daily working environment. In this way, several thousand employees have created more than 400 individual AI assistants, which are shared via an internal company platform. The ‘TUI AI Assistant Store’ is open to all employees, enabling extensive synergy effects to be achieved. ‘It was important to us to have a solution that is easy for everyone to use and guarantees maximum security. We need to experiment with AI and can't wait until complete solutions are available. We need to take small steps, learn, conduct tests with users and look for ways to apply it as quickly as possible,’ emphasises Pieter Jordaan, CIO of the TUI Group.

SEO optimisation is a thing of the past

Such projects can help companies keep up in a digital market where AI is changing the competitive landscape. Travel providers who want to remain digitally successful in the future will have to adapt to completely new rules. Above all, it is time to gradually move away from the SEO optimisation of their own offerings that has been the norm up to now. Keywords are becoming less relevant in the AI-dominated travel world. Instead of appearing in Google search results rankings, success in the future will lie more in being present in the answers provided by AI agents and AI overviews. Clearly structured data and open access help AI to find you. "What counts is human and precise language, which AI also strives for. Texts should be well structured, ideally in the form that AI also uses, for example as well-formulated FAQ lists for AI assistants," recommends Dirk Rogl, managing director of the consulting firm Travel.Commerce.