Travelers use AI for planning but are reluctant to trust it with bookings — Channel NewsAsia
In Singapore and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, travelers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to search for hotels, create itineraries and choose activities. At the same time, before making payments and bookings, they often verify AI advice through other sources. This was reported by Channel NewsAsia.
AI makes it possible to describe a trip in ordinary language, combining a budget, dates, location, pace of travel and the needs of children or elderly relatives in a single request. Junqiu Jiang, a marketing lecturer at ESSEC Business School, believes that such tools reduce the cognitive burden of planning: a person spends less time moving between different sources of information while retaining control over the decision.
AI for search, not the final choice
According to Booking.com, AI-assisted travel planning is spreading rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region, but tourists are more likely to return to brands they already trust when making bookings. Klook said that residents of India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand use AI more actively to prepare for trips, while tourists from Japan, Australia and Hong Kong are more cautious about it.
A Klook survey in Singapore showed that when making a booking decision, people trust advice from family and friends most, followed by verified reviews and travel forums. AI ranked below influencer recommendations on this list. User Jeanne Lim said that she uses artificial intelligence to narrow down her search, then compares prices, reads reviews, looks at photos on social media and checks the property's location on a map.
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Distrust of autonomous purchases
In the Booking.com Global AI Sentiment Report, 95% of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region said they were enthusiastic about AI, but only 8% said they trusted it completely. A separate Travel Happiness Index study showed that 88% of respondents felt more at ease when booking through a platform they already trusted.
Lim said she had encountered inaccurate or outdated information, including about temporarily closed restaurants and changed travel recommendations. Therefore, she is not ready to allow an AI agent to spend her money independently. According to data cited by Global Payments representative Phil Pomford, 44% of consumers in Singapore would be willing to let an AI agent search for and purchase travel services on their behalf over the next 12 months.
A human for non-standard situations
The travel industry is increasingly using AI for routine operations and service personalization. In particular, Millennium Hotels and Resorts introduced a voice assistant in rooms in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia; over nine months, it covered more than 2,700 rooms. At Booking.com, a chatbot handles most standard customer requests, while complex cases and emergencies are passed on to people.
Lee Kuan-Huei, an associate professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology, cited an industry study according to which only 2% of travelers are ready to give AI full autonomy to make and change bookings without human oversight. Another 81% prefer to verify information provided by AI, while more than half are reluctant to give such systems access to visas and passports.
