Brits are bucking travel trends this year as just one in ten holidaymakers are currently using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to plan their trips away, according to a new study1 by Sainsbury’s Bank Travel Money.

In the survey with 2,000 Brits who travel for leisure, almost two-thirds said they are planning to go on at least one holiday abroad this year.

The most popular pre-holiday research methods include using traditional travel websites (50 per cent), asking friends and family for recommendations (35 per cent) and speaking to a travel agent (21 per cent).

While just six per cent of travellers cite using AI tools as a preferred research method, this is still more than social media channels such as TikTok (four per cent) and Pinterest (two per cent).

Sainsbury’s Bank Travel Money discovered that the five most popular reasons for using AI for travel include finding new travel ideas, route planning, creating an itinerary, assisting with a booking and choosing a destination.

ChatGPT is the most popular tool for Brits who use AI, with 45 per cent using it to facilitate their travel, followed by Roam Around (27 per cent), Tripnotes (26 per cent) and Guide.com (25 per cent).

The research1 also indicated that amongst AI users, younger people are more likely to use AI to help with travel planning, with the highest adoption amongst 18–24-year-olds (45 per cent) and 25–34-year-olds (44 per cent). This is compared to just 13 per cent of 45–54-year-olds and ten per cent of over 55-year-olds.

Last year, in a separate study, Skyscanner reported that globally 44 per cent of travellers were using AI to plan and research travel2. As UK searches for “holiday ideas” have increased by 36 per cent in the last three months3, there is growing demand for travel planning support.

However, according to Sainsbury’s Bank’s Travel Money research1, many UK holidaymakers (91 per cent) who have used AI for travel planning have faced some kind of constraint, limitation or shortcoming when using the technology.

Nearly a third (30 per cent) had encountered incorrect information when using AI for travel planning and over one-quarter of Brits (26 per cent) are concerned about data privacy when using AI.

Stuart Briant, Head of Travel Money at Sainsbury’s Bank, commented: “Although the use of AI is growing, our research shows that 35% of people still prefer to turn to friends and family for recommendations and advice when planning their trips.

“At Sainsbury’s Bank, we have travel money bureaux across the country where customers can pop in and chat with colleagues about up-to-date currency information.

“If you are going to use AI, it’s important to never share financial or personal information – there’s no reason why you would need to give this out. Cross-referencing data from an AI tool with your own research is also essential, as different tools will show varied results and often they have limited information on current events.”

The ten most popular AI tools1

Sainsbury’s Bank Travel Money Advisors are on hand in travel bureaux across the UK, via the online portal and with 24/7 telephone assistance.